Before you start a migration towards SAP HANA, you want to make sure that your source system is ready and all components are on the right patchlevel. In addition to this, you want to have everything prepared on the target side, too. This article describes which components are involved and where to get them.
Software Provisioning Manager
The software provisioning manager is the tool you want to use for exporting the source system and also to install the target system. It is important to download the latest version to have all possible features and bugfixes. You can download it from this location:
Check also this article: Migration to SAP HANA: Latest news about software provisioning manager to get the latest information about new issues.
Source System
- SAP Basis SP patch level
When you migrate to SAP HANA, the ABAP report SMIGR_CREATE_DDL is very important, no matter if it is an SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse or an SAP Business Suite system. SAP Note 1921023 - SMIGR_CREATE_DDL: Korrekturen und Erweiterungen für HANA provides an overview about what change is necessary for which product in which release. - SAP kernel
Check the SAP kernel on the source system to make sure it is on the latest version available. At least these kernel tools should be as new as possible: R3load, R3ldctl, R3ta und R3szchk
For further details, check this article: Migration to SAP HANA: SAP Kernel update for the migration
In the following example I use an SAP NetWeaver 7.4 system on Oracle. Due to this, I download the latest SAP Kernel from this location:
Target System
- SAP HANA database
The most important part of the target system is of course the database. It should be on a very new revision.
In my example, I use revision 60 (which is already outdated, as there is revsion 67 already available at the time of this writing).
Using SAP HANA Studio, the version of the database can be checked pretty easy. In case you don't know where to download the SAP HANA Studio, it is in the same location as the SAP HANA client software, which is described in the next point. - SAP HANA client software
The SAP HANA client software should also be on a very new version. Due to up- and downward compatibilities, the versions don't have to be identical.
With the current SAP HANA client software, you already get a LABEL.ASC file when you extract the SAR archive.
Due to this, you can directly enter the path to the extracted client software within software provisioning manager.
Enter the location of the extracted SAP HANA client software archive. - SAP Kernel of the target kernel
For the target system, we also recommend to get the latest SAP kernel archives, as the version on the SAP kernel DVD is older in most cases.
Software provisioning manageroffers a dialog where you can enter the path to the SAR archives SAPEXE...SAR and SAPEXEDB...SAR. Due to this, we don't have to replace the archives on the SAP Kernel DVD.
Enter the latest SAP kernel archives from the SAP Service Marketplace.
Summary
With the activities above, we end up with the following result:
- The latest software provisioning manager was downloaded.
- The SAP Basis SP Patch level is on the right version to have the latest changes for ABAP report SMIGR_CREATE_DDL.
- The SAP kernel tools on the source system are on the latest version.
- The SAP HANA server software is updated to the latest revision.
- The SAP HANA client software is available on the target installation host.
- The SAP Kernel DVD and the latest SAPEXE and SAPEXEDB archives are available on the target installation host.
- Don't forget to set the environment variable HDB_MASSIMPORT=YES on the import site before you start the software provisioning manager.
So, we are ready to start.
Starting Software Provisioning Manager
Once all components are ready, it is time to start the software provisioning manager. How to do this and how to troubleshoot it in case of problems is described in another article:
Migration to SAP HANA: Analyzing Problems within Software Provisioning Manager