How to perform Support Package Upgrade for

ABAP
Assumption
These steps are based on the assumption that you are familiar with SAP BASIS
technology and terminology for BASIS, Web AS (WAS) with versions 610, 620, 640,
700 and 710 as well as <sid>adm user id on the operating system. You also have to
familiar with BASIS terms such as Clients, transaction codes (tcodes). We would also
like to mention that this document does not guarantee a successful implementation
of Support Packages as some scenarios may be different however this document has
been made by experienced SAP Consultant(s) who have gone through the Support
Package exercise several times and have entered the details based on what they
have come across in real life scenario.
This document consists of instructions and screen shots of how to add a new
component in SAP (add-on) as well as how to import Support Package for the add-on
component(s).

Background
Every SAP Product (R/3, BW, APO, XI, PI, etc) have their own versions (ex: R/3 4.6, R/3
4.7, BW 3.5 or BI 7.0 etc) and each SAP product comprises of several System
Components which in turn have their own versioning and levels (Support Package
level) like standard components: SAP_BASIS620 0064, SAP_ABAP700 0015,
SAP_APPL470 0020 etc or Add-ons like OTEXBAS, OTEXERP etc.
Every often, SAP releases a newer version of these System Components which we
have to upgrade known as Support Package Upgrade.
The existing Support Package version in SAP can be viewed using the menu option
System Status and then clicking the magnifying glass icon in the section “SAP
System data” to come to this screen as shown below. The software component shows
the System Component, the Release is the version and Level is the current Support
Package level we are on for that particular Software component

There might be a dependency between the Software Components which has to

known by BASIS folks either by checking the SAP Marketplace or when they are
defining the queue for Support Packages the system will prompt them if they are
missing any dependent component or pre-requisites.

Pre Requisites
Make sure you have a good Database backup taken which can be verified either from
DB13 transaction code or from DB14. This can also be confirmed by checking with
your DBA’s. Support Packages may bring your system to a stand still situation so it is
always good to have a good backup which you can restore to in case the need arises.
Support Package files (the *.SAR or *.CAR files for the relevant Component and
Release level) is downloaded from SAP Service Market Place (SMP) and would require
an SAP OSS ID or Marketplace ID (Sxxx) which is obtained from the customer where
you are working as an SAP BASIS person. The web address for SMP is
http://service.sap.com and we will assume that everyone has access to the Market
Place to download the required files.

What to Download and where to Download from?

Depending on which component(s) you want to upgrade the Support Package level
for, you have to go to that section. We have taken an example of SAP_APPL
component to show where you can download from. In the later section below we have
shown how to add new System components called Add-ons to your existing SAP
System and how to apply Support Packages for those components. The add-ons are
available from SAP marketplace as well as from your vendor in the form of *.SAR or
*.CAR files.

Once you have authenticated on the Service Marketplace, go to the following path:
Downloads  SAP Software Distribution Center  Download  Support
Packages and Patches Entry by Application Group

On the right hand side, click on “Application Components”

Click on “SAP R/3 ENTERPRISE” since in our example we have to download

SAP_APPL component for SAP R/3 Enterprise system
We have selected SAP R/3 ENTERPRISE 47x200 as that is the version we are on
currently in our Landscape. You have to select based on your product/release version

Select “Entry by Component” and then “SAP R/3 Enterprise Server”

Select “SAP_APPL 4.70” since you want to download the latest Support Package file
for this component
You will be presented with a download page and depending on what level you want to
upgrade your support packages, you will have to download all the files to that level to
(example you want to go from Level 20 to Level 22, you have to download Level 21
and Level 22 both as ABAP support packages are non-cumulative and you have to
apply all the files unlike Java Support packages which is cumulative and you only
apply the latest files which is shown in Java Support Packages section)

Note, you also have option to add to download basket and later download it from
there. The Download basket can be installed on your local PC and needs some
configuration step (not shown here) to connect from your desktop PC to the Service
Market Place
Once you download the required files on your desktop, you will have to ftp/move
them to /usr/sap/trans/ directory (Transport Directory of your SAP Operating
System).

Note: Moving the files to /usr/sap/trans is important, the reason for which is
mentioned in below sections.

Also remember to change the permission of the *.SAR files to read/write/execute by

<sid>adm using
chmod 755 command

The files that you have downloaded and moved to the /usr/sap/trans directory are in
the format of *.SAR or *.CAR extensions, which are SAP extensions for something like
Zip or RAR where files are compressed and we need to uncompress them using a
utility called “SAPCAR” which is present in the /sapmnt/<SID>/exe directory referred
to as kernel directory or run directory as shown below (example)

cd /usr/sap/trans (It is important to be in this directory as we have copied

our Support Packages file(s) into this directory)
/sapmnt/<SID>/exe/SAPCAR –xvf SAP_APPL470_*.SAR (execute the SAPCAR
command to uncompress the Support Packages file(s))

The above command will extract the Support package file (mostly into 2 files with
extension *.ATT and *.PAT). These files are automatically placed in
/usr/sap/trans/EPS/in directory which is the import directory for Support Packages.
When we apply/import the Support Packages in SAP, it looks for the
extracted/uncompressed files in the “/usr/sap/trans/EPS/in” directory

NOTE: For newer patches, Support packages, Kernel files, Software, etc it may not be
possible to directly download the files from Marketplace unless you use Solution
Maintenance Optimizer to approve it. Once it is approved in Solution Manager
System, you will be able to add/download it using Download Basket on your local PC.
The Solution Manager Optimizer approval is not shown in this section.
All other steps are now mentioned in the below section

Performing the Support Package Component Installation and

Upgrade

This section is broken down into two sub sections, the first section shows how
to add a new Add-On using transaction code SAINT in client 000 and the
second section shows how to add/import support package(s) to the newly
added component

Section 1 - Add Component using SAINT transaction

Login to Client 000 of the SAP system you would like to Add the Component to using transaction
SAINT.

Select the menu option: Installation Package  Load Packages  From application server

Note: the above option looks for the extracted Support Packages file in the /usr/sap/trans/EPS/in
directory

Click Yes

Click the Start button to go to the next screen

Select the Component you would like to install (in our example we are installing an add-on
component called “OTEXBAS”. Select this line and click “Continue”

Select Continue. Here we are not selecting any value(s) in the drop down box of “Target Support
Package” because we will be doing this later using transaction code SPAM, hence we just click
Continue as we are installing a new component here and not adding any Support Packages at
this moment
Click Continue

In this screen, if there is a password which is required to install the component you will have to
login to SAP Marketplace and go to the SAP Note to get the password. Click the Green check
mark to continue once you have entered the password
Click the Green Check mark to start the installation process. We have selected the Start options
and made sure that the installation process continues in Background. If you intend to use Dialog
options, please select the “Start Options” button and change the Background to Dialog and
continue.

The below screen shows the progress of your installation and you can click the refresh icon to
refresh the status which is visible in the Status/Remarks section below.
Once the installation is complete, you will see a success message as shown in the
Status/Remarks section. Click Finish to finish the installation

The below screen confirms that the Add-on was installed successfully. You can then click Start
button if you have more components to install and follow the steps/screens as shown in the
above sections.
Section 2 – Import Support Packages to the newly added Components using SPAM
transaction
This section shows step by step instruction on how to upgrade your existing System
Components to a new level. This process is called “Applying Support Packages” and we
will see how we can upgrade an existing component (OTEXBAS in our case) using
transaction SPAM. We will assume that the necessary Support Packages file have been
downloaded from the SAP marketplace or made available from your vendor. These files
will then have to be uncompressed/uncarred using SAPCAR utility and available in
/usr/sap/trans/EPS/in directory.

Execute transaction code SPAM in client 000 and Load the support packages from the
Application Server using the following menu path:
SPAM  Support Package  Load Packages  From application Server
Select Yes

Click on the Display/Define button to define the queue (Here we will select the component for
which we have to apply the Support Package for)

Select the component (OTEXBAS in our case) and click the Green check mark

You will be presented with a list of support packages which you have uncompressed and loaded
into SPAM. In our case we had 2 support packages for the component OTEXBAS hence we see
Patch 0001 and Patch 0002. Click the Green check mark to confirm your selection.

Once you make your selection, the support packages will show up as shown below.
Click the Truck (import) icon to initiate the import process of these support packages.

Once you confirm that the Support Package queue is ok, you can then click the Green check
mark to start the Support Package import process. It is a matter of choice if you would like to
perform the import in Background or Dialog which can easily be changed by using Start Options
button. We have chosen “Continue in Background”.

The process begins and the status can be checked by clicking the icon to see the latest
status. The support package import can vary from 5 minutes to several hours depending on the
components or how many programs they are bringing in. As long as you can see the logs moving
in /usr/sap/trans/log directory and /usr/sap/tmp you can monitor the progress.

Once the Support Packages have been imported, you will see a window similar to what is seen
here asking you to confirm the queue. Click the button to confirm the queue at which point the
“Status” section is empty indicating that the queue has been confirmed.
Once the Support Packages have been imported you have to now generate all the new
components/programs/structures, etc that came along with this Support Package.

This is performed using transaction code SGEN and select the second option “Regenerate After
an SAP System upgrade” and click Continue

Select the component which you have just imported so the SGEN transaction will generate
objects for these components only. Click Continue
You will be presented with one more screen where you have to select the application servers
which should be used to process the SGEN request. The more servers, faster the SGEN process
as it will be faster. We usually select all the application servers and click Continue

This screen lets you start the Job Directly (in background) or you can schedule it for later
date/time. In our case we selected “Start Job Directly” which schedules the SGEN in background
mode and can be either viewed in the same screen or in SM37.

Once SGEN finishes, it will show progress as 100% which marks the completion of our exercise.