New feature in Coresuite (lightweight) Installer from Version 7.30 onwards

Table of Contents

I. Introduction

II. Coresuite add-on files

III. How does the SAP Business One Client Agent work?

IV. Difference between standard SAP add-ons and Coresuite?

V. What will change from Coresuite version 7.30 onwards?

VI. Security recommendation

I. Introduction (Back to Table of Contents)

According to SAP,

extensions that are enabled for lightweight deployment do not have dedicated installers. Instead, the required files are located within a ZIP archive, and installation is performed by the application. The lifecycle management of the extensions for lightweight deployment is managed end to end by SAP Business One. You do not need to use InstallShield (or equivalent) third party tools.
With this feature, you have the following key benefits:
- Automated life cycle management of extensions without user interaction
- Zero operational down time required for extension deployment
- No administrator privileges required for end users to install the extension

The installation of such lightweight add-ons is managed via a service called SAP Business One Client Agent, which itself is installed during the (initial) installation of SAP Business One. This means the SAP Business One Client Agent must be running on all workstations where a lightweight add-on is to be installed in order to take over the installation and the required permissions.
For more details about lightweight extensions, please check How-To Guides on SAP Help Portal.

II. Coresuite add-on files (Back to Table of Contents)

With the release of Coresuite 6.70, we introduced a new approach to the folder structure for the Coresuite add-on installation which enables the use of differing versions of standard and custom modules in each database. This means Coresuite does now create a separate folder for each company inside the coresuite folder: %ProgramFiles(x86)%\SAP\SAP Business One\AddOns\COR\coresuite\company folder (%ProgramFiles%\SAP\SAP Business One\Addons\COR\coresuite\company folder) in which the relevant modules are installed.

For more details about our design, please see the page Coresuite Installer and Framework version 6.70 or higher.

III. How does the SAP Business One Client Agent work?
(Back to Table of Contents)

Lightweight add-ons for SAP Business One can be created via the SAP tool The Extension Package, which will pack all add-on files into a *.zip file. This tool also generates the *.ard file included in the package which slightly differs from an *.ard file for standard installers. This *.ard file contains a list of all add-on files including their paths to which they should be extracted by the SAP Business One Client Agent during the installation. After an add-on is assigned to a company database via the Extension Manager and the SAP Business One is run, SAP Business One Client Agent installs all files into their respective add-on folder as defined in the *.ard file.

As the SAP Business One Client Agent is (by default) running under the local System account, you do not need to run the SAP Business One client on the workstations as an Administrator in order to copy files related to the add-on.

IV. Difference between standard SAP Business One add-ons and Coresuite? (Back to Table of Contents)

Compared to standard add-ons for SAP Business One, Coresystems is using a modular approach for their Coresuite add-on. The standard Coresuite add-on (Coresuite Installer) includes multiple modules such as Coresuite Framework, Coresuite Designer, Coresuite Accounting, Coresuite Customize, and Coresuite Enterprise Search but also allows for additional custom modules to be added at any stage (via Coresuite Administration or Coresuite Administration Assistant). Each of the modules is "installed" within the respective company folder within the general add-on folder structure. At the time of the lightweight add-on generation via SAP's Extension Package tool, neither the names of the Customer Databases nor of all the potential modules are known, hence they cannot be defined in the lightweight add-on's *.ard file. Due to this, SAP Business One needs to be run as an Administrator for each database when an installation/update is performed so files can be successfully installed/copied into their respective folder.

V. What is changing from Coresuite version 7.30 onwards?
(Back to Table of Contents)

In order to simplify the installation of a lightweight version of Coresuite as much as possible, we introduce a new executable file called coresuiteAuthorize.exe, which grants "Read/Write permissions for Everyone" to files under the folder with the name x86 (or x64) in path %ProgramFiles(x86)%\SAP\SAP Business One\AddOns\COR\coresuite\ (or %ProgramFiles%\SAP\SAP Business One\AddOns\COR\coresuite\), depending on whether you are installing a 32-bit or 64-bit version of Coresuite.
As permissions are handled with coresuiteAuthorize.exe, you no longer need to run SAP Business One with Administrator privileges for the purpose of any module installation/upgrade in any of your company databases. However, you will be prompted once on each workstation to grant the Administrator permission to coresuiteAuthorize.exe during the initial Coresuite installation. Please note that this file is delivered only with a lightweight version of Coresuite installer.

VI. Security recommendation (Back to Table of Contents)

From a security perspective, if users are working in a shared environment (e.g. Terminal services), one user should not affect (or harm) other users working in the same environment. As our new file will grant "Allow read and write for everyone" permission to the folder with name x86 (or x64), after complete installation of Coresuite and its modules we recommend restricting permissions of folder x86 (or x64) and its subfolders in path %ProgramFiles(x86)%\SAP\SAP Business One\AddOns\COR\coresuite\ (or %ProgramFiles%\SAP\SAP Business One\AddOns\COR\coresuite\) to "Read & execute for everyone". This step secures that no user will unintentionally delete any add-on related files.