Introduction
In the rapidly evolving landscape of SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP), efficient and secure transport management has become a critical need. As organizations increasingly adopt the sidecar approach with clean core strategy, the volume and complexity of development objects on the BTP are growing exponentially. Effective transport management ensures that these diverse objects are moved seamlessly across various environments, maintaining integrity, security, and compliance throughout the process.
To address the challenges of transport management in SAP BTP, we recommend the following approach:
Dedicated Subaccount for DevSecOps:
- Central Hub: Utilize a dedicated subaccount specifically for overseeing DevSecOps, covering both DevOps and secret management.
- Consolidated Configuration: Centralize all transport-related configurations in one subaccount to streamline the landscape.
- Benefits:
- Organization: Maintain a clear and organized structure for managing the deployment of development objects.
- Security: Enhance security by isolating sensitive configurations and credentials.
- Efficiency: Simplify the management process, making it more efficient and effective.
- Compliance: Support robust DevOps practices and ensure compliance with security and regulatory requirements.
SAP BTP provides a multitude of services and user interfaces designed to facilitate the seamless transportation of content across environments. These services offer robust tools for managing and deploying various development objects, ensuring that they move securely and efficiently within the BTP landscape. Here are the key services we believe are essential for effective transport management.
Continuous Integration and Delivery Service
Role:
The Continuous Integration and Delivery (CI/CD) service is essential for automating the software development process. It focuses on integrating code changes regularly and deploying those changes efficiently and securely.
Key Features:
Automated Build Processes: The service can automatically build source code from various Source Control Management (SCM) systems, such as GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket. This automation reduces manual errors and speeds up the development cycle.
Testing and Validation: CI/CD pipelines can include automated tests to validate the integrity and functionality of the code. This ensures that only tested and stable code is deployed.
Continuous Deployment: After successful builds and tests, the CI/CD service can automatically deploy applications to different environments (e.g., development, testing, production).
Example Use Cases:
- Building and deploying SAP Fiori/UI5 applications.
- Developing and managing CAP (Cloud Application Programming) projects.
Transport Management Services
Role:
This services facilitate the secure and organized transportation of data and deployment of applications across different subaccounts within the same global account or to other global accounts.
Key Features:
Centralized Management: Offers a centralized platform for managing transport requests and packages, simplifying the deployment process.
Secure Transport: Ensures that data and application transports are secure, leveraging SAP’s security protocols and practices.
Cross-Account Deployment: Supports the movement of content across different global accounts, providing flexibility and scalability for organizations with multiple global accounts.
Example Use Cases:
- Deploying configuration (role collections, destinations and variants) changes from a development subaccount to a testing or production subaccount.
- Moving integration content between different regions or data centers to comply with regulatory requirements.
Content Agent Service and UI
The Content Agent Service and UI is crucial for managing and transporting integration artifacts within SAP BTP. This service streamlines the process of moving content such as iFlows, APIs, and other integration components across different environments.
Key Features:
Transport Packages: Facilitates the creation, management, and triggering of transport packages that include various integration artifacts.
User-Friendly Interface: Provides an intuitive user interface for managing integration content, simplifying the process of organizing and deploying integrations.
Monitoring and Logging: Offers tools to monitor the status and logs of integration content transport, ensuring transparency and traceability throughout the process.
Example Use Cases:
- Moving iFlows from development to production environments.
- Managing API transport packages to ensure consistent deployment across subaccounts.
Summary
In summary, effective transport management in SAP BTP is essential to handle the increasing volume and complexity of development objects, driven by the sidecar approach and clean core technology. By using a dedicated DevSecOps subaccount and leveraging key services such as the Content Agent Service and UI, organizations can ensure secure, efficient, and organized content transportation across different environments. This approach simplifies the management process, enhances security, and supports robust DevOps practices.
For any further information or assistance, please contact us. We’re here to help you optimize your SAP BTP transport management strategy.