Move central instance from Windows 2003 to Windows 2012R2

[Former Member]

Based upon OSS notes that I have seen, it appears that SAP only supports the homogeneous system copy method for moving an SAP instance from a Windows 2003 server to a Windows 2012R2 server. using the magic of VMware, I actually upgraded my Windows 2003 server to 2008, then 2012R2 and everything works fine. With that said, I want to test the homogeneous system copy method. My problem is finding a clearly-documented procedure for doing this. Here is what i want to do:

Take Server1 running Windows 2003 and central instance DVEBMGS00 and now run it on Server2 running Windows 2012R2. Note that the computer name will remain the same. I will simply take Server1 down and bring up Server2. My database is DB2 on z/OS. I also run the central services (message and enqueue servers on z/OS (under Unix System Services). My concern about the system copy is that the database is totally separate from the SAP instance on the Windows server. My SAP system is a dual-stack (ABAP+Java) BI.

What I did:

On server1, I ran SWPM's sapinst from the path:

..System-Copy>IBM DB2 for z/OS>Source System Export>Central System>Based on AS ABAP and AS Java>Database and Central Instance Export.

Once this completed, I copied the export folder to Server2. I shutdown server1.

I started up Server2 and then ran SWPM's sapinst from the path:

..System-Copy>IBM DB2 for z/OS>Target System Installation>Central System>Based on AS ABAP and AS Java>Central System

This ultimately failed and my concerns are that the dialogs request a lot of parameters that do not seem pertinent to just laying down a new central instance on this server (Server2).

My question, if there a simple way to just run the central instance on a new server? I actually tested creating a new Dialog instance and then just renaming the file structure (D00 to DVEBMGS00) and that appears to work fine (keeping the old profiles).

Advice and insight appreciated,

Bill

[Reagan · Accepted solution]

Instead of doing an export and import have you tried the DB specific backup and restore option?

When you run sapinst for the target system installation you have the option to select R3load based or Homogeneous system copy (DB specific backup and restore). If you select this sapinst will prompt for the DB backup restore. As the DB host is not getting changed you can continue from here. As the hostname and SID of the system remain unchanged you can copy the contents of the j2ee directory to the new server.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thank you for your response, but I need clarification on your statements "When you run sapinst for the target system installation you have the option to select R3load based or Homogeneous system copy (DB specific backup and restore). If you select this sapinst will prompt for the DB backup restore. As the DB host is not getting changed you can continue from here."

My sapinst has 2 options for target database: 1) Standard System Copy / Migration (load-based)  -OR-  2) Homogeneous System Copy (Database copy method).

Option 1 is the default. Is that the option you are suggesting?

[Reagan · Accepted solution]

I am suggesting the option 2 - Homogeneous System Copy (Database copy method).

If you select this option the installer will prompt for restore of the database at one stage.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Yeah, that is the option I tried. I don't need to restore the database though. It resides on the mainframe and nothing in it changes. Really all I need is the directory structure for /usr/sap, the sidadm environment variables and the SAP services. Really what I am doing is installing a new dialog instance but I want it name DVEBMGS00 instead of D00. Seems like sapinst would have a simpler option to accomplish what I want. It was easier for me to install a dialog instance and then just rename the directory and appropriate path variables.

Bill

[Reagan · Accepted solution]

The target system creation using sapinst is the only option I am aware of. The other possibility is to create a dialog instance (which you have already tried) and then rename the directories and recreate the SAP services under services.msc and registry entries. You will need to put the profiles of the old system in the new server.

[Reagan · Accepted solution]

The other thing I could think of is to set up the CI on Linux. The advantage here is that when there is a need to upgrade the OS or migrate to a newer hardware with Linux you can easily do a filesystem copy for the SAP file systems and avoid the installation procedure. I am sure it can be fixed on Windows as well.

Good Luck