OS/DB followed by an upgrade - Big Bang or multiple dates (ERP 6.0 latest patched in 2012)

[pignedolie]

Hello SAP Experts,

We are in the initial phase of doing a OS/DB and upgrade of our ECC system.

OS/DB will be:

Oracle 11.2 -> Oracle 19.11

RHEL 5.1 -> RHEL 8.4

Upgrade will be

ERP 6.0 EHP5 -> ERP 6.0 EHP8

We still have the opportunity to plan our Business testing / Dry-run / Cutover, etc. in one weekend or multiples.

Unfortunately, our SAP software was last upgraded and patched in 2012 and that is why we are considering the OSDB homogeneous copy along with upgrading the application in one weekend. This giving that being supported by SAP would be (maybe) difficult in an interim state..

@Experts – What you be the best scenario for you taking in consideration our 2012 ERP

1. Both done together on a weekend?

2. OS/DB weekend followed by an Upgrade. (couple of weeks delay between both)

I was told that a certified migration consultant is not needed as it will be a Homogeneous OS/DB copy.

Any input on that?

Regards,

EP

[janos_mucsi-besze]

Hi EP,

You are probably done with this project. Is there still anything our community could help?

If not, it is best to mark the best answer and close this question.

Otherwise let us know if there is anything we can help you with.

[pignedolie]

Hi Manuel,

Thanks for the info.

Our system are already Unicode and a conversion is not needed.

We have tried all SUM 2.0 scenario strategies and the standard one was the faster with 21h including uptime and downtime.

For sure, in the one weekend strategy, we can't take the opportunity of the shadow instance (uptime). But the overall time is not a issue.

Our concerned is more related to the answer I gave to James.

Regards,

EP

[mamartins]

One other point to consider is the need or not of UNICODE conversion. If is the case, then the heterogeneous copy is mandatory.

The heterogeneous copy could take longer but is done in almost a single shot and give you a strong foundation for years to come. You could also try to see if the SAP nZDM strategy suites your landscape.

[JamesZ]

Hi EP,

We can refer to service.sap.com/pam, according to this:

you do heterogeneous copy from Oracle 11.2+RHEL 5.1+ERP 6.0 EHP5
to Oracle 19.11+RHEL 8.4+ERP 6.0 EHP5, then do upgrade to ERP 6.0 EHP8..

Or you find some middle db or OS to upgrade DB， OS gradually, for example upgrade redhat 7 first.
then upgrade to 19c db based on redhat 7. then upgrade redhat 8. then upgrade your OS.
The aim is to find middle matrix as bridge, which support you to the target matrix.

I pasted link directly:

https://userapps.support.sap.com/sap/support/pam?hash=s%3DEHP5%26o%3Dmost_viewed%257Cdesc%26st%3Dl%2...

Best regards,
James

[pignedolie]

Hi James, thanks a lot for your answer.

We are good from a PAM point of view. In a 2 weekend scenario, we would only need to update to SAP KERNEL 7.22 EXT.

Our major concerned is doing in one weekend or two;

*Doing it in one weekend (OSDB + Upgrade) ,we are reading blogs that this maybe not recommended because in case of any issue, we will not know if the problems are related to the DB migration or the upgrade.

*Doing it in two weekend, if we have a issue after the OSDB, our system was last patched in 2012 and it can be a challenge for us and SAP to find a fix using the mix of a pretty new Oracle version and RHEL and an old ERP 6.0 EHP5.

We are leaning more towards a 1 weekend approach for the migration and upgrade; considering our software is so old and if we need SAP support they will probably tell us to update the software and see if it resolves the issue.

In a HANA world this is already done in 1 Weekend using SUM DMO. We would like to have your thoughts on what you think we should do: 1 or 2 Weekend approach considering we would be in the intermediate state for about 4 months in a 2 Weekend approach on 10 year old support packs but with RHEL 8 , Oracle 19c and a recent kernel.

Thanks

EP

[JamesZ]

Hi EP,

Sorry I can only provide technical options, I cannot decide which way is better, maybe you can test first... -(

Best regards,
James