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Author's profile photo Mahesh Sardesai

Time Saving tips to import many languages for ERP/S4HANA Installation

How to save time needed to import many languages for ERP/S4HANA Installation

 

When you install languages using Software Provisioning Manager (sapinst) – Each language is installed sequentially and it takes a very long time. Just the install of French language takes 3 hrs 15 min. considering average of 2.5 hrs if you were to install 36 additional languages, it should take 90 hrs which is approx. 4 days. You can use the procedure below to save time when installing many languages required to be installed.

 

1. PREPARATION:

Provide sufficient additional space (36 languages need 100GB) in /usr/sap/trans. There should be sufficient background jobs. Also, take a backup at this point.

The media directory structure is as shown below after extracting the zip files:

vhcals4hci:/media/51050422_LNG1/DATA_UNITS # ls

AR BG  CA  CS DA  DE  EL EN  ES  ET  FI

vhcals4hci:/media/51050422_LNG2/DATA_UNITS # ls

FR HE  HI  HR  HU IT  JA  KK KO  LT  LV NL  NO  PL PT  RO

vhcals4hci:/media/51050422_LNG3/DATA_UNITS # ls

RU SH  SK  SL SV  TH  TR UK  VI  ZF  ZH

Copy the *.PAT files into /usr/sap/trans/EPS/in with this single command

vhcals4hci: cp /media/51050422_LNG?/DATA_UNITS/??/*.PAT /usr/sap/trans/EPS/in/.

 

2. ADD LANGUAGES IN RSCPINST:

 

Execute tCode SE38, program RSCPINST

 

Click on Add Language

/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/blogpost1_879729.png

RtClick First Column and select Set Filter from Popup

/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/blogpost2_879730.png

Click on Multiple Selection

/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/blogpost3_879731.png

Select items from below for cut & paste

AR

BG

CA

CS

DA

DE

EL

EN

ES

ET

FI

FR

HE

HI

HR

HU

IT

JA

KK

KO

LT

LV

NL

NO

PL

PT

RO

RU

SH

SK

SL

SV

TH

TR

UK

VI

ZF

ZH

Click on icon below to paste all 38 language codes

/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/blogpost4_879732.png

Click on Execute and Ok

Click on Select All

/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/blogpost5_879733.png

You will get screen like this. Languages already installed will be shown

/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/blogpost6_879740.png

Click on Check and then Activate. You will get message below

/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/blogpost7_879741.png

 

3. SETUP MONITORING AT OS LEVEL:

 

While the languages are being imported in the next step you will see no job running in SAP.

 

But R3trans processes will be running. The following scripts will help to check progress:

  1. Monitor CPU Consumptionm in one window command :
    top
  2. Count number of R3trans processes at OS level and they reduce in umber as the language import is completed.command :
    ps -ef | grep R3trans | wc -l
  3. Monitor Space at OS level in directory /usr/sap/trans with comma:
    df -h
  4. Count the number of files in /usr/sap/trans/tmp. The number of languages remaining to be imported are approx half the number of files here.
    ls –l /usr/sap/trans/tmp | wc -l
  5. Tail ALOG file in /usr/sap/trans/log. Find out the last ALOG file like ALOG1601 and tail the file to check current date to substitute MM, DD and execute  command:
    grep “S4H.ALL R 0004 2016MMDD” ALOG1601.S4H

 

4. ADD LANGUAGES TO SMLT:

enter tCode SMLT click on create icon. Assuming the box is not used for any other work, as you add each language watch the CPU utilisation and after you reach about 70%, wait for 5 minutes before adding next language.

/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/blogpost8_879742.png

  /wp-content/uploads/2016/02/blogpost9_879743.png

In the above screen, “supplementation” language is a secondary language used to supplement a language that is not completely translated. English & German are only 2 languages which are completely translated. Missing texts in other languages can cause process to crash and language supplementation function helps to replace that missing text with supplementation language text. When you choose English here for Arabic language, whichever text is not translated for Arabic will appear in English.

 

SWPM (sapinst) procedure by default does not add any supplementation language and can be added manually later on.

/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/blogposta_879744.png

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5. REPEAT ABOVE STEPS FOR ALL LANGUAGES:

Add one by one language from below list shown here for Cut and Paste. Please pick the correct ones from the popup list one by one.

AR          Arabic

BG          Bulgarian

CA          Catalan

CS          Czech

DA          Danish

DE          German  – Already installed

EL           Greek

EN          English— – Already installed

ES           Spanish

ET           Estonian

FI            Finnish

FR           French

HE          Hebrew

HI           Hindi

HR          Croatian

HU          Hungarian

IT            Italian

JA           Japanese

KK          Kazakh

KO          Korean

LT           Lithuanian

LV           Latvian

NL          Dutch

NO         Norwegian

PL           Polish

PT           Portuguese

RO          Romanian

RU          Russian

SH          Serbian(Latin)

SK          Slovak

SL           Slovenian

SV          Swedish

TH          Thai

TR          Turkish

UK          Ukrainian

VI            Vietnamese

ZF           Chinesetrad.

ZH          Chinese

 

The screen should look like this. If you are installing 36 additional languages, please ensure the number of languages is 38.

/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/blogpostc_879747.png

6. IMPORT PACKAGES:

Against each language click on Import Package icon

/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/blogpostd_879748.png

Find Packages, Select and Execute

/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/blogposte_879749.png

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7. MONITOR THE JOB:

A job will be launched in SM37

/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/blogposth_879752.png

8. REPEAT ABOVE STEP FOR ALL LANGUAGES:

Check the jobs scheduled

/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/blogposti_879753.png

The process of adding and running all above can be completed in 30 mins

 

9. MONITOR PROCESSES AT OS LEVEL AND IMPORT STATUS IN SMLT:

After above jobs are completed, you will need to monitor R3trans processes as below. The number of R3trans processes reduces as language import is completed.

/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/blogpostj_879754.png

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All above should be completed in 7 Hrs

Following is the typical order of import if you have added all languages in SMLT one after other in listed sequence, The first language to finish was CA – Catalonia and after that in 4 minutes language ET finishes and so on. Arabic Language finishes last.

CA          4hrs8min

ET          4hrs12min

LV           4hrs33min

NO          4hrs36min

FI            4hrs40min

SH          4hrs42min

SL           4hrs47min

HE          4hrs49min

UK          4hrs49min

KO          4hrs49min

HI           4hrs49min

HR          4hrs49min

SV          5hrs

VI            5hrs1min

PL           5hrs5min

RO          5hrs7min

KK          5hrs8min

EL           5hrs10min

NL          5hrs11min

HU          5hrs13min

DA          5hrs14min

LT           5hrs16min

ZF           5hrs17min

SK          5hrs18min

TH          5hrs20min

TR          5hrs22min

RU          5hrs26min

IT            5hrs28min

CS          5hrs35min

PT           5hrs36min

JA           5hrs38min

ZH          5hrs39min

ES           5hrs41min

BG          6hrs

AR          6hrs 10min

For S/4HANA 1511 FPS1 if you are installing Best Practices content, please use Note 2292425 – Removal Language-dependent SAP Best Practice content  to install only the needed languages.

Mahesh Sardesai

Product Expert

S4HANA Regional Implementation Group

 

 

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      18 Comments
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      Author's profile photo Nicholas Chang
      Nicholas Chang

      Thanks for Sharing! good to know!

      however, there's a remaining step - manually supplement every language (38?) with English or German in every used client.

      Hopefully in near future, SAP will simplify language installation and make it more easier and time-saving.

      Cheers,

      Nicholas Chang

      Author's profile photo Mahesh Sardesai
      Mahesh Sardesai
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Nicholas,

      Thanks for your comments. This procedure matches the sapinst install. Supplementation is not required for all languages and can be done later only for those languages actually needed.

      SAPINST already has the installation option and what is missing is the parallel install of all selected languages. This has already been communicated to the development.

      FYI. The development team is will soon release note with workaround so that installation of all languages is not required.

      Cheers !

      Mahesh Sardesai

      Author's profile photo Mahesh Sardesai
      Mahesh Sardesai
      Blog Post Author

      Hi the note to refer to if you dont want to install all 38 languages is:

      Note 2270565 - Activation error due to missing languages

      Author's profile photo Nicholas Chang
      Nicholas Chang

      Thanks for the update Mahesh!

      However, the note is not accessible by public yet.. thanks!

      Author's profile photo Mahesh Sardesai
      Mahesh Sardesai
      Blog Post Author
      Author's profile photo Christopher Geladaris
      Christopher Geladaris

      Hi,

      Thanks for a very helpful Blog.

      Are there any implications installing so many additional languages?

      e.g. significant growth in database size?

      longer runtime of support pack/enhancement pack upgrades?

      etc

      Kind regards,

      Chris

      Author's profile photo Mahesh Sardesai
      Mahesh Sardesai
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Chris,

      There is no significant growth in database size. It's marginal increase.

      Also there is no significant change in runtime of support package upgrade.

      - Mahesh

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      HI

      What was the growth in database size from installing all the language packs? I am advised this could be 1.5 to 5 GB per language pack and would be interested to know exactly how much increase this was in your experience?

      Best regards

      David

      Author's profile photo Christopher Geladaris
      Christopher Geladaris

      Hi,

      Can't remember exactly but looking in the region of 20GB

      Kind Regards,

      chris

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Hi Mahesh,

      I have Installed  S/4HANA 1610 and upgraded to FPS02. Now I am  installing SAP Languages PT&ES. I can follow above steps to do Language installation part but I have following question.

      1. Once we install sap language, do we need to perform step "Language Part from support package" ?
      2. Do we need to perform step Supplement Language in client 000.
      3. If I do client copy from 000 to any new client after supplement language in client 000, then do we need to perform Supplement Language  again for new client ?
      Author's profile photo Uta Hedemann
      Uta Hedemann

      I am installing a system with swpm and saw that the language Import Jobs are still  scheduled  after each other.

       

      Would be interesting if one could change the  language Jobs from planned to “start now” manually  (its’ possible to login via GUI already  in this stage ):

      SWPM_STRALAN_DDIC_CS
      SWPM_STRALAN_DDIC_EL
      SWPM_STRALAN_DDIC_HR
      SWPM_STRALAN_DDIC_HU
      SWPM_STRALAN_DDIC_IT
      SWPM_STRALAN_DDIC_PL
      SWPM_STRALAN_DDIC_RO
      SWPM_STRALAN_DDIC_RU
      SWPM_STRALAN_DDIC_SK
      SWPM_STRALAN_DDIC_SL
      SWPM_STRALAN_DDIC_UK
      etc

      But I am not sure, if swpm will properly recognise it, as start of  Job is normally done by swpm:

      sapinst_dev.log:

      TRACE      2020-01-14 17:11:09.074 (root/sapinst) (startInstallation) com.sap.sdt.ins.component.nw_language_inst.StartBatchJobsAndWait
      Job status of SWPM_STRALAN_DDIC_IT (20205600): R

      TRACE      2020-01-14 17:16:09.132 (root/sapinst) (startInstallation) com.sap.sdt.ins.component.nw_language_inst.StartBatchJobsAndWait
      Job status of SWPM_STRALAN_DDIC_IT (20205600): R

      TRACE      2020-01-14 17:21:09.152 (root/sapinst) (startInstallation) com.sap.sdt.ins.component.nw_language_inst.StartBatchJobsAndWait
      Job status of SWPM_STRALAN_DDIC_IT (20205600): R

       

      (language IT is actually runnning, others are still in status “planned”

      Author's profile photo Mahesh Sardesai
      Mahesh Sardesai
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Uta,

      This was requested already with development. I will ask again..

      • Mahesh
      Author's profile photo Uta Hedemann
      Uta Hedemann

      Hi Mahesh,

      Would be great, if we would get the answer from dev team, that we could release the scheduled LANG-Jobs with Status "planned" manually without bad impact to swpm controls.
      Thanks for asking them.

      Still  approx 4-5 Jobs with each approx. 3-5 h to be done , so still  around 15-25 hours runtime for all language Jobs. If parallel we could spare time... 😉

      Uta

      Author's profile photo Uta Hedemann
      Uta Hedemann

      Via customer message  I got following answer:

      SWPM2.0 SP4 does not have possibility to run language import in parallel. This functionality is targeted with SL Toolset SPS28.

       

      During language import SWPM is persisting the current import jobs, language import progress, etc. Manually interfering with the job status will interfere with the persistency in SWPM. It is not advisable to interfere with the language import process.

      So I'll wait until the serial Jobs are finished (SWPM 2.0 SP04)

      Author's profile photo Mahesh Sardesai
      Mahesh Sardesai
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Uta,

      Lets wait until it is released as it requires elaborate testing. As long as it is in the roadmap it should be fine.

      • Mahesh
      Author's profile photo Uta Hedemann
      Uta Hedemann

      According news of SL Toolset 28 (SWPM 2.0 SP5) the problem with language parallelisation seems to be solved and I am during Installation of a System with SWPm 2.0 SP5.

      Language Jobs are running in parallel now, which is really good. But the jobs seems to be very slowly, the first Jobs run more than 24 hours.

      I can’t see any bottlenecks in cpu  or anything in /usr/sap/trans/tmp.

      Any ideas?

      Update: I found several Messages in /usr/sap/trans/log/SLOG<xxxx>.<SID>

      WARNING: /usr/sap/trans/tmp/SAPKKLCSCA1909S4HOPF6.<SID> is already in use (2940), I'm waiting 1 sec (20200410233040). My name: pid 25717 on <hostname> (<sid>adm).

      but the pid listed in semaphore file  /usr/sap/trans/tmp/SAPKKLCSCA1909S4HOPF6.<SID> is still running   (since yesterday):  /usr/sap/<SID>/DXX/exe/tp <hostname> sapgw<xx> 75693151 IDX=20

      In TRBAT or TRJOB (note  2025815) no entries.
      I will try with waiting...

       

       

      Author's profile photo Wolfgang Röckelein
      Wolfgang Röckelein

      Uta Hedemann Thanks for this update to SL Toolset 28 / SWPM 2.0 SP5. Did you manage to get the jobs to run faster? What was the alltogether run time?

      Author's profile photo Uta Hedemann
      Uta Hedemann

      Hello Wolfgang Röckelein,

      with SWPM 2.0 SP5 I still  had problems on testsystem:
      Due to the parallel execution ans to less batch processes, tp was  blocked by the several parallel tasks.

      I opened  a customer message and was advised to use a special feature of swpm, which I used for installation of our prodsystem:

      swpm with SAPINST_SET_STEPSTATE=true  see https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/2170093

      and have set a breakpoint in a specific step to be able to increase the workprocesses before Installing additional languages.

      When stopping swpm with break point was reached I configured  20 btc processes and 15 dialog-wps:

      # rdisp/wp_no_dia = 10
      rdisp/wp_no_dia = 15
      # rdisp/wp_no_btc = 6
      rdisp/wp_no_btc = 20

      and then proceeded in swpm with OK.

      With that, swpm had no trouble with our 12 languages and  tp processes any more, but swpm has scheduled only 5 parallel lang jobs.
      (originally from sap standard delivery  6 batchprocesses were  configured, so 5 lang Jobs  max were probably  “hard coded” in swpm design. Was a bit disappointing…
      Support wrote, that they have already released a temporary solution by providing an option to change the number of background jobs if you select “Custom” mode. They advised:

      Therefore, if you plan a next installation of S4HANA 1909 along with language installation, you can set the number of parallel jobs to be more than the number of languages so you will have a full paralelizm.

      To be on safe side, we suggest setting a number like: “number of language + 2”, so, if you have 10 language, you should set 12 background jobs.
      The change is released with the latest SWPM available in SMP.

      You might check more infos in readme of the newest SWPM.
      Because of other linux-related problems I cannot say, how many lang jobs took, because we had to change some incorrrect set linux settings.

      SWPM 2.0 SP07 is brandnew accoding note 2568783, might solve some of the lang job problems without need of manual intervention.

      Good luck!