Steps to migrate a R3 4.7 MSCS to ECC6 MSCS system

[AndreC1]

Hi everyone,

I am looking for some good advice and steps from someone who recently went through the migration of R3 4.7 system installed on MSCS to ECC6 EH7 installed on Win 2008 R2 MSCS system.

What we already know is that the SAPInst for R3 will not complete the installation of the R3 4.7 MSCS on Windows 2008 R2 systems. So we anticipate that we will probably need to complete a system copy to a VM system, run the upgrade on that system while we install ECC6 EH7 as a MSCS on the new Windows 2008 R2 systems. Then when the upgrade is done, move the database to the new systems as a system copy. We have completed the migrations on non MCSC systems where we can use the modified kernel.

I would like to hear how you did it, and any pointers you can give us. Links to good documents will be much appreciated. I also would like to know if during the migration you changed your <SID> and system names.

[Sriram2009 · Accepted solution]

Hi Andre

Could you share current environment ?

BR

SS

[AndreC1 · Accepted solution]

Absolutely. Thank you both for your initial responses. I will definitely work through the documents Reagan already sent. Our R3 4.7x200 environment runs on a 2 note Windows 2003 R2 cluster environment. We use MS SQL 2005 as the current database engine. During normal operation, the database server will run on one node and the SAP central instance runs on the second node. We use HP DL385 Proliant servers. The servers are connected via fiber to the HP SAN. The only other solution to our SAP system is the integration with BSI TF9.

The ECC environment will be hosted by all new HP DL380 Proliant servers connected to a new SAN. We are still debating somewhat whether we should go all the way to Windows 2012 R2 or just go with Windows 2008 R2 for now. At this time we probably will only go to Windows 2008 R2 as we have limited go-live time. We will use MS SQL 2008 R2 as the database. Again, due to the short go-live time.

Let me know if I missed anything.

[Sriram2009 · Accepted solution]

Hi

I thing your migration are in two different phases

Phase 1. With Current SAP level to minimum supported Windows OS & MS SQl server with MSCS (May be on Windows 2003 with MS Sql)

SAP Current release to ECC 6 With NW 7.00 SPS level 20

Phase 2.  Migrate the OS /DB either Windows 2008 R2 or 2012 R2 / DB MS SQl 2008 R2 or 2012 R2 and once again perform upgrade from ECC6 with NW 7.0(No EHP) to latest version ECC 6  EHP6 with NW 7.3 or 7 with NW 7.4,

1076022 - Release planning for Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (R2)

1651862 - Release planning for Microsoft SQL Server 2012

Pl check the PAM http://service.sap.com/pam

3. In case your current system connected the any other SAP modules you have to refer the SAP Note

1388258 - Version Interoperability within the SAP Business Suite

Regards

Sriram

[Reagan · Accepted solution]

I have a different opinion on this. It is based on what I have suggested before.

The SAP note 1476239 - SAP system migration to Windows 2008/2008 R2 suggested this:

SAP systems based on SAP NetWeaver '04 SR1 (Web AS 6.40), 4.6 and 4.7 SAP systems:

As you have an SQL Server database then you should refer to the note

1476928 - System copy of SAP systems on Windows 2008 (R2): SQL Server

For SAP releases based on Web AS 6.40 SR1 and lower, you must start the upgrade immediately after the system migration. During the upgrade you must not use the system productively until you reach the end of the upgrade downtime. During the upgrade of these SAP releases, errors might occur in the DB-specific monitoring tools such as transactions DB02, ST04, DB12 and DB13 etc. These releases are not supported on SQL Server 2008 or higher, and you can ignore such errors during the upgrade.

It means you will copy (Homogeneous) the existing system to a new hardware and start the upgrade without doing an SP update before starting the upgrade.

Finally, do a sandbox upgrade and see how the upgrade goes or check with SAP and get this clarified.

Cheers

Reagan

[AndreC1 · Accepted solution]

Your answer is also correct in my opinion Reagan. This is the method we used on the DEV and QA systems, by using a modified SAPInst program we downloaded from SAP. The modification is just so SAPinst does not stop when it realizes it is running on a Windows 2008 R2 box. The original version of SAPinst will stop the upgrade. But, the new SAPinst does not seem to support MSCS on Windows 2008 R2. SAPInst cannot create the shares on a Windows 2008 R2 box, as it is done differently from Windows 2003 and therefor keeps failing. This is with the assumption that you cannot convert a non MSCS system to cluster once the installation is complete. That is prompted me to ask this question.

[Reagan]

What database are you using ? You need to also have a supported DB for EHP7 installation.

It should be possible to upgrade the system to EHP7 after you do a system copy of an existing system to Windows 2008 as there should be temporary support for that. You will need to start the upgrade immediately after the system copy. As there is no indication of the database used you may read the information provided in the note 1476239 - SAP system migration to Windows 2008/2008 R2 I suggest you to raise an OSS message and check with SAP if that is applicable for 4.7 based system also as suggested in the note 335690 - Special Support of DB & OS releases for SAP upgrade/installa

Reagan