SAP PI/PO Interview Cheatsheet (Quick Revision)

Perfect for last-minute prep — covers architecture, adapters, ESR/ID, mappings, troubleshooting, monitoring, and key scenarios.

1. SAP PI/PO Basics

  • What is SAP PI/PO?
    Middleware for application integration; PI = dual-stack (ABAP + Java), PO = single-stack Java.
  • Components:
    ESR (design), ID (configuration), Adapter Engine, Integration Server, Monitoring tools.
  • Difference PI vs PO:
    PO uses Java-only architecture, AEX (Advanced Adapter Engine), supports BPMN (NW BPM).

2. ESR (Enterprise Service Repository)

  • Design objects:
    • Data Types (DT)
    • Message Types (MT)
    • Service Interfaces
    • Message Mappings
    • Operation Mappings
  • Abstract Interface: No sender/receiver binding; used for async/async bridging.
  • Synchronous vs Asynchronous Interfaces differences.

3. Integration Directory (ID)

  • Configuration objects:
    • Business Component / System
    • Communication Channels
    • Sender/Receiver Agreements
    • Receiver Determinations
    • Interface Determinations

4. Adapters & Protocols

Most Common Adapters

  • File Adapter → FTP/SFTP/Local/NFS
  • SFTP → Key-based authentication
  • IDoc Adapter → ALE/EDI distribution
  • RFC Adapter → Sync/Async function module calls
  • SOAP Adapter → Web service communication
  • REST Adapter (PO)
  • JMS Adapter
  • Mail Adapter
  • Proxy Adapter → PI ↔ ABAP systems

Adapter Engine Types

  • Central Adapter Engine (CAE)
  • Advanced Adapter Engine Extended (AEX)
  • Integrated Configuration Objects (ICO) used in PO/AEX scenarios

5. Mapping

Types of Mappings

  • Graphical Mapping
  • Java Mapping
  • XSLT Mapping
  • ABAP Mapping (only dual stack)
  • Message Mapping vs Operation Mapping

Common Mapping Functions

  • UDF (User Defined Functions)
  • Lookup (RFC/JDBC)
  • Context handling (Split by value / Change context)
  • Node functions (RemoveContext, CollapseContext)

Message Split / Merge

  • Multi-mapping (1:n, n:1)

6. Scenarios

Common Integration Patterns

  • File → IDoc
  • Proxy → SOAP
  • SAP → Non-SAP integration
  • Sync/Async bridge
  • Async/Sync bridge
  • Pass-through scenario (No mapping)

ICO (Integrated Configuration)

Used in PO single-stack: replaces classical configuration objects.

7. Security

  • SSL certificates (Keystore in NWA)
  • User authentication (BASIC/OAuth)
  • Channel authentication configuration
  • Integration with SAP SSO

8. Monitoring Tools

In PI (Dual Stack)

  • SXMB_MONI
  • RWB (Runtime Workbench)
  • SMQ1/SMQ2 (Queues)
  • ST22 (ABAP dumps)

In PO (Single Stack – Java)

  • PIMON (Message Monitoring)
  • NWA logs (trace, error logs)
  • Channel Monitoring
  • Component Monitoring
  • SAP NetWeaver Administrator (NWA)

9. Performance & Troubleshooting

  • Cache refresh issues → SXI_CACHE
  • Adapter engine restart
  • Stuck messages in queue → SMQ2
  • Payload tracing → Enable in channel
  • Message retention period settings

Common Errors

  • Mapping errors (null values)
  • Authentication failure (401/403)
  • Connectivity errors (HTTP 500)
  • Module configuration errors

10. NWDS (for Java, BPM, NW BPM)

  • Create iFlows using Eclipse/NWDS
  • BPM flows: Start → Service Task → Script → End
  • Deploying EJB, EAR, JAR files

11. Important Administration Tasks

  • Importing ESR/ID transports
  • Creating communication channels
  • Maintaining SLD (Technical System, Business System)
  • Transport using CTS+

12. Cloud Integration (Iflows) Differences (Optional)

Interviewers ask:

  • CPI vs PI/PO differences
  • Cloud connectors
  • OData adapters
  • Groovy scripts

13. Key Transaction Codes

  • SXMB_MONI – Monitor PI messages
  • SLDCHECK – SLD connectivity
  • SMQ1/SMQ2 – qRFC monitor
  • ST22 – ABAP dumps
  • SXI_CACHE – PI cache issues

14. Frequently Asked Interview Questions

  1. Explain PI/PO architecture.
  2. Difference between PI and PO.
  3. How will you monitor a failed message?
  4. What is ESR?
  5. Explain message mapping & UDF.
  6. Explain file-to-IDoc scenario.
  7. Sync vs Async differences.
  8. Proxy vs RFC vs IDoc.
  9. What is an ICO?
  10. How do you test PI interfaces?
  11. What causes mapping failures?
  12. What is multi-mapping?
  13. What is adapter module configuration?
  14. How do you handle certificates in PI/PO?
  15. What is pass-through scenario?
  16. What is BPM?
  17. Difference between Operation Mapping vs Message Mapping.
  18. What are queues? When do they get stuck?
  19. Explain alerting framework.
  20. What is AAE/AEX?
  21. What is the difference between SOAP & REST adapters?
  22. How do you perform lookup in mappings?
  23. What is a receiver determination?
  24. How do you migrate PI to PO?
  25. What is CTS+?

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