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Author's profile photo Andre Fischer

How to install a new license in your SAP ABAP Platform Developer Edition

Caution

Overview

Since I am not a Docker expert I want to share how a new license can be downloaded and installed in the new Docker based SAP ABAP Platform Developer Edition.

As an overview I will start with the four steps that you have to perform before starting with screen shots:

  1. Download license from https://developers.sap.com/trials-downloads.html?search=ABAP+Platform
  2. Unpack the license using a tool that supports .rar files
  3. Navigate to the folder where the SAP license file A4H.txt can be found
  4. Open a CMD prompt and enter the following command
    docker cp A4H.txt a4h:/opt/sap/ASABAP_license​

 

Download license

You can download license from https://developers.sap.com/trials-downloads.html?search=ABAP+Platform .

Unpack license

Using some tool like WinRAR (or sapcar ;-)) you can unpack the two license files

 

 

into two sub folders ABAP Demo license and SAP HANA license

 

 

where in the folder ABAP Demo license we find the file A4H.txt.

 

 

Import the license

Open a CMD prompt in the folder where you have downloaded the file A4H.txt where you run the following command

docker cp A4H.txt a4h:/opt/sap/ASABAP_license

 

In order to activate the license you have to stop the ABAP system

 

CAUTION:
Be sure to use the following command to shut down the system gracefully.

 

docker stop --time 7200 a4h

How to include this script into the shutdown procedure in Windows please check my following blog

How to gracefully shutdown your SAP ABAP Platform Developer Edition when shutting down Windows | SAP Blogs

 

Start and let the license be installed during startup

Afterwards you can start your system again using the following docker command

docker start -ai a4h

Within the output of this command you will find information that the ABAP license was installed successfully:

 

 

 

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      53 Comments
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      Author's profile photo Andrea Borgia
      Andrea Borgia

      I've updated it a few days ago with the container still running: it took AGES to shutdown, possibly because the script was waiting for some process that had changed PID. Next time, I'm going to try copying the license before starting the container, for curiosity.

      Author's profile photo Andre Fischer
      Andre Fischer
      Blog Post Author

      Let me know about the result.

      Author's profile photo Andrea Borgia
      Andrea Borgia

      Will do, sometimes around end of june / beginning of july.

      The renewal was done on apr.5th

      Author's profile photo Andrea Borgia
      Andrea Borgia

      As already noted copying the license when the container is stopped works nicely; alternatively, one could notify the system about the change so that you probably don't wait ages for timeouts.

      Author's profile photo Philipp Dölker
      Philipp Dölker

      Been looking for this! Thanks a lot.

      Author's profile photo Jaime Rodriguez Capote
      Jaime Rodriguez Capote

      About the Docker documentation, there is a command to update the license after copying it, without resetting the container:

      > docker exec -it a4h /usr/local/bin/asabap_license_update

      Author's profile photo Gregg Hinkle
      Gregg Hinkle

      When I logged into my SAP ABAP Platform Developer Edition system today I got a warning about the pending license expiration since the license has an expiration date of 11.05.2021 which is in 6 days. I downloaded the license using the above method, but the expiration date of the downloaded license is still 11.05.2021. When will a newly updated license be available so that I can update my about to expire license?

      Author's profile photo Andre Fischer
      Andre Fischer
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Gregg,

      thanks for the heads up. I will talk to my colleagues and will let you know.

      Best regards,

      Andre

       

      Author's profile photo Julie Plummer
      Julie Plummer

      Hi Gregg, hi all,

      For technical reasons, and since the existing license is about to run out, please get your license from here for now:

      https://go.support.sap.com/minisap/#/minisap

      Go to https://go.support.sap.com/minisap/#/minisap and proceed as follows

      1. Choose A4H - SAP NetWeaver AS ABAP 7.4 and above (Linux / SAP HANA)
      2. Enter your personal data and agree to the License Agreement.
      3. Choose Generate bottom right corner of screen.)
      4. The web site automatically generates a .txt file for this system. Download and save this file, eg on the desktop for convenience.

      Then you can proceed as André describes in "Import the license" above.

      Since the minisap site provides a .txt file, you don't need to unpack it.

      DONT FORGET to shut down GRACEFULLY.

      HTH and thanks to André for the heads-up.

      Julie.

      Author's profile photo Gregg Hinkle
      Gregg Hinkle

      Hi Julie,

      Thanks, that worked perfectly. I also had to include the Hardware Key in license request form since it would not generate the license without it, so you may want to include that in your instructions as well. In addition, I issued the docker cp A4H_Multiple.txt a4h:/opt/sap/ASABAP_license command when my docker container was shutdown so I didn't have to worry about bringing it down gracefully after I copied the license. When I started it up again, the license was updated with 3 more months. Thanks again.

      Gregg

      Author's profile photo kyo choi
      kyo choi

      Followed the instruction to the teeth but it's still not changing the dates.  In Slicense transaction, it shows following attached picture.  Status is in red.  Is there something I missed?

      Author's profile photo Julie Plummer
      Julie Plummer

      Hi Kyo Choi,

      Please try deleting ALL existing licenses, then following the procedure described by André.

      BR Julie.

       

      Author's profile photo Kyo choi
      Kyo choi

      Hi Julie,

       

      I think that worked.  It's been installed.  Thanks.

      Author's profile photo Julie Plummer
      Julie Plummer

      Hi Kyo choi,

      Super. Thanks for letting me know.

      BR Julie.

      Author's profile photo kyo choi
      kyo choi

      While taking a power nap, I failed to check the license again.

      Unfortunately this is happening now; sap* cannot delete the license.  And I cannot login with developer or ddic due to "Logon not possible (error in license check). 

      I have downloaded new license and tried following as well which does not seem to change the license either,

      docker cp A4H_Multiple.txt a4h:/opt/sap/ASABAP_license

       

       

      Is there anything else I can do?

       

       

       

      Author's profile photo kyo choi
      kyo choi

      I was able to update the license by changing the license file name from A4H_Multiple.txt to A4H.txt.  With following command the dates of the license changed to 3 months from today but it's still not valid.  Is there something I did not do correctly?

      Author's profile photo Julie Plummer
      Julie Plummer

      Hi Kyo Choi,

      According to SAP Note "2164980 - SLICENSE shows red Status due to reason “not yet valid", one possible cause is that the OS system has the wrong date.

      Check the date and time of the server at OS level, in order to verify that it’s correct.

      That is, executecommand “date” (without quotes).

      The SAP system receives the time and the date from the OS. Therefore, you need to stop the system, adjust the correct system's date/time on OS level and re-start the system.

      If you do not feel confident about doing this, please just let me know.

      BR Julie.

      Author's profile photo kyo choi
      kyo choi

      Hi Julie,

      Thanks for the reply.  I have tried following and date is correct and time zone was adjusted from PST to Arizona.  I have re-created the license file after time adjustment but same issue.  Is there anything else I can do?  Thanks.

       

      Author's profile photo Julie Plummer
      Julie Plummer

      Hi Kyo Choi,

      Is that your Windows OS / date and time?

      If so, sorry, I didn't express myself clearly: You must check date and time IN LINUX (SUSE).

      Please just check that quickly and let me know.

      Best wishes,

      Julie.

      Author's profile photo kyo choi
      kyo choi

      You are absolutely correct.  Somehow the container did not have the correct date.  I had to restart the PC and the container changed the date.  Thanks.

      Author's profile photo Julie Plummer
      Julie Plummer

      Hi Kyo Choi,

      You're welcome. Does this mean everything is working now?

      I see the screenshot, just want to be sure.

      Thanks and best wishes Julie.

      Author's profile photo kyo choi
      kyo choi

      Yes, it's working now.  Thank you so much.

      Author's profile photo Rashmi Sharma
      Rashmi Sharma

      Ona fresh machine, which user do i need to login to be able to delete the license. I used SAP* with password as Ldtf5432. and it doesn't allow it.

      Author's profile photo Julie Plummer
      Julie Plummer

      Hi Mus cat,

      Have you tried DEVELOPER and Ldtf5432 ?

      Julie.

      Author's profile photo Naveen Mahadasa
      Naveen Mahadasa

      Updated the license successfully and able to login the system.

       

      Day 1, Every thing worked perfectly.

      Day 2, when I start the system through docker, getting below error. (Tried updating license again and started the docker. But, no luck yet )

      FAIL: process disp+work Dispatcher not running
      Worker Processes: the start command failed, exit code=2
      The service Worker Processes has failed to start and initialization is blocked until the problem is resolved
      You can try your luck 10 times until initialization is terminated

      Hint: docker containers can be joined by: docker exec -it <name> bash
      Hint: HDB license must not be expired
      Hint: HDB must be running
      Hint: AS ABAP license must be valid

      Can someone, please help me here.

      Author's profile photo Andre Fischer
      Andre Fischer
      Blog Post Author

      Have you followed the approach that I described and have downloaded the link from here:
      https://developers.sap.com/trials-downloads.html?search=ABAP+Platform

      or have you chosen the approach that my colleague Julie described since the licenses from the location I pointed you to were not working a while ago?

      Author's profile photo Naveen Mahadasa
      Naveen Mahadasa

      I followed the approach mentioned by Julie. Downloaded the license from the below link.

      https://go.support.sap.com/minisap/#/minisap

      Author's profile photo Naveen Mahadasa
      Naveen Mahadasa

      Solved by deleting the instance from docker and re-installing it.

       

      Author's profile photo Julie Plummer
      Julie Plummer

      Hi Naveen,

      Thanks for getting in touch.

      Good to hear that this is now working.

      BR Julie.

      Author's profile photo Denis Galand
      Denis Galand

      Hello,

      The key available in the site is expired since the 28th of July, would it be possible to create a new key that is valid?

      Thanks & regards

      Denis

      Author's profile photo Julie Plummer
      Julie Plummer

      Hi Denis, I have just downloaded the license from https://developers.sap.com/trials-downloads.html?search=ABAP. It expires March 31st 2022.

      Are you referring to the "minisap" license?

      If so, please download directly from here: https://developers.sap.com/trials-downloads.html?search=ABAP

      If not, please tell me what exactly you mean by "this site" (URL) and "key".

      Best wishes,
      Julie.

      Author's profile photo Denis Galand
      Denis Galand

      Hello Julie,

      Where do we see this date March 31st 2022?

      I have taken the license from here

      I saw in the readmelicense\Licenses\ABAP Demo license\Info.txt

      Valid for hardware key J1851296352
      Expires on July 28th 2021

      Maybe that file is not relevant, however, I have followed the procedure from the blog (I had to do it some months ago and it went ok) and I have this message in the SAP Gui, after several reboots of the Docker container

      What could be wrong?

      Regards

      Denis

      Author's profile photo Julie Plummer
      Julie Plummer

      Hi Denis,

      I am very sorry; I misread your comment, and I thought you were referring to a different product version.

      We will upload the new license and I will let you know.

      Thanks for your patience and best wishes,

      Julie.

       

      Author's profile photo Julie Plummer
      Julie Plummer

      Hi Denis,

      As a workaround, can you obtain the license from :

      SAP License Keys for Preview, Evaluation and Developer Versions ?

      Then install it as detailed above, by André.

      BR Julie.

      Author's profile photo Denis Galand
      Denis Galand

      Thank you Julie Plummer , and Andre Fischer , that worked 🙂

      Have a great week-end

      Denis

      Author's profile photo Mohammad Saif
      Mohammad Saif

      Hi Andre Fischer Julie Plummer

      License of my SAP AS ABAP 1909 was expired. I tried to get new license from  link https://go.support.sap.com/minisap/#/minisap and it has updated through%20manual%20upload

      through manual upload

      But when I followed steps suggested by Andre Fischer : by importing license and restarting container, it keeps on removing (Maintenance_HDB) license every time I start container:

      HDB: started, pid=583

      hdb_license_update: starting

      ---

      Retrieving HDB license information

      ---

      HDB Hardware Key : XXXXXXXXXX

      HDB Expiration Date: 2022-08-09 23:59:59

      Days to expire : 324

      ---

      Not updating HDB license: the file /opt/sap/HDB_license was not found

      ---

      hdb_license_update: started, pid=1513

      asabap_license_update: starting

      ---

      Retrieving AS ABAP license information

      ---

      SAP License Key Administration - Copyright (C) 2003 - 2016 SAP AG

      System ID. . . . : A4H

      Hardware Key . . : XXXXXXXXXXX (of this computer)

      Installation No. : DEMOSYSTEM

      System No. . . . : 000000000850609884

      Release. . . . . : 777

      Software products: NetWeaver_HDB

      ---

      AS ABAP license can be automatically renewed from the file /opt/sap/ASABAP_license

      Hint: new container : docker run ... -v <local file path>:/opt/sap/ASABAP_license

      Hint: existing container: docker cp <local file path> <container name>:/opt/sap/ASABAP_license

      ---

      Updating AS ABAP license: found the file /opt/sap/ASABAP_license

      Removing the current AS ABAP License

      SAP License Key Administration - Copyright (C) 2003 - 2016 SAP AG

      2 license key(s) were deleted.

      Installing the license from the file /opt/sap/ASABAP_license

      SAP License Key Administration - Copyright (C) 2003 - 2016 SAP AG

      rc of SsfLibVerify: 5 = SSF_API_SIGNER_ERRORS = there are signer errors.

      uResult = 27 = SSF_API_SIGNER_NOT_OK/SSF_API_RECIPIENT_NOT_OK = Signature not

      valid / operation not okay for recipient.

      asabap_license_update: the start command failed, exit code=7

      Application Server: starting

      19.09.2021 14:16:17

      Start

      OK

       

      Now:

      Status%20after%20updating%20license%20through%20commands

      Status after updating license through commands

       

      Please suggest either how to update license of both SW products or how to remove this auto update command whenever I start container.

       

      Thanks in advance.

       

      KR,

      Saif

      Author's profile photo Marc Bernard
      Marc Bernard

      Open a shell: docker exec -it a4h bash

      Then remove the file from /opt/sap/ASABAP_license

      Author's profile photo RICARDO COYLLO MAYTA
      RICARDO COYLLO MAYTA

      If your license has expired and you cannot enter through the SAP GUI, follow these steps:

      1 - Start a4h and copy the hardware key

      docker start -ai a4h
      
      

      2 - Generate key in the following link with the hardware key:

       

      https://go.support.sap.com/minisap/#/minisap

      3 - Rename the file A4H_Multiple.txt to A4H.txt

      4 - Copy the license

      docker cp A4H.txt a4h:/opt/sap/ASABAP_license

      5 - Run the following command and the license will be activated

      docker start -ai a4h
      
      6 - You can check the science with the SLICENSE transaction
      
      

       

      Author's profile photo Marc Bernard
      Marc Bernard

      Precisely. Just a question why SAP can't document it this way

      Author's profile photo Julie Plummer
      Julie Plummer

      Hi Ricardo, hi Marc,

      Have just updated the FAQs.

      It will be published soon.

      Best wishes,

      Julie.

      Author's profile photo Piotr Tesny
      Piotr Tesny

      Hello Community Experts,

      I did quite some configuration on my a4h instance running on my laptop, namely lots of ICF objects, but also saml (saml2) and oauth clients (soauth2) configuration.

      Now I want to export it.

      The CAL documentation at https://caldocs.hana.ondemand.com/caldocs/help/7bd4548f-a95b-4ee9-910a-08c74b4f6c37_Getting_Started_Guide_v6.pdf pages 12 onwards explains that I can do the transport of ABAP object as copies and I am happy with this option. But there is not much detail how to collect different changed objects ?

      For instance, regarding transport of ICF objects a colleague pointed me to the following resource https://wiki.scn.sap.com/wiki/display/ABAPConn/Transporting+ICF+Services and that does the job.

      But how can I transport saml2 and  soauth2 configuration changes?  is it at all possible ?

      I would also like to transport relevant authorization objects (S_SCOPE objects for instance) or the entire authorization profiles ?

      On a side note, the system option that is supposed to enable automatic tracking of changes is ON but that did not result in any transports being created automatically.

      any help appreciated; thx; Piotr

       

      Author's profile photo Jens Seifert
      Jens Seifert

      Hello

      i wanted to renew the mini SAP license on https://go.support.sap.com/minisap/ .

      I become a popup for user and password, i try my SAP universal ID and also my OSS user and password, i also rest the OSS Password but it dose not accept anything .

      Or is https://go.support.sap.com/minisap/  now a user and password scam 😉 ?

       

      Author's profile photo Jaime Rodriguez Capote
      Jaime Rodriguez Capote

      Hi, it is the same for me.

      License from Developer Trials and Downloads | SAP Developer is an old version (expired from July 28th)

      There is some alternative?

      Author's profile photo Jens Seifert
      Jens Seifert

      Hello,

      i tested today and now it works without any user credentials.

      Author's profile photo Jaime Rodriguez Capote
      Jaime Rodriguez Capote

      Yes, it seems a temporary failure.

      Thank you Jens Seifert

      Author's profile photo Claudio Martin
      Claudio Martin

      Hello,

      On the SAP ABAP platform 1909 developer edition, the initial license included for SAP Hana had a duration of a year and a half aproximately. I understand it will expire around August 2022.

      Could someone please advise how this license could be renewed?

      Author's profile photo Florian Weber
      Florian Weber

      Hello,

      I am interested in an answer to that question too.

      If it is possible to extend the hana license of the SAP ABAP platform 1909 developer edition, I would appreciate that very much.

      Author's profile photo Perry Sedlar
      Perry Sedlar

      Hi,

      I really like having my own (local) ABAP Development Platform 1909.  I know I have renewed the license at least once without any issues.  My license expired recently, so I followed RICARDO COYLLO MAYTA directions which worked in the past.  I am able to receive the new A4H.txt file and when I look at the contents it does seem to now show the expiration date is in August 2022.  However when I ensure I am in the correct directory where my A4H.txt file is located and run the command "docker cp A4H.txt a4h:/opt/sap/ASABAP_license" I keep receiving the following error:  "Error response from daemon: Error processing tar file(exit status 1): unlinkat /opt/sap/ASABAP_license: device or resource busy".

       

      I have tried this command both when A4H is up (ran docker start -ai a4h) and when it is down (ran docker stop --time 7200 a4h).  I also checked the permission of the A4H.txt file and it appears wide open.   Any ideas/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

      Thank you.

      Author's profile photo Nicholas Busch
      Nicholas Busch

      Thanks Andre Fischer, this was exactly what I was looking for after my beloved trial platform informed me my licenses are expired.

      Author's profile photo Alexandre Costa
      Alexandre Costa

      Hi guys,

      I just followed all the steps as proposed in this blog; however, after restarting the A4H, I'm getting the following highlighted errors:

      HDB%20license%20was%20not%20found

      Have anyone already had this error?

      Kr, Alexandre

      Edit1: I just tried to install both A4H and HDB licenses separately, as indicated in Gregor's blog post. However, I was not lucky 🙁 
      The error remains.

      Edit2: 
      I realized that I downloaded the licenses using the wrong Hardware key.
      After moving the correct licenses to their respective folders, I noticed the HDB license has been updated. However, on the other hand, the error below is still appearing when updating the AS ABAP License:


      Perhaps I had broken something in that docker image, and I am afraid that can no longer be reverted 🙁

      Author's profile photo Gregor Wolf
      Gregor Wolf

      Have you replace the SYSTEM-NR in the files as I've indicated in my post?

      Author's profile photo Alexandre Costa
      Alexandre Costa

      Hi,

      Just for a quick update, I was able to fix the problem. 🙂
      In fact, I've generated those license keys incorrectly.
      After removing the container and adding a new one, I was able to update those license keys, and as a result, it seems to be working fine.

       

      Thank you Gregor Wolf !

      Author's profile photo Alexandre Costa
      Alexandre Costa

      Hi Gregor,

      I am afraid that I might didn't change the SYSTEM-NR as indicated. I used the same SYSTEM-NR that I updated the HBD license.

      I've removed the existing license file via bash commands, adding the SYSTEM-NR as indicated In your post, but I am still struggling with the same error.