Migrating Solaris Systems to new servers.

[Former Member]

OK here is the secnario, we have currently purchased two shiny new sun t5220 servers for out NW7 systems.

Our current systems run on solaris 9.

The new Systems will be solaris 10.

Due to this the only method i can think of to migrate the data is to do a clean install on the solaris 10 systems.

export the database from the Solaris 9 systems, as you can't clone a solaris 9 SAP system back onto a Solaris 10 box, due to the way 'Zones' and kernel parameters are different on S10.

Then import this database back into the new clean system on solaris 10.

That way, all the patching, config, data etc. etc. should be on the same level.

This will be done using the Sap standard tools available in sapinst.

Unless anyone has any other ideas ?

Regards

James

[Former Member]

Guys!

I was reading this thread.

I know everything work here as suggested by all.

Has any one got issue with SAP regarding the unconventional way of doing the system copy or homogeneous copy (manual steps)

SAP Suggest to use backup/restore or R3load .

if I want to create a trace file manually and shut down database,sap .

copy over data files /origfile/logs from os level to target system and recover the system and install sap.

If you don't use sap mentioned procedure in that case SAP does not provide any support .

let me know.

Thanks in advance

Amit

[markus_doehr2]

SAP Suggest to use backup/restore or R3load .

Yes - because that´s the most uncomplicated way.

if I want to create a trace file manually and shut down database,sap .

copy over data files /origfile/logs from os level to target system and recover the system and install sap.

There´s no issue with that if you know what you´re doing

If you don't use sap mentioned procedure in that case SAP does not provide any support .

If you have a problem with that copy procedure itself you will be on you own. if the target system is running already you will still get support of course because nobody asks you later, how you did the copy.

Markus

[Former Member]

Actually we have come up with a different method, which has worked.

Just waiting on a new liscence key from SAP.

All our SAP storage is kept on our SAN.

We take a snapshot from our current system on the old hardware and create clone of the snapshot.

Mount the clone on the new server.

Setup the users and environment variables on the new server

and change the sap profiles to reflect the new server

boot sap & oracle

We now have sap up and running on the new server, the only slight issue is that SAP keys are hardware related, so were waiting for one of those.

[markus_doehr2]

You´re on the right way.

I´d do an offline backup on the source system and meanwhile start sapinst on the target system and select "system copy using backup/restore".

A guide is available at http://service.sap.com/systemcopy

If you have enough time to do those migration I would do a systemcopy using R3load - this will include then a reoganization of the database

Markus

[Former Member]

Markus,

We are in the same boat - going from Sol 9 to Sol 10 and to brand new hardware. Is this true for all types of (ABAP, ABAP+Java & Java only) landscapes. We knew we had to use system copy for stand alone java and java add-ins, but I was hoping (or wishing) to restore ABAP instances from backup on Sol 10.

-Regards

RK

[markus_doehr2]

There´s no problem in restoring backups taken on Solaris 9 to Solaris 10.

Markus

[Former Member]

If your on a SAN and can use snapshots / clone and can wait a few days for me to produce documentation, ill update the thread with all the unix commands etc i've used.

James

[Former Member]

James,

Thanks for the info. We currently use the method you described to copy instances in Sol 9 world for ABAP based systems. We have an automated and very documented process for cloning instances at SAN sub-system level. For dual stack, we use system copy - export java before the cloning and import it back after the cloning.

We can not do SAN cloning because our new servers are in a new data center and cloning is not an option. So we are thinking backup file systems and restoring them.

-Regards

RK

Edited by: RK on Jul 25, 2008 8:30 AM

[Former Member]

Just remember that the config for SAP on solaris 10 is quite different to S9.

You will have to create 'Zones' on your servers for solaris 10.

A good note to read is 724713 which gives you all the unix configuration settings for solaris 10.

[markus_doehr2]

If the hostname and IP stays the same after migration to the new box and zone you can also do a copy of just files.

- install the new zone

- create users and groups (same IDs as originally)

- adapt/create the project files (/etc/project, /etc/user_attr)

- copy

/etc/hosts

/etc/services

/etc/resolv.conf

/etc/passwd

/etc/shadow

/etc/group

/etc/default/login

/etc/default/telnetd

/export/home (or wherever you $HOME resides)

/oracle (use cpio or /usr/sfw/bin/gtar - cp won't copy pipes correctly)

/var/opt/oracle

/sapmnt (/usr/sap)

and any other machine specific configurations you use (if any).

After having done you should be able to bring up the instance.

I had to do exactly that some days ago when a machine got hosed...

Markus