Software Update Manager (SUM): introducing the tool for software maintenance

[Boris_Rubarth]

Software Update Manager (SUM) introduction

Read this short blog to get a general understanding on what SUM is and when to use it.

System Maintenance

The Software Update Manager is the tool for system maintenance:

• Release uprade (major release change)

• System update (EHP installation)

• applying Support Packages (SPs) / Support Package Stacks

• applying Java patches

• correction of installed software information

• combine update and migration to SAP HANA (DMO: Database Migration Option)

• System Conversion from SAP ERP to SAP S/4HANA

The term update is the generic term for all of these activities, and it is used in the SUM documentation as well.

SUM is used for all SAP NetWeaver based systems, so systems either based on AS ABAP, or AS Java, or based on a dual-stack system.

Note: in September 2017, SUM 2.0 was introduced. Both SUM 1.0 and 2.0 are offered in parallel. Check the following blog on SUM 2.0: https://blogs.sap.com/2017/08/10/sum-in-the-family-way/

Note:
"Software Update Manager for SAP HANA" was a different tool (see Distinguish SUM and SUM for SAP HANA).

Successor of other tools

The Software Update Manager replaces tools for upgrade, update, and implementing SPs:

• SAPehpi: SAP Enhancement Package Installer

• SAPup: tool for upgrading ABAP-based systems

• SAPJup: tool for upgrading Java-based systems

• JSPM: Java Support Package Manager

• CEupdateManager: tool for updating Composition Environment systems

• SolManUp: tool for updating and upgrading SAP Solution Manager systems

Availability

The Software Update Manager is available since 2011

• as part of the Software Logistics Toolset 1.0

• in the Maintenance Planner download list

• frequently updated (approximately three times a year)

• The actual available versions of SUM 1.0 and 2.0 are always listed on the SAP Support Portal page http://support.sap.com/sltoolset

Software Logistics Toolset:

Read The Delivery Channel for Software Logistics Tools: "Software Logistics Toolset 1.0" for an overview on the SL Toolset. Check http://support.sap.com/sltoolset to find the latest versions of the tools, the documentation, and the appropriate SAP Note.

Overview on SUM procedure

1. Plan your maintenance activity (Maintenance Planner)
2. Download the SUM and the documentation from http://support.sap.com/sltoolset
3. Extract the archive to a folder on the primary application server of your SAP system
4. Update SAP Host Agent to latest patch level; configure SAP Host Agent (see guide);
5. Connect from your local PC via browser
6. Configure the SUM, especially point to the stack.xml as result of Maintenance Planner
7. Execute the maintenance on your system
8. If adequate, provide feedback to SAP using the prepared form in SUM

Further blogs and information

• The respective SAP Notes for the recent version of SUM 1.0 and 2.0 are always listed on the SAP Support Portal page http://support.sap.com/sltoolset

• Documentation: guides for SUM
  
  
  • SUM 1.1 guides
  
  
  • SUM 2.0 guides

• Relevant information for SUM:
  Best Practices for Upgrading SAP Systems

• Introduction to shadow system for ABAP based systems:
  SUM: introduction to shadow system

• Details about the Process Overview:
  Get to Know the Process Overview Reporting in Software Update Manager

• SUM asks for SAP Notes that cannot be applied?
  Provide SAP Notes for SUM by transport, not SNOTE

• DMO: database migration option:
  Database Migration Option (DMO) of SUM - Introduction

• DOO: deployment optimization option:
  DOO: upgrade and optimize your AS Java based system

• nZDM with SUM:
  Near-Zero Downtime Maintenance for SAP Business Suite Systems

• nZDM with SUM: video from SAP TechEd 2012 (Las Vegas) session ALM216:
  http://www.sapvirtualevents.com/teched/sessiondetails.aspx?sId=3419

• Customer transports inclusion:
  Import of customer transports for upgrades and customer releases available in SUM

• ZDO: Zero Downtime Option for SAP S/4HANA updates:
  https://blogs.sap.com/2019/01/18/leveraging-zero-downtime-option-of-sum-for-sap-s4hana-support-packa...

Regards, Boris Rubarth
[Product Manager for Software Logistics, SAP SE]

[Boris_Rubarth]

Hi Robert,

my recommendation is to use the UPGANA.XML. ProcessOverview.html is not provided any longer.

UPGANA.XML is located in the /SUM/abap/htdoc directory and can be viewed in a browser (if the UpgAnalysis.xml stylesheet is in the same folder).

The new way to view the UPGANA.XML is using the menu More / Utilities / SUM Analysis.

Regards, Boris

[Former Member]

Hi Boris,

It was a kind of frustration when it does not work on one browser :smile: . When the consultant dont have options to try out with other browsers . For me IE9.0 did not work. i have to get the latest Mozilla Firefox and Google chrome and restart the hostagent to launch the new SUM tool.

Still there are some minor issues like the log window does not close up and the "OK" Button does not get displayed. For this i have to close and open the browser again some times.

I am hoping the new patch would fix most of the issues.

Regards,

Ohm

[Private_Member_12198]

When Trying to get the document you reference, I get a "

Sorry, this page can’t be found"

Best regards,

Jürgen

[Boris_Rubarth]

Hi Jürgen,

not sure whom you are adressing with your comment ...

If it is me: which of the 20 links are you refererring to?

Best regards, Boris

[Private_Member_12198]

Hello Boris,

sorry. I intended to reply on your response "boris.rubarth Jul 24, 2013 4:06 PM (in response to Richard Bösch)" on the very first page of this thread. The document you reference is still not accessible for me.

Best regards,

Jürgen

[Boris_Rubarth]

Hi Jürgen,

OK - thanks for notifying. I checked this, and learned that this is a temporary issue which should be solved within the next two days.

Best regards, Boris

[Former Member]

Hi Boris,

Thanks for the amazing blog.

I am currently using SUM SP16 - PL7 and The SUMJAVA seems to be hanging right after the "end of downtime" dialog.

Not sure if you are aware of this issue.

Log file <DIALOG.LOG> : /usr/sap/<SID>/SUM/sdt/log

The downtime phase of the update has finished. Make sure that you have created all required backups before resuming production operation:

<ul>

  <li>Back up your database as described in your database manual.

  <li>Back up the directory <b>/usr/sap/<SID>/SUM</b>.

<html>

</ul>

</html>.

Apr 15, 2016 9:27:35 AM [Info  ]: Dialog UptimeDialog variable handler has been updated.

Apr 15, 2016 9:27:35 AM [Info  ]: Dialog UptimeDialog has been confirmed.

Apr 15, 2016 9:29:15 AM [Info  ]: Waiting for input in dialog SummaryDialog type Composite.

[former_member184955]

Hello Boris,

Thank you for the great and valuable knowledge that you share.

I am having troubles delimiting the "release upgrade" notion.

I will use SUM 1.0 SP16 to upgrade an ABAP system from SAP Netweaver 7.0 EHP2 (SAP_BASIS 702) to SAP Netweaver 7.4 SP4.

Is this considered a release upgrade?

In the SUM guide I see checklists that separates "Release upgrade" from "Enhancement package installation and SPS update".  And I would really like not to miss any pre or post steps because of wrong assignment of my upgrade.

Thank you for your time :smile:

Have a great day,

Delia

[Matt_Fraser]

Hi Delia,

Is your NetWeaver system part of an ECC system? Yes, technically you are performing a release upgrade with what you described, but on the other hand, if you are actually upgrading an ECC system from 6.0 EhP5 to 6.0 EhP7 (which would, I think, include upgrading NetWeaver from 7.02 to 7.4), that's still considered an Enhancement Package Update vs a Release Upgrade.

I know the SUM guide makes a few distinctions in some spots about actions to take for Release Upgrades vs EhP Updates, but most of the process is really identical and it's a fairly small distinction.

Cheers,

Matt

[former_member214380]

Hi there,

we are currently upgrading a system landscape. The upgrade will also take place while the clock change (summer time -> winter time) occurs. Clock will be set back for an hour.

Do you see any serious problems with running an upgrade in that time? If yes, what do you think about letting the SUM rest over night?

Thanks in advance!

Daniel

[Boris_Rubarth]

 

Hi Daniel,
guess it is too late for this year, but hopefully you have seen my comment above on this question (March 11, 2016).
Regards, Boris

[former_member214380]

Hello Boris,

thanks for your reply 🙂 I have also seen the information in the SUM guide. What I don't clearly get is: Can the SUM GUI remain open and just wait... as long as there is absolutely no interaction with the SAP system? I believe, this should be possible, right?

Regards
Daniel

[former_member233996]

Hi Boris,

We have stacked environment for our QA systems. And we are using SUM 1.0 SP17 for updating our systems. Please let me know how can we run update for two systems in parallel.

With old SUM tool it was easy as we were able to define different ports to be used for each system. How can we achieve the same for the latest SUM tool.

Thanks,
Dinesh

[jre_huizinga]

 

Issue with using SPAM after reset of SUM.

What can be the cause the although SUM is resetted SPAM signals

"Currently runs an update process started by the Software Update Manager"

- I tried it with SUM and on OS:

•  reset from the "more" menu


• reset form OS using SAPUP command: ./SAPup gt=scroll

 

Version of SPAM 700 /063

Version of SUM SP18 patch 8.

 

[Former Member]

Hi Shubham,

We are having the same issue.Can you tell us how you resolved this issue.

Thanks

 

[Former Member]

How can we improve the SUM performance during the upgrade, downtime , where can we adjust n of tp/R3load process on the fly,

 

 

[Boris_Rubarth]

Use menu More/Utilities, then SUM Parameters.

 

[former_member473553]

Hi Boris,

 

Thanks for the information.

We are stuck with an issue at SUM PREP_EXTENSION/EHP_INCLUSION phase - in our QA Environment (HP-UX) due to a mandatory component SAP_UI 740 missing for SAP Basis 740- Our New stack came with SAP_UI 750 (during MP stack build, SAP_UI 740 was not available). We have copied SAP_UI 740 files along with 750 - but didn't help. SAP Support is currently trying to help us.

Previously, 5 months back, we have upgraded our Dev system (on Linux) - with SAP_UI 740. We are thinking - what if we reset the current SUM and use the Stack.xml file built for Dev environment on Linux!!!!

We have Kernel binaries for HP_UX - do we have to adjust anything in stack.xml to make it work for different OS versions for our QA & Prod environments?

Thanks

Srini

[Boris_Rubarth]

Hi Srini,

sorry to hear that you experience these issues. Good to see that SAP support is already involved.
A possible approach was to create stack.xml file for a system track, so for several systems in one step - all have to be on same SP level, of course. We do not recommend to manually edit any stack.xml. Please consider the possibility to copy a stack.xml in Maintenance Planner - see the Maintenance Planner guide for details.

Regards, Boris

[GilbertoGan]

Hi Boris, I'm trying to download the SUM 2.0, but on the SAP Marketplace I can only see the SUM 2.0 patch and not the installation kit. I downloaded the installation kit not long ago, did something change from the past few mounth ?

Thanks in advance

[Boris_Rubarth]

Hi Gilberto,

there was no change with respect to the approach: we offer the full SUM archive in the patch area as you only have to extract the archive, there is no real installation process.

Regards, Boris

[former_member803758]

Dear Boris,

Thank you and your Team for your excellent work with SUM. I am currently running into a problem with SUM 1.0 SP26 for HDB/Oracle (SUM10HDBSP26_11.SAR). We have an Oracle 11g database. I am trying to upgrade from SAP 4.7 R/3 Enterprise (Basis 6.20) to ERP 6.0 - EhP6. I obtained this SUM version upon incident request to BC-UPG-TLS-TLA per the Software Update Manager website. I have had an SAP incident (228833/2022) open now for roughly 6+ weeks so far about my issue. We are Non-Unicode on Windows 2008 R2 with Oracle 11g. We are not looking to do a Unicode conversion yet. Each time, SUM 1.0 SP26 stops at the 4% (PREP_INIT/TOOLCHECKXML_UPG) mark requesting specific kernel binaries for disp+work, tp, R3trans, R3load, lib_dbsl, R3ldctl, and brconnect. The 721 Release and patch level versions are no longer available for SAP customers to download. Due to this SAP download availability issue, I did request and obtain the Non-Unicode versions of the specific 721 Release and patch level versions from SAP Software Delivery (Ewelina) per SAP Note 2337629. Therefore, the requested SAP kernel binaries were provided in the SUM Download Directory, but SUM never moves forward beyond 4%. SUM continues to stop looking for those same specific SAP kernel binaries. I have also tried the higher available SAP kernel binaries for 720_EXT, 721_EXT, 722_EXT, & 722_EX2 with no relief. I have with previous tries been able to solve the brconnect issue per SAP Note 2529984 but that is the only issue that I have been able to solve.

Can you, Boris provide any guidance or recommended resolution for my SUM 1.0 SP26 (HDB/Oracle) problem?

*For the Target Release Kernel:*
Download the new non-unicode tools (DB independent resp. DB dependent for
ORACLE) according to *SAP Note 2337629* and put the archives into the download
directory I:\UEV_4.7_SAP_Upgrade_Software.

List of failing tools:

Kernel Type:|exe |J:\SUM\abap\exe
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Code Page:|Non-Unicode
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Action: |Update the download directory
| |I:\UEV_4.7_SAP_Upgrade_Software
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Tool: |disp+work |Solvable issue
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Variable |Current |Required |*E*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Release |720 |*721* |*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Patchlevel |100 |*619* |*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Date |Aug 15 2011 | |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Make Variant |720_EXT_REL | |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Tool: |tp |Solvable issue
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Variable |Current |Required |*E*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Release |720 |*721* |*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Version |380.29.43 | |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Patchlevel |719 | |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Make Variant |720_EXT_REL | |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Tool: |R3trans |Solvable issue
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Variable |Current |Required |*E*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Release |720 |*721* |*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Version |6.22 | |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Patchlevel |92 | |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Date |Jun 03 2011 |*Nov 27 2015* |*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Make Variant |720_EXT_REL | |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Tool: |dbsl |Solvable issue
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Variable |Current |Required |*E*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Release |720 |*721* |*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Patchlevel |098 |*419* |*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Tool: |R3load |Solvable issue
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Variable |Current |Required |*E*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Release |720 |*721* |*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Patchlevel |96 | |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Date |Aug 15 2011 | |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Make Variant |720_EXT_REL | |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Tool: |R3ldctl |Solvable issue
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Variable |Current |Required |*E*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Release |720 |*721* |*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Patchlevel |5 | |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Date |Aug 15 2011 | |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Make Variant |720_EXT_REL | |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Tool: |brconnect |*Non-solvable issue*
| | |Updating the download directory will not
| | |help!
| | |Contact the SAP Support!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Variable |Current |Required |*E*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Release |720 |720 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Patchlevel |17 | |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Best regards,

Morris

[Boris_Rubarth]

Hi Morris,

sorry to hear about your issue. Please create a new incident and provide those information in there.
If you then let me know the incident number, I can see how I can support the handling.

Best regards, Boris

[former_member803758]

Dear Boris,

 

Thank you very much Boris for your help and support. I opened a new incident (359121 / 2022) per your advice.

 

Best regards,

Morris

[ralf_wahlen3]

Hi Morris. Now, i checked the SMP, and found the right kernel versions archived for your ORA Database. Check that out, there is the 721 Kernel version non unicode. And the SAP KERNEL 7.20 64-BIT Version and so on.

WIN

https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/softwarecenter/template/products/_APP=00200682500000001943&_EVEN...

Linux

https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/softwarecenter/template/products/_APP=00200682500000001943&_EVEN...

Unicode

https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/softwarecenter/template/products/_APP=00200682500000001943&_EVEN...

As far as i know, it is not possible to dont konvert to NON Unicode System anymore. EHP6 is not on Unicode, and  near that range. EHP6 is SAP Basis 7.31! Since when, i dont have in my mind. Here it is: In order to be able to use the new SAP ERP 6.0 EHP 8, the corresponding system must be set to Unicode. NetWeaver 7.50 is only available for Unicode.

But why do you use the SUM10HDBSP26_11.SAR? You´ve got testet it, with another version? Our old SUM is called SUM10SP26_6-20006543.sar for MAXDB, so use maybe the SAP SUM Version for Upgrade to EHP6 as a step between, and then the SUM10HDBSP26_11.SAR for the HDB Conversion.

For example: SUM10HDBSP28_2-20006540.SAR Patch 2 for SUM 1.0 SP28 is for HDB

I understand that right, you wanna move to HANA DB as a system HANA DB conversion? Or not?We have an old SWPM_1.0_SP05 left for ORA, but the SWPM is for the Solman 7.1 and others like EHP6 on HANA. So try it with another SWPM, an older SUM for EHP6. Thats my recommendation, because it seens to be here a mixture? Check what does the SUM do, and whats SWPM do.

Check that site from Boris: SUM in the family way | SAP Blogs

https://blogs.sap.com/2017/08/10/sum-in-the-family-way/

Best regards,

Ralf

[Boris_Rubarth]

Hi Morris,

let me thank you through this channel as well: we have meanwhile described that issue in the respective SAP Note 2882395 for SUM 1.0 SP 26 (title of section is: "Kernel 7.22 EX2 not detected").

Best regards, Boris