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SAP Update/Upgrade - Key points to remember

former_member732237
Explorer
‎03-23-2021 9:39 AM

Introduction:


In this blog post you will learn some key points which every SAP consultant has to consider for smooth SAP update/upgrade in landscape.

Here are these :

SUM selection-



  • You have to select SUM version based on your current SAP stack ABAP/Java/Dual Stack and your target SAP version.( As illustrated in below Diagram )



 

Hardware sizing-



  • For Hardware sizing you have to start sizing assessment a bit early to determine hardware requirement CPU, Memory, Disk Space etc. to overcome bottleneck during your SAP update/Upgrade and smooth running of transactions post upgrade. Based upon monitoring of hardware resources and SAP benchmark you have to calculate additional load to improve system performance.


Downtime Planning-



  • You have to agree and decide downtime requirement with business as early as possible. Only then it is possible to decide the upgrade strategy and to decide on the measures that are to be taken for downtime optimization and to have enough time to perform the optimization. You may have to upgrade Sandbox system/Test system couple of times ( Mock Run ) to tune performance parameters ( for downtime optimization ) and apply different approaches for best fit scenario to reduce actual production downtime.


Maintenance Planner-



  • Please ensure you have latest component information available in maintenance planner on SAP Marketplace (through RZ70,Data Supplier, SLD, LMD) to generate stack file and download required software packages.



In Case of non-availability of solution manager you can directly download component            information using SPAM transaction ( In ABAP System using SAP note 2287046) and directly upload that System info xml file on maintenance planner to generate stack file for update/upgrade. For NetWeaver Java system follow sap note 2293050 to generate system info xml using SUM.

Archiving / Housekeeping-



  • Plan for archiving and housekeeping for largest tables (or) basis tables. An early identification of tables and objects will help to drive efficiency during the upgrade process (downtime reduction).


Backup and recovery-



  • Backup and recovery is most important factor need to be consider during any update/upgrade. Backup and recovery strategy need to be checked and re-defined for the project (backup before upgrade, after upgrade) as well as post-go-live landscape. In case of any upgrade failure you may have to restore your system to return good known state hence a backup in good state condition ( Consistent condition ) is necessary.


Transports to be released-



  • Reach out to SAP development team (ABAPer) in project and Plan to release transport requests which contain SAP standard objects, this is to avoid any object locked error during the upgrade.


Emergency fixes during code freeze-



  • In order to implement emergency fixes and to reduce the timelines for the code-freeze, it is recommended to build a parallel upgrade landscape ( SAP Dual maintenance strategy as depicted in below diagram). Any emergency change that is implemented in production landscape should also be applied in upgrade landscape.




Business functions activation-



  • Business functions are irreversible so once activated can't be deactivate. it is recommended to use sandbox system to explore new functions.  Never play around with "Business Function" activation in Upgrade Landscape.


Add-ons-



  • Dependency on third party add-ons connected to SAP system are to be validated well in advance. This will help us to get necessary support from third party software provider to ensure smoother transition to next release. Please ensure third party addons successor version are available according to SAP version upgrade, if not either you have to uninstall add-ons or third party team has to provide compatible add-ons version software.


Documentation-



  • Allocate enough time for documentation (i.e. Planning, Technical Update/Upgrade Process, Lessons Learned, Issue Log, Downtime Optimization Techniques, Upgrade Time Analysis, etc.,). This is the key for success and would be a reference for subsequent system update/upgrade.


Test that should be performed during the mock-run :



  • Prepare a plan to test the failure scenarios of technical components that can cause all or part of the SAP solution to fail. Failure scenarios should be simulated to develop recovery procedures. A list of each failure scenario and its impact should be part of the plan.

  • Test the connectivity for all of the technical components of the solution can connect to one another as required in the technical design document.

  • The response time snapshot is required to ensure that the system is performing as it was before upgrade.

  • If possible, Run a backup restore on upgraded sandbox system for testing. The purpose of this task is to test and retest the disaster-recovery plan and procedures defined for the production environment.

  • Once upgraded please create a test transport and release, The purpose of the test is to check whether the transport mechanism is functioning as expected.

  • The printing, faxing and emailing test plan is a documented plan to accurately test the all the business critical printers, fax machines, and output of forms.


Conclusion:


I tried to put out some useful information in very simple terms, concluding this blog post here and hoping this will help you to make a better upgrade plan and smooth transitioning of your future SAP system upgrades.

References:


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