Considerations when upgrading from RHEL 5.7 -> 6.3 on x86_64

[john_studdert]

Does anyone have any specific gotchas or general considerations to bear in mind when moving from RHEL 5.x to 6.x on x86_64, running:

-Oracle RAC 11g R2 (v11.2.0.2 though we'll probably have to move to 11.2.0.3 as part of this)

-SAP NetWeaver 7.01 (multiple different modules, ABAP and Java stacks, 701 64bit Unicode kernel)

-SAP NetWeaver 7.30 (Java stack, 720_EXT 64bit Unicode kernel)

-NetApp

We've compiled a list of relevant SAP notes, reviewed the install guides for NetWeaver amongst other things but as part of that research a quick question to the forums is often useful as well! If you've been through a similar upgrade (even just moving from RHEL 5.x -> 6.x with any version of SAP/DBMS/hardware) I'd be grateful if you can share your experiences.

Thanks,

J

[john_studdert · Accepted solution]

Just to close this out I'll add a few other specific notes that we made when reprovisioning servers to the newer OS version:

• Backup and restore SSH keys (particularly important if you're using some kind of centralised monitoring that would be interrupted by new SSH keys)
• Ensure your reprovisioning accounts for mounting any necessary mount points
• User default for umask has changed in RHEL 6
• Check user-specific/system-wide timezone setting
• RHEL 6 moved to using Upstart so ensure you have provided .conf files in /etc/init for your services

Some of these are RHEL 6 specific and some are general items to check when reprovisioning. We have much more detailed notes of course but these are some of the highlights to watch out for.

[john_studdert]

One addendum: an interesting question is around whether Oracle 11g 11.2.0.3 is required for RHEL 6.x. This is stated clearly in SAP note 1496410:

• At least Oracle 11.2.0.3 is required.

But SAP note 527843 seems to imply that 11.2.0.1/2 RAC are supported on RHEL 6.x depending on the filesystem used(!). PAM only states that Oracle 11g R2 is supported without giving a patch level.

Looking here: http://www.idevelopment.info/data/Oracle/DBA_tips/Linux/LINUX_23.shtml it looks like Oracle 11.2.0.3 and RHEL 6.x were only supported together from May of this year. Effectively that means if you want to use Oracle that RHEL 6.x has only been an option since May. I'm surprised not to be able to find more about this in the forums or elsewhere.

Does anyone have any more background info on this?

[john_studdert]

We've established to a reasonable level at this point that Oracle 11.2.0.3 is required. Another SAP note that explicitly states this is 1431800. SAP have also replied confirming for us that Oracle themselves maintain that only 11.2.0.3 is supported with RHEL 6.x.

We're currently still undergoing testing of changes on 6.x. I'll update this thread myself with any interesting findings after we complete the next phase of the move to this version.