How to do a Manual Kernel

Upgrade of an SAP Server

Applies to:
SAP WEB Application server (release 2004 and previous releases).
For more information, visit the Java homepage.

Summary
This article shows how to do a manual upgrade of an SAP kernel. With SAP releases prior to O4s, the kernel
needs to be upgraded manually as the JSPM process is not available. This guide can be used for standalone
ABAP servers, standalone JAVA servers and ADD-In servers as well.

Author: Hemanth Kumar

Company: SAP
Created on: 29 September 2009

Author Bio
Hemanth is a senior software engineer, working in SAP for the last 3½ years.

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 How to do a Manual Kernel Upgrade of an SAP Server

Table of Contents
Introduction ......................................................................................................................................................... 3
Procedure: ....................................................................................................................................................... 3
Step 1) Checks to be done before kernel upgrade ......................................................................................... 3
Step 2) Download the latest kernel patch from SMP ...................................................................................... 4
Step 3) Uncar the .SAR files ........................................................................................................................... 5
Step 4) Stop the J2EE Engine and the SAP OS Collector ............................................................................. 5
Step 5) Take Backup of the present Kernel directory ..................................................................................... 5
Step 6) Copy the new kernel files to the RUN folder location ......................................................................... 5
Step 7) Check the permissions of the files in the kernel directory .................................................................. 6
Step 8) Start the J2EE Engine and the SAP OS Collector ............................................................................. 6
Step 9) Check the latest Kernel level .............................................................................................................. 6
Related Content .................................................................................................................................................. 7
Copyright............................................................................................................................................................. 8

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 How to do a Manual Kernel Upgrade of an SAP Server

Introduction
The SAP R/3 or J2EE engine kernel consists of executables that are directly used by the SAP processes, by
the database administration utilities, or by the installation programs etc. Some of these programs can be very
useful even when the SAP system is down. However most of these executables can have severe
repercussions on the server; so they must be executed carefully and by Administrators alone. The steps are
the same for J2EE or R/3 servers. In this case the steps for an ADD-IN server has been explained (however
you can adapt this to your need if the server is a standalone java /abap one)
In a standard standalone SAP server the kernel or runtime directory is
/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/exe/run

Procedure:
The steps to do kernel upgrade are listed below. Please note that if the server has additional instances , shut
them down before this activity. The SAPCPE process will make sure that once the kernel upgrade is done,
the kernel files are in synch in all the locations.

Step 1) Checks to be done before kernel upgrade

a) Find the current version of the J2EE kernel
In a standalone engine, execute the command disp+work -v to get the present kernel version

The Present kernel level is 75 in this case.

Incase the installation is an ADD-IN engine, use the R/3 SYSTEM->STATUS to get the present kernel level

Alternatively, you can get lot more details from SM51->Release Notes

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 How to do a Manual Kernel Upgrade of an SAP Server

b) Note the Compilation mode from disp+work -v (here UNICODE)

c) The Operating system BIT length.

This can be found using "winmsd" (in windows) and "isainfo -v" or "uname -a" on unix servers. Also "tp -
v" will give the OS bit length.

Note: In an Add In J2EE engine, these values can be found by executing the report RSPARAM ( or RSPFPAR) in
SE38

Step 2) Download the latest kernel patch from SMP

Navigate to the below path (or search) to find the files for the OS bit length and compilation mode. Please
note that if kernel version is wrong, then the engine will not start. So do make sure that the correct files are
downloaded from SMP:
http://service.sap.com/swdc
--->Support Packages and Patches --->SAP NetWeaver ---> SAP NETWEAVER---> SAP NETWEAVER 7.0
(2004S) ---> Entry by Component---> Application Server Java--->SAP Kernel 7.00 32 bit UNICODE
There are 2 files to be downloaded from SMP:

a) Database Independent Files

This is of the nomenclature SAPEXE_<Patch level>-<release date>.SAR

b) Database Dependent files

This is of the nomenclature SAPEXEDB_<Patch level>-<release date>.SAR

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 How to do a Manual Kernel Upgrade of an SAP Server

Step 3) Uncar the .SAR files

Uncar the files using the SAPCAR utility and store it in a directory. Use the command:
SAPCAR -xvf <filename.SAR>

Note: SAPCAR is a program executable located in the KERNEL folder itself. If SAPCAR is not working, then copy the
executable from the kernel folder to the location where the .SAR files are located.

Step 4) Stop the J2EE Engine and the SAP OS Collector

Stop the J2EE Engine (from the MMC/ JCMON ) along with the SAPOSCOL service.
In windows, stop the SAPOSCOL service (Start-> run-> services.msc)
In Unix servers, use the command:
saposcol –k

Note: SAPOSCOL service should be stopped because it also will get overwritten by the new file. Also, in UNIX servers,
the owner of SAPOSCOL service is the user "root". In this case, you will have to login as "root" user and stop the
service.

Step 5) Take Backup of the present Kernel directory

Copy the present kernel folder safely. This is important because the activity is completely reversible and
switching over to the old kernel will be possible.

Step 6) Copy the new kernel files to the RUN folder location
Copy the files in such a manner that the RUN folder is overwritten by the new files.

Note: Do not delete any files in the run directory. This is because there may be some files which may not have been
changed in the latest kernel patch and they should still be present in the RUN folder. This will retain the old files for
which the new version is not available.
In Unix servers, use the copy command for this - "cp"

cp -R <source file > <destination>

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 How to do a Manual Kernel Upgrade of an SAP Server

Step 7) Check the permissions of the files in the kernel directory

The Database independent files such as "brtools", "brbackup", "R3load" etc. will usually have <DB>SID as
the owner. In such cases, the owner of the files needs to be changed using the "CHOWN" command to the
appropriate user.
chown [-R] newowner filenames
Also for added security, sticky bit can be applied on the directory. This means that only the file owner and the
superuser may remove files from that directory.
Chmod <1>permissions filename

Step 8) Start the J2EE Engine and the SAP OS Collector

Now the kernel patching activity is complete. The J2EE Engine can be started now (from the MMC/ JCMON )
along with the saposcol service.
In windows, start the SAPOSCOL service (Start-> run-> services.msc)
In Unix servers, use the command:
saposcol –l

Step 9) Check the latest Kernel level

Execute the command disp+work -v to get the new kernel level

The SAP J2EE Engine has been successfully patched to level 102 from level 95.
Also run the command R3Trans -d to check if database connection too is fine.

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 How to do a Manual Kernel Upgrade of an SAP Server

Related Content
1) In a J2EE engines on level NW O4s and above, kernel upgrades can be performed using the JSPM
tool as well. Please have a look at the excellent video post for this:
LINK
2) SAP NetWeaver 7.x Kernel Updates Explained
LINK

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 How to do a Manual Kernel Upgrade of an SAP Server

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