SAP Kernel Upgrade from 7.2x to 7.4x

[Former Member]

Hi,

First post in SCN so not sure if this is the right place etc. so please bare with me.

In preparation for a system copy I need to upgrade the SAP Kernel on the target system from 720_EXT to 742. I can't find any documentation/notes on this so trying here.

Is it possible to perform this upgrade manually? ... if so, could you please direct me to any documentation/notes that you deem releveant.

If a manual upgrade is not possible, are you aware of any appropriate tool(s) to use to perform the upgrade.

Regards,

Steve

[hemanth2]

Hi Stephen ,

Hope you are doing good.Welcome to SCN.

Manual pgrades are not recommended, but it is possible to do them.
Check the below guide and adapt it as per your need:

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Kind Regards,
Hemanth
SAP AGS
 

[Reagan]

What is the BASIS release of the target system? Check the SAP note 1969546 - Release Roadmap Kernel 740 and see if you are on the recommended stack level and if yes you will be able to update the kernel to 7.4x. The kernel update procedure is still the same. You need to delete the old kernel under DIR_CT_RUN location and put the new kernel and trigger the sapcpe tool. Your system should be based on NetWeaver 7.4 to use the kernel 7.4x

Cheers

RB

[Former Member]

Thanks for your replay Reagan.

The source system is ERP EhP7 SPS06 on SAP Kernel 7.42.

The target system is ERP EhP6 SPS06 on SAP Kernel 7.20 EXT.

So, in preparation for the system copy I need to bring the SAP Kernel on the source system up to 7.42. Our standard process for system copies is to update the SAP Kernel manually, if required, before performing the system copy. This has never been a problem in the past.

My question comes from the fact that, under the 7.4x kernel, there are significant changes e.g.. there is no longer a start profile for the instance; so would a manual upgrade from 7.2x to 7.4x work at all.

Note that our system copy process for our ERP systems is basically a database restore from source to target ... so as long as the OS, database, and SAP Kernel versions are the same between source and target there are no problems. We have been using this process for the last eight years or so with no problems.

Cheers,

Steve.

[Reagan]

Steve,

If the source system is on NetWeaver 7.4 release then you need to replace the kernel on the target system with the one supported or by copying the source system kernel. Regarding the profiles you will need to adapt them by either copying the source system profiles and renaming them and modifying the port and SID entries or merging the profiles based on the SAP note 1528297 - Merge start profile with instance profile and I believe the note is valid only for systems based on Windows. If you are Unix then probably then you might need to manually do the changes. Is there any reason why the target system was not upgraded to NetWeaver 7.4? This would have taken care of the profile merge. Merging the profiles and updating the kernel are not complicated tasks. For kernel you need to delete the 7.2x kernel on the target system from /sapmnt<SID>/exe and /usr/sap/<SID>DVEBMGS<nn>/exe and put the 7.4x kernel. Refer the SAP note 1994690 - Using the 7.41 kernel instead of 7.40

Cheers

RB

[Former Member]

Once again, thanks for your reply Reagan, it pretty much lines up with where my thoughts have gone.

The target system is a sandpit system, to be refreshed from the production landscape development system, and to be used for a trial implementation of major new SAP functionality.
Our production landscape is currently being updated to ERP EhP7 from EhP6, development and test are done, but the sandpit is still ERP EhP6 and we don't want to have to update it to EhP7 before refreshing.

I'll be merging the start and instance profiles manually by copying over the development default and instance profiles and updating as required.

Just as a note, the <sid>adm .profile file is changed by EhP7 update, and the .sapenv_<host> and dbenf_<host> environment files are no longer used (uses .sapenv and dbenv) so I'll be checking for any required changes in these as well as part of the kernel upgrade.   

Also, just to be clear, these are ABAP only systems.

Once again, thanks for you input.

Cheers,

Steve.