what is the difference between normal Kernel 7.20 and the Kernel 7.20 EXT

[christoph_ostrop]

what is the difference between the normal Kernel 7.20 and the Kernel 7.20 EXT

and please, do not post only a link to sap-note 1553300 or 1553301 ,

unfortunately, there's a lot of vaguely and unclear text in these sap notes, but

nothing that describes the difference between the "normal" and the "extended" kernel,

is EXT only another word for downward-compatible Kernel or is it more than this?

any helpful and understandable explanation of the difference? "normal" Kernel 7.20 and the Kernel 7.20 EXT

[nils_buerckel]

Hi,

please check SAP note 1591607.

Kernel 7.20_EXT is a MUST for SAP Netweaver 7.03 / 7.31.

However it is also downward compatible to NW releases listed in SAP note 1553300.

Best regards,

Nils Buerckel

[christoph_ostrop]

sorry, but this answer is not helpful,

what is the difference between normal Kernel 7.20 and the Kernel 7.20 EXT

isn't it possible to describe this in understandable words ....

[Former Member]

> isn't it possible to describe this in understandable words ....

[Mode sarcastic on]

You're speaking about SAP technology..

If it was too easy to understand, how would you justify the high consulting costs ?

[Mode sarcastic off]

That said, I agree that the explanations are absolutely not clear.

The kernel releases are now a mess. We were used to higher releases of kernels against abap releases.

Kernel 6.40 used for WAS 6.20 for exemple.

But using a Kernel 7.20 for Netweaver 7.30 is just silly.

Until clear explanations, I will not use kernel 7.20EXT on my systems...

Regards,

Olivier

[markus_doehr2]

> sorry, but this answer is not helpful,

> what is the difference between normal Kernel 7.20 and the Kernel 7.20 EXT

> isn't it possible to describe this in understandable words ....

Note 1553300 - 7.20 EXT Kernel - Extended Kernel Maintenance

<...>
When the OS or the compiler which are used during the builds 
run out of vendor support customers could run into a support problem.
 SAP therfore needs to provide a newer kernel which is built 
with the newer / supported version of the OS and compiler
<...>

So basically this means that the kernel 720_EXT is the same as 720 aside from the fact, that is was built using newer compilers - and hence may require newer runtimes on the operating systems.

Markus

[Former Member]

Christoph,

Recheck the note mentioned earlier (1553300):

"SAP Kernels are built on a specific version of the Operating System and compiler.

When the OS or the compiler which are used during the builds run out of vendor support customers could run into a support problem. SAP therfore needs to provide a newer kernel which is built with the newer / supported version of the OS and compiler.

Against this background, an update of the SAP kernel make environment is required from time to time resulting in newer kernels being made available for the customer. Using these newer kernels ensures that customers can operate a fully supported environment at all times.

From a compliance perspective it is important that a customer environment is a fully supported one. Some of the compliance regulations (SOX, FDA) also require that customers use supported software environments."

Then, the difference is that the EXT kernels are compiled in a fully supported environment (OS and DB).

Cheers,

Diego.