Hi Christina,
In newer versions of SAP, SAPHostExec
saphostexec is an executable that runs under root (UNIX) or the Local System Account (Microsoft Windows). It controls all of the functions for which a special user of this type are required, such as the operating system collector saposcol and sapacosprep. It is connected to sapstartsrv in host mode using a local socket, which ensures quick and secure communication and is also started during the startup of the host.
Refer SAP help Monitoring Hosts with SAPHostControl and saphostexec - Infrastructure of the SAP NetWeaver Management Agents - SAP Libra…
When you check the status of saphostexec using the command
/usr/sap/hostctrl/exe/saphostexec -status
You will see below processes
saphostexec running (pid = 4729)
sapstartsrv running (pid = 4732)
saposcol running (pid = 0)
I guess the relation is clear for you.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Deepak Kori