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Author's profile photo Merlijn Ekkel

BI4.2 New License Key Requirement when updating from BI4.0/BI4.1

Updating SAP BusinessObjects BI4.0 or SAP BusinessObjects BI4.1 into SAP BusinessObjects BI4.2 requires a new License Key

As of SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2 SP2, you will need a new license key to finish up the upgrade of any earlier version of BI4.x. The new update installer will inform you with this during the initial steps of the installer as well at finalization of this installation. This document provides you the background of the new license key requirement, the process to request a new license key and the process to implement the new key.

Why is a new License Key required?

After the release of BI4.1 we learned that support messages often have been address to the wrong versions of BI4.x, leading to additional lead time before a support message reached the correct team. As the available components for selection at the creation of a support message is depending on the recorded version in the system (by the customer/partner), we can better streamline our support teams in supporting your messages slightly faster.

The new license key requires to update the system information as recorded in SAP support system, enabling both SAP and customers to gain from an improved support model.

When is a new License Key required

As not all products from the SAP BusinessObjects portfolio are impacted with the license key change, it may be confusing when a new license key is required. The following products from the SAP BusinessObjects portfolio do need a new license key when updating into BI4.2 SP02 or higher.

  • SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform 4.0
  • SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform 4.1
  • SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform 4.2 -> SP00 (RTM release) and SP1 (only applicable for customers that have been joining the Early Adopters Program)
  • SAP BusinessObjects Information Platform Services 4.0*
  • SAP BusinessObjects Information Platform Services 4.1*
  • SAP Crystal Server 2011
  • SAP Crystal Server 2013
  • SAP Crystal Server 2016 -> SP00 (RTM release) and SP01 (only applicable for customers that have been joining the Early Adopters Program)
  • SAP BusinessObjects BI, EDGE Edition 4.0
  • SAP BusinessObjects BI, EDGE Edition 4.1
  • SAP BusinessObjects BI, EDGE Edition 4.2
  • SAP Data Services 4.0*
  • SAP Data Services 4.1*
  • SAP Data Services 4.2*
  • SAP Information Steward 4.0*
  • SAP Information Steward 4.1*
  • SAP Information Steward 4.2*
  • SAP BusinessObjects Live Office 4.0 (Client Install)
  • SAP BusinessObjects Live Office 4.1 (Client Install)
  • SAP BusinessObjects Live Office 4.2 (Client Install) -> SP00 (RTM release) and SP01 (only applicable for customers that have been joining the Early Adopters Program)
  • Lumira Server for Teams 1.29 or earlier

*For Information Platform Service and depending Solutions (as Data Services and Information Stuart) a different process is in place, please refer to “Updating into Information Platform Services 4.2”

The new license key requirement will only be needed the first time that you install any version of BI4.2 SP2 or higher against a version listed above. If you plan to update a BI4.2 SP2+ deployment with a higher Support Pack in the future, you will not need to update your license key anymore.

If you are running a greenfield installation, you will have the normal installation screen requesting a license key during the install. If you had any BI4.x version before, this also would require the request of a new license key.

Is there a new license/contract required?

NO, there is no new license or contract required to request the new BI4.2 License Key. Any customer/partner with a valid (maintenance) contract has the ability to request a new key. You can request the exact same license key as you have been using in your existing BI4.0 / BI4.1 deployment without the need to renegotiate your existing contract.

 

How to request a new License Key

You can request your new BI4.2 Platform* License Key via the normal process available on the SAP Support Portal. A step by step guide on how to request a new license key is documented in SAP BusinessObjects Solutions License Keys – Step by Step Guide as well as under the License Key Help section on our support page.

SAP strongly recommend to record all of your SAP products as deployed accordingly. If you have multiple systems like Development, Test, Quality and Prod it would be recommended to record each system. By this you would enable SAP to better support you in case of an issue.

*For Information Platform Service and depending Solutions (as Data Services and Information Stuart) a different process is in place, please refer to “Updating into Information Platform Services 4.2”

BI4.2 SP2+ Update Install Process

If you are deploying the Information Platform Services, please follow the steps as provided in : <link> 

The installation of the BI4.2 SP2 Update is no different from any previous patch, with the the only difference of an additional screen.

During the initial phase of the update installer you will be prompted with the following screen

BI4.2 SP02 New Key 01.jpg

You have to select the tick box before you are able to continue to the next step of the update installer.

Note : For deployments of Information Platform Services, the request of a license key via SAP Service Marketplace is not available. Please refer to “Updating into Information Platform Services 4.2

BI4.2 SP02 New Key 02.jpg

Once the update installer is completed and showing the final screen it will provide the following post installation instruction:

BI4.2 SP02 New Key 03.jpg

Note: the post installation instruction screen is dynamic and can contain multiple instructions.

After finishing the update you need to update your license key within the Central Management Console. If you have a clustered system, you need to install the BI4.2 SP2 Update on all systems before proceeding with the next step.

Example screenshot when upgrading a BI4.1 into BI4.2 SP2 (or higher), containing multiple post installation instructions:

BI4.2 SP02 New Key 07.jpg

 

Entering your new BI4.2 License Key

Once all the servers in your BI Deployment have been updated to BI4.2 SP2, you have to enter the Central Management Console of your deployment.

after entering the Central Management Console of your updated BI4.2 deployment and navigate to -> Servers -> All Servers, you will notice that multiple servers are disabled and cannot be enabled. This is due to an invalid license key.

BI4.2 SP02 New Key 04.jpg

To enable your servers, you will have to enter your new 4.2 License Key. For this, navigate to the “License Key” tab of the Central Management Console.

You will be informed that the existing License Key(s) are invalid

BI4.2 SP02 New Key 05.jpg

It is important that you delete your old License Key(s) before entering your new License Key(s). If you enter your 4.2 License Key while the old keys are still in the system you will get an error while adding your license key.

In case you have multiple license keys recorded in your system, you can remove the license keys using a script. The process to remove License Keys by script can be found in http://service.sap.com/sap/support/notes/2276413

In case if you are using Web Application Container Server(WACS) as the only Web Application Server to access CMC or in case of multiple license keys need to be recorded in your system you can add your License Key(s) by script as well. The process to add License Keys by script can be found in http://service.sap.com/sap/support/notes/2281830

BI4.2 SP02 New Key 06.jpg

After you have entered you 4.2 License Key it is recommended to restart you Server Intelligent Agent (SIA) before enabling you servers. For restarting your SIA, please refer the the administrator guide available via http://help.sap.com/bobip42#section4. After the restart of you Server Intelligent Agent (SIA) you can logon to the Central Management Console (CMC) again and navigate back to “Servers -> All Servers” and enable all servers required for your deployment.

Applying BI4.2 SP2+ in a clustered environment

If you are updating your existing BI4.0 or BI4.1 Clustered deployment, please follow the steps as mentioned below to ensure a successful deployment of the BI4.2 update..

  1. Determine you primary system (running a CMS)
  2. Stop all other nodes within your deployment
  3. Update you primary system, delete the old 4.0/4.1 license key and add the 4.2 license key.
  4. Start other nodes and update them accordingly
  5. Enable all servers

In case you are using the default (SQLAnywhere) database for the CMS, please ensure you deploy the SQLAnywhere 16 drivers on the additional nodes for for updating them.

Similar steps are valid in case you need to uninstall the 4.2 Update.

  1. Determine you primary system (running a CMS)
  2. Stop all other nodes within your deployment
  3. Update you primary system, delete the 4.2 license key and add the 4.0/4.1 License key
  4. Start other nodes and downgrade them accordingly
  5. Enable all servers

 

WebI Applet Issue for a few languages in BI4.2 SP2

We regret to inform that a minor issue has been sneaked into the BI4.2 Platform SP2 build (build 1975). If you plan to use the Web Intelligence Applet for the languages:

  • fi (Finnish)
  • ro (Romanian)
  • sv (Swedish)
  • sk (Slovak)
  • zh_TW (Traditional Chinese)

please read http://service.sap.com/sap/support/notes/2294665

 

Updating into Information platform services 4.2

The steps as described above for updating the BI platform into version 4.2 are not applicable for the Information platform services 4.2

Information platform services is used by SAP Data Services and SAP Information Steward, however is not having the option to request a license key via the Support Portal as descibed within the install screen and this article.

Customers whom are updating their Data Services or Information Steward deployment into a version that requires the Information platform services 4.2 will need to request a new license key by reporting an incident (support message) under compenent XX-SER-LIKEY-BOJ.

References

Where and How to request License Key

Command Line License Key solutions

What’s New in BI4.2

Features by version matrix (update to BI4.2 planned for Q3)

Best Practices for updating any BI4.0 or BI4.1 system into BI4.2

Assigned Tags

      29 Comments
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      Author's profile photo Denis Konovalov
      Denis Konovalov

      I love that we have important info like this in advance of product GA...
      Great job.

      Author's profile photo Manikandan Elumalai
      Manikandan Elumalai

      Thanks for Sharing this well in advance Merlijn Ekkel .

      Author's profile photo Ajay Gupta
      Ajay Gupta

      The command line links DO NOT work.

       

      Please update link so everyone can access the content

       

      Ajay

      Author's profile photo Venkateswara Y Guptha
      Venkateswara Y Guptha

      Hi Ajay,

       

      Please check, it has been updated now.

       

      Regards,

      Venkateswara Guptha Y

      Author's profile photo Ajay Gupta
      Ajay Gupta

      Thanks Venkateswara,

       

          Works great now.

       

      Ajay

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

       

      Somehow I was unable to add license key from command line .

       

      I then took server restart and then started ADAPTIVE PROCESSING SERVER forecully from SIA (which was stopped previously) .

      ADAPTIVE PROCESSING SERVER then started , although running with error .

       

      CMC page then finally opened . Then applied BI version 4.2 license key from CMC after registering from SMP .

       

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Thanks for sharing this Merlijn Ekkel

      Author's profile photo Mark Richardson
      Mark Richardson

      Able to request a new LICENSE KEY for SAP BO-BI 4.2 platform - but not able to request one for the CRYSTAL REPORTS 2016 desktop client.

       

      Does it also need a new LICENSE KEY for 4.2 / 2016 desktop release...or is it only for the CRYSTAL SERVER component...?

      Author's profile photo Venkateswara Y Guptha
      Venkateswara Y Guptha

      Hi Mark,

       

      This change is not required for CRYSTAL REPORTS desktop clients.

       

      Regards,

      Venkateswara Guptha Y

      Author's profile photo Merlijn Ekkel
      Merlijn Ekkel
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Mark,

       

      as already provided by my colleague Venkateswara, there is no license key change for Crystal Reports Desktop Clients..

       

      let me enrich the document stating which components do NOT need a license key to complete the picture.

      Thanks

      Merlijn

      Author's profile photo Sathish Rajagopal
      Sathish Rajagopal

      Mark,

      We originally had CR in the scope but removed it later due to complexity and 4.2 timeline. Hence, as Venkat pointed out, some client tools including CR doesn't require this key change at the moment.

       

      Best,
      Sathish

      Author's profile photo Swapnil Yavalkar
      Swapnil Yavalkar

      Hi Merlijn Ekkel,

       

      Is there any provision to use/get the temporary license keys to get BI4.2 installed in the UAT/Test environments for the customers?

       

      ~Swapnil

      Author's profile photo Merlijn Ekkel
      Merlijn Ekkel
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Swapnil,

       

      for the use UAT/Test, you can record the system within the Support page as well. once you have the system recorded, you can request a license key for this system as well.

       

      we would prefer to have all deployments recorded within the support system, to enable better support to customers. There may be situations where you will have various versions deployed, with a correct recording of the systems and there version our support team can better support you and/or your customers.

       

      Let me know if you experience challenges when adding your UAT system in the support system and I'll follow up on this.

       

      Kind Regards

      Merlijn

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Hi Merlijn Ekkel

       

      Can a contract have both a 4.1 license key and a 4.2 license key?

      At our site we have a UAT machine and a Production machine and I strongly want to install 4.2 on our UAT machine and test it for a while.

       

      Will our 4.1 key still be valid after we requested a 4.2 key, so our Production machine will not fail?

       

      Thanks in advance for your comment.

       

      Kind regards,

       

      Christian

      Author's profile photo Merlijn Ekkel
      Merlijn Ekkel
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Christian,

       

      all existing keys will keep on working.. there is no check with existing license keys from the platform to any central SAP system. You can run your 4.1 system in parallel with the BI4.2 deployment without consequences.

       

      However I would not recommend to update you UAT system to 4.2 as this will prevent you from promoting new and updated content into PROD for the period of your validation. In case of issues or required changes, this may become a bottleneck. If you have the availability of a sandbox (virtual?) I would strongly recommend to run the 4.2 validation on such a system instead.

       

      kind regards

      Merlijn

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Hi,

      We are in the same situation, we have a UAT machine and a Production machine on 4.1.

      Until now, we used the same key for the two environments. Firstly, we would like to upgrade our UAT machine to SAP BO 4.2. If everything is OK, then upgrade our Production machine.

      My question is : if we generate a 4.2 licence key and use it in the UAT environment, will it be valid for the Production environment ?

      Many thanks.

      Best regards,
      Sébastien

      Author's profile photo Merlijn Ekkel
      Merlijn Ekkel
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Sébastien,

      yes you have have both 4.1 and 4.2 deployed within your organization over various systems deployments. as long as you comply to the licensing criteria's(number of users etc) as defined between SAP and your company, you'll be perfectly fine

      regards
      Merlijn

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Hi Merlijn,

       

      I have encountered a problem when trying to generate the license keys for BI 4.2.

      We have SAP BusObj Edge BI 4.1 with Data Integration with initial license for 100 NU and additional licenses for 30 NU and 30 CS. The initial installation was for version 4.0, which was later updated to 4.1.

       

      When the new BI 4.2 keys were generated, there were only two platform licenses: one for 30 NU and one for 30 CS:

      BA&T SAP BObj BI, Edge ed. NUL add-on XI 4.2

      BA&T SAP BObj BI, Edge edition (CS) XI 4.2

       

      I opened an incident with SAP Support to ask for our 100 named user license, but after few emails the support consultant wrote to me:

      "Key for product 7009745 was issued for SAP BusObj Edge

      BI, std. pack. (10 USR) x 10, total 100 users.  This license agreement

      was replaced by the new license agreement for the CS and user licenses

      so you no longer have these 100 user licenses and cannot upgrade these

      to a new release.

      The licenses you must now deploy are the licenses in your current

      agreement.

      The licenses for SAP BusObj Edge BI, std. pack. (10 USR) x 10 have

      been cancelled - if there is a query on this please contact your

      Account Manager at SAP."

       

      First of all, I don't believe SAP would just cancel licenses without prior notice. Second, if there is a new license agreement, shouldn't we be informed of it as a customer to that agreement?

       

      So, I did a bit of digging and found SAP Note 1854284 - SAP BusinessObjects license upgrade required. It says that in some cases the old licenses have to be converted before new license keys are accessible. Contact SAP Account Manager.

       

      Please clarify this for me. I am going to contact SAP Account Manager.

      If the above note is the resolution, I hope it helps other people and saves their time.

       

      Regards,

      Minka Tinkova

      Author's profile photo Merlijn Ekkel
      Merlijn Ekkel
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Minka,

       

      I'm sorry to hear you having troubles in requesting your BI4.2 license keys. I'll follow up with the teams responsible for the license to check what are the criteria's for the situation you are facing and update the document accordingly.

       

      Kind Regards

      Merlijn

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Hey Merlijn,

      Thanks for the post and like many here I went ahead and upgraded my DEV environment to 4.2 SP3 today but have some issues. Upon completion of installation, when trying to run any existing webi reports in launchpad, I get the  404 missing page error and when accessing webi from application in the launchpad I get the "??dummy.action.Launch_webiapplication.display.name??" and same happens under CMC applications when I right click on WebIntelligence. I went thru some forums and notes and sounds like it has to do with the License Key. I requested a new license key and updated in CMC. Do you know what could possibly be causing this issues?

      Thanks for the help.

      Azmath

      Windows R2 2008
      Tomcat
      Upgraded from 4.1 SP2 to 4.2 SP3

      Author's profile photo Merlijn Ekkel
      Merlijn Ekkel
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Azmath,

      sounds like the Web Apps deployment has not been successful.
      I would recommend to check the WebApps Deployment guide for a redeployment of your BI Launchpad (BOE)

      Kind Regards
      Merlijn

      Author's profile photo Pulendar Vadde
      Pulendar Vadde

      Hi Gurus,

      I have question related 4.2 License. Currently we are on 4.1 BA&T SAP BusinessObjects BI Suite (CS). Is there any additional cost, If I request Test key for 4.2 version to test on one our sandbox.

      Regards,
      Pulendar

      Author's profile photo Merlijn Ekkel
      Merlijn Ekkel
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Pulendar,

       

      If a maintenance contract is in place, there are no costs involved in requesting a new license key for BI4.2.

       

      Kind Regards

      merlijn

      Author's profile photo Edwin Vargas
      Edwin Vargas

      Merlijn,

      In the middle of the article, you say, “After finishing the update you need to update your license key within the Central Management Console. If you have a clustered system, you need to install the BI4.2 SP2 Update on all systems before proceeding with the next step.”  The next step is updating the license key.  You seem to be saying, “Update all your nodes, then update your license key info”.

       

      At the bottom you said,

      If you are updating your existing BI4.0 or BI4.1 Clustered deployment, please follow the steps as mentioned below to ensure a successful deployment of the BI4.2 update..

      1.Determine you primary system (running a CMS)

      2.Stop all other nodes within your deployment

      3.Update you primary system, delete the old 4.0/4.1 license key and add the 4.2 license key.

      4.Start other nodes and update them accordingly

      5.Enable all servers

       

      In this section, you seem to be saying, “update the first/primary node, then update your license key info, then update your other node(s).”  These two sections in the document seem to be contradictory.  Am I not understanding the instructions correctly?  Can you give a simple answer as the proper order or installation?

      Thanks

      Author's profile photo Edwin Vargas
      Edwin Vargas

      Hello,

      We currently have 4.1 SP7 with 5 concurrent licenses and 35 named licenses.  We are upgrading to 4.2 SP3 and we have decided to change our license structure around.  We will have 40 concurrent licenses, and 15 named licenses.  Since we will have less named licenses after the upgrade, does anyone know what will happen?  Do we need to change 20 users from Named to Concurrent before we upgrade, or will that happen automatically during the upgrade?  Like for example – BO will pick the first 20 named licenses it finds and switch them to concurrent…  ???

      Thanks

       

      Author's profile photo Torfi Ólafur Sverrisson
      Torfi Ólafur Sverrisson

      Hi Merlijn

      According to https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/2320261/E it seems as IPS 4.2 SP4 does not require new license key.

      Do you know if this is correct?

      Regards, Torfi

      Author's profile photo Torfi Ólafur Sverrisson
      Torfi Ólafur Sverrisson

      Guess by now I can provide my self with an answare to this question, the license issue has not been fixed in IPS 4.2 SP04.

      I tried to use this release to aviode issues related to the license key.

      After the upgrade the servers where running and enabled, but after restart the became disable and I was not able to enable them and when I checked the license key it was invalid.

      So the concludion is that for the IPS 4.2 SP04 release you need to requiest a new license key.

      Torfi

      Author's profile photo Pranav Samudra
      Pranav Samudra

      Hi Torfi,

      How did you generate the new license key, we recently updated to BOBJ 4.2 SP4 release. However now when i request new license key, it's only giving me the option to select named users and doesn't show the concurrent users option anymore. When I imported the license, it shows up the concurrent user count as 0 and when I tried to login with my BW user into BOBJ, it gave me the message

      Account information not recognized: All of your system's 0 Concurrent Access Licenses are in use at this time or your system's license key has expired. Try again later or contact your administrator to obtain additional licenses. (FWB 00014)
      Thanks in advance!
      Regards,
      Pranav
      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Hey man thanks a lot for your information. Just in case on https://support.sap.com/en/my-support/keys.html