SAP HANA Operating System Upgrade

Upgrade paths for SAP HANA running on Dell EMC servers

April 2020

H16634.5

White Paper

Abstract
This white paper describes the upgrade of Dell EMC’s SAP HANA
appliances to a later operating system version.

Dell Technologies Solutions

 Copyright

The information in this publication is provided as is. Dell Inc. makes no representations or warranties of any kind with respect
to the information in this publication, and specifically disclaims implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular
purpose.
Use, copying, and distribution of any software described in this publication requires an applicable software license.
Copyright © 2018-2020 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. Dell Technologies, Dell, EMC, Dell EMC and other
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of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other trademarks may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Published in the USA 04/20 White Paper H16634.5.
Dell Inc. believes the information in this document is accurate as of its publication date. The information is subject to change
without notice.

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 Contents

Contents
Revisions .......................................................................................................................................4

Scope of this white paper .............................................................................................................6

Prerequisites .................................................................................................................................6

SAP HANA operating system revisions matrix ...........................................................................9

Operating system support life cycle ..........................................................................................10

Available upgrade paths for scale-up solutions .......................................................................11

Available upgrade paths for scale-out solutions ......................................................................13

Upgrades .....................................................................................................................................14

References ...................................................................................................................................24

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 Revisions

Revisions
Date Description

April 2020 Added SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP1 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8

June 2019 Added Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6 and Cascade Lake systems

January 2019 Added SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP4, Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 6.10, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5
Added virtual solutions expiration dates

August 2018 Added PowerEdge 840 scale-up systems

April 2018 Added Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 upgrade instructions

January 2018 Added Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3 for Haswell

October 2017 Added SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2 for scale-up Skylake and Broadwell solutions,
and Skylake scale-up Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3 support

September 2017 Added new SAP HANA capability matrix

July 2017 Added SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2 for the Broadwell scale-out solutions

June 2017 Added SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2 solutions and upcoming Skylake scale-up
solutions

May 2017 Added new SAP HANA/Operating System matrix

April 2017 • Enhanced Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.6 to 6.7 upgrade procedure and added section for
6.7 to 7.2
• Recommendation on how to migrate existing R910 appliance customers

February 2017 Updated operating system and platform support matrix

January 2017 Added a detailed operating system version Matrix (which operating system is supported with
which SAP HANA version)

November 2016 Enhanced SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 upgrade instructions

October 2016 Added SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP1 upgrade instructions

August 2016 Added detailed upgrade instructions for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP3 to SUSE Linux
Enterprise Server 12

June 2016 Added SAP HANA SPS12 and the SAP HANA version dependency matrix

May 2016 • Added Red Hat Enterpriser Linux 6.7 EOS support
• Added scale-out 6.7 upgrade

April 2016 • Added instructions about how to update Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 to 6.6 using the
media
• Added scale-out SP4 support and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 support for scale-up
solutions

February 2016 Added matrix of validated SAP HANA scale-out solutions and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
11 SP4

December 2015 Added Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.7 instructions

November 2015 Support of R930 Haswell

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 Revisions

Date Description

September 2015 Added support end date of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP3

July 2015 Added upgrade from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 to 6.6

February 2015 Added SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP3 for Westmere support and links to the FusionIO
drivers

August 2014 Initial release

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 Scope of this white paper

Scope of this white paper

This white paper describes the upgrade of an SAP HANA appliance to a later operating
system version. The intention of this white paper is only to provide guidance for an easier
upgrade path. This information comes without any warranty. Before performing an
upgrade, see the official third-party documentation from SUSE, Red Hat, and VMware.

Note: This white paper is not intended as a step-by-step instruction document, and Dell EMC
does not support it as an official update procedure.

Prerequisites
You need operating system root access to the SAP HANA appliance. The appliance must
be registered with SUSE or Red Hat before you can upgrade to a later version using an
operating system upgrade tool (for example, Zypper or YUM). If the appliance is a Dell
EMC™ PowerEdge™ R910 server, the FusionIO driver version must be collected.

To determine if a supported upgrade path is available for your hardware and operating
system version, see the SAP HANA operating system revisions matrix.

Current SUSE
operating To identify which operating system version and service pack you are running, run either of
system version the following commands:
• cat /etc/os-release (SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 and later)

• cat /etc/SuSE-release (up to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11)

Example:
delhanar03:~ # cat /etc/os-release
NAME="SLES"
VERSION="12-SP4"
VERSION_ID="12.4"
PRETTY_NAME="SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP4"
ID="sles"
ANSI_COLOR="0;32"
CPE_NAME="cpe:/o:suse:sles_sap:12:sp4"

Red Hat
To identify which operating system version and service pack you are running, run either of
the following commands:
• cat /etc/os-release (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 and later)

• cat /etc/redhat-release (up to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6)

Example:
delhanar03:~ # cat /etc/os-release

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 Prerequisites

NAME="Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server"

VERSION="7.6 (Maipo)"

ID="rhel"

ID_LIKE="fedora"

VARIANT="Server"

VARIANT_ID="server"

VERSION_ID="7.6"

PRETTY_NAME="Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 7.6 (Maipo)"

ANSI_COLOR="0;31"

CPE_NAME="cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7.6:GA:server"

HOME_URL="https://www.redhat.com/"

BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugzilla.redhat.com/"

REDHAT_BUGZILLA_PRODUCT="Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7"

REDHAT_BUGZILLA_PRODUCT_VERSION=7.6

REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT="Red Hat Enterprise Linux"

REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT_VERSION="7.6"

FusionIO driver You can identify the currently running FusionIO driver by running the following command
version (only as a root user on the system:
needed for R910 delhanar01:~ # fio-status
appliances) Found 1 ioDrive in this system
Fusion-io driver version: 2.3.10 build 110
Adapter: ioDrive
Fusion-io ioDrive 320GB, Product Number:FS1-004-320-CS
SN:465353
External Power: NOT connected
PCIE Power limit threshold: 24.75W
Sufficient power available: Unknown
Connected ioDimm module:
fct0: Fusion-io ioDrive 320GB, Product Number:FS1-004-
320-CS
SN:465353
fct0 Attached as 'fioa' (block device)
Fusion-io ioDrive 320GB, Product Number:FS1-004-320-CS
SN:465353
Located in slot 0 Upper of ioDrive SN:465353
PCI:45:00.0

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 Prerequisites

After you perform a kernel upgrade, you must rebuild the driver for the new kernel version
to mount the block device /dev/fioa to /hana/log.

FusionIO drivers are available at the SanDisk Support website (through the security
certificate warning).
The following table lists the software versions that Dell EMC has tested:
Table 1. FusionIO software versions tested by Dell EMC

Card Software version

FusionIO Gen 1 2.3.10

FusionIO Gen 2 3.2.3

FusionIO driver update to a later version (2.3.1 to 2.3.10)

To update the driver:
1. Stop the SAP HANA database, back up all data available in /hana/log, and
then unmount by running the following command:
unmount /hana/log

2. Search for and remove the earlier versions of the driver and tools by running the
following command:
rpm –qa|grep ‘(iomemory|fio)’

The command lists the following set of packages: fio-common, fio-util, iomemory-
vsl, fio-sysvinit, fio-firmware
3. Download the RPM packages in the preceding list from the SanDisk Support
website (through the security certificate warning), and install them on the system.
See Rebuilding the kernel module for a different kernel version.

4. After the driver version is updated, perform a firmware update by running the
following command:
fio-update-iodrive
/usr/share/fio/firmware/iodrive_107053.fff

This step enables you to access the content of the FusionIO card.

Note: If the firmware is not updated, the card remains in minimal mode.

Rebuilding the kernel module for a different kernel version

You need the source package of the version of the tools and driver that you are running
on your system. For this white paper, we used version 2.3.10 as the base version. Build
the kernel package by running the following command:
rpmbuild --rebuild iomemory-vsl-2.3.10.110-1.0.src.rpm

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 SAP HANA operating system revisions matrix

SAP HANA operating system revisions matrix

The following table lists the Support Package Stacks (SPSs) and the supported operating
system versions:

Table 2. SAP HANA SPSs and operating system versions

SAP HANA Service

Operating system versions Note
Package Stacks

SPS07 and earlier SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1, SP2,

SP3

SPS08 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1, SP2, Update to GCC 4.7 is mandatory
SP3 before going to SPS08

SPS09 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5/6.6 Update to GCC 4.7 is mandatory
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1, SP2, before going to SPS08
SP3

SPS10 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5/6.6 Update to GCC 4.8 is mandatory
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1, SP2, before going to SPS11/SPS12
SP3, SP4, and SLES 12

SPS11 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5/6.6/6.7 Update to GCC 4.8 is mandatory
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP2, SP3, before going to SPS11/SPS12
SP4, and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12

SPS12 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.7 and Red Hat Update to GCC 4.8 is mandatory
Enterprise Linux 7.2 before going to SPS11/SPS12
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP3, SP4,
and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 and
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP1

SAP HANA 2.0 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP1, SP2 Update to GCC 5.x runtime is
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 mandatory before upgrading to HANA
2.0

SAP HANA 2.0 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP1, SP2, Update to GCC 6.x runtime is
SPS02/SPS03 SP3 mandatory before upgrading to HANA
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2/7.3/7.4 2.0 SPS02

SAP HANA 2.0 SPS04 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 Update to GCC 7.x runtime is
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6 mandatory before upgrading to HANA
2.0 SPS04

The following sections of this white paper list all valid combinations:
• Available upgrade paths for scale-up solutions
• Available upgrade paths for scale-out solutions

See the following:

• For a list of supported SAP HANA operating system releases and compatible SAP
HANA SPSs, see SAP Note 2235581 - SAP HANA: Supported Operating Systems.
• For an overview of the different service packs, see the SAP community wiki.
• For information about the maintenance strategy for SAP applications, see SAP
Note 52505 - Support after end of mainstream/extended maintenance.

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 Operating system support life cycle

• For information about the SAP HANA update paths for SAP HANA maintenance
revisions, see SAP Note 1948334: SAP HANA Database Update Paths for SAP
HANA Maintenance Revisions.
• Release strategy for HANA 2.0

Operating system support life cycle

SUSE The following table provides end-of-support dates for SUSE operating system versions,
which are subject to change. For the most current information, see SUSE Product Support
Lifecycle.

Table 3. SUSE operating system versions: End of support

Operating systems End of support

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1 for SAP Applications 31 December 2013

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP2 for SAP Applications 30 April 2015

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP3 for SAP Applications 31 January 2017

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4 for SAP Applications 31 March 2019

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 for SAP Applications 1 July 2019

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP1 for SAP Applications 31 May 2020

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2 for SAP Applications 31 March 2021

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3 for SAP Applications 30 June 2022

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP4 for SAP Applications 30 Jun 2023

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5 for SAP Applications 31 Oct 2024

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 for SAP Applications 31 Dec 2022

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP1 for SAP Applications 6 months after SUSE Linux Enterprise
Server 15 SP2 is released

Red Hat The following table provides end-of-support dates for Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating
system versions.

The information in the following table is subject to change. For the most current
information, see Red Hat Enterprise Linux Life Cycle.

Table 4. Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system versions: End of support

Operating systems End of support

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 for SAP HANA 30 November 2015

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.6 for SAP HANA 31 October 2016

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.7 Extended Update Support (EUS) for 31 December 2018
SAP HANA Extended to 31 March 2019 (see RHEL 6
for SAP HANA or RHEL 6 EUS)

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.10 Extended Update Support (EUS) for Not defined yet
SAP HANA

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 Available upgrade paths for scale-up solutions

Operating systems End of support

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 EUS 30 November 2017

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 for SAP Solutions 30 November 2019

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3 EUS 30 November 2018

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3 for SAP Solutions 30 November 2020

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 EUS 31 August 2019

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 for SAP Solutions 31 August 2021

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 EUS 30 April 2020

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6 for SAP Solutions 31 October 2022

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6 EUS 31 October 2020

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 for SAP Solutions 31 May 2020

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.1 for SAP Solutions 30 November 2023

VMware ESXi The following table provides end-of-support dates for VMware ESXi hypervisor versions.
The current list is available at VMware Lifecycle Product Matrix.

Table 5. VMware ESXi hypervisor versions: End of support

VMware version End of support

ESXi 5.5 19 September 2018

ESXi 6.0 12 March 2020

ESXi 6.5 and 6.7 15 November 2021

Available upgrade paths for scale-up solutions

Before performing an upgrade, determine if an upgrade path is available for your
appliance and operating system version.

For a Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system upgrade, it is recommended that you
subscribe to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux EUS channel to stay on Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 6.7. For more information, see the Red Hat Knowledgebase.

If the current SAP HANA system is based on the PowerEdge R910, SUSE Linux
Enterprise Server 11 SP3 is the latest release for the Dell EMC and SUSE certified
platforms.
• For SUSE, see the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Support Matrix.
• For Red Hat, see the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Support Matrix.

To manage the total cost of ownership (TCO) model, determine if an upgrade to a later
hardware generation is possible. With every CPU generation, expect a performance gain
of up to 30 percent. The memory limits are increased from the PowerEdge R910 (up to
512 GB) to R940 (Skylake) (up to 6 TB).

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 Available upgrade paths for scale-up solutions

The following tables list the available upgrade paths for PowerEdge servers:

Table 6. Available upgrade paths for PowerEdge R910 scale-up systems

Server model (CPU) Supported operating systems

R910 (Intel Xeon X7560) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1 / SP2 for SAP applications

R910 (Intel Xeon E7-4870) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1 / SP2 / SP3 for SAP applications

Table 7. Available upgrade paths for PowerEdge R920 scale-up systems

Server model (CPU) Supported operating systems

R920 (Intel Ivy Bridge) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP3 / SP4 for SAP applications
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 GM / SP1 / SP2 for SAP applications

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 / 6.6 / 6.7 for SAP HANA
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 for SAP Solutions

Table 8. Available upgrade paths for PowerEdge R930 scale-up systems

Server model (CPU) Supported operating systems

R930 (Intel Haswell) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP3 / SP4 for SAP applications
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 GM / SP1 / SP2 / SP3 / SP4 for SAP applications

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.6 / 6.7 for SAP HANA

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 / 7.3 / 7.4 / 7.5 / 7.6 for SAP Solutions

R930 (Intel Broadwell) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4 for SAP applications
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP1 / SP2 / SP3 / SP4 for SAP applications
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 GM / SP1 for SAP applications

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.7 for SAP HANA

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 / 7.3 / 7.4 / 7.5 / 7.6 for SAP HANA

Table 9. Available upgrade paths for PowerEdge R940 scale-up systems

Server model (CPU) Supported operating systems

R940/R740xd (Intel Skylake) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2 / SP3 / SP4 for SAP applications
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 GM / SP1 for SAP applications

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3 / 7.4 / 7.5 / 7.6 for SAP HANA

R940 (Cascade Lake) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP4 for SAP applications
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 GM / SP1 for SAP applications

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6 for SAP Solutions

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.0 for SAP Solutions

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 Available upgrade paths for scale-out solutions

Table 10. Available upgrade paths for PowerEdge R840 scale-up system

Server model (CPU) Supported operating systems

R840 (Intel Skylake) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3 / SP4 for SAP applications

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 / 7.5 / 7.6 for SAP Solutions

R840 (Intel Cascade Lake) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 GM / SP1 for SAP applications

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6 for SAP Solutions

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.0 for SAP Solutions

To identify the latest version of the service pack that you can use with an appliance, see
Certified and Supported SAP HANA Hardware Directory.

Available upgrade paths for scale-out solutions

Before performing an upgrade, determine if an upgrade path is available for your
appliance and operating system version.

For a Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system upgrade, it is recommended that you
subscribe to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux EUS channel to stay on Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 6.7. For more information, see the Red Hat Knowledgebase.

The following tables list the available upgrade paths for PowerEdge servers.

Table 11. Available upgrade paths for PowerEdge R910 scale-out systems

Server model (CPU) and Storage Supported operating systems

R910 (Intel Westmere) and Dell EMC SC8000 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1 / SP2 / SP3 for SAP
applications

Table 12. Available upgrade paths for PowerEdge R920 scale-out systems

Server model (CPU) and Storage Supported operating systems

R920 (Intel Ivy Bridge) and Dell EMC SC8000 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP3 / SP4 for SAP
applications

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 / 6.6 / 6.7 for SAP HANA

Table 13. Available upgrade paths for PowerEdge R930 scale-out systems

Server model (CPU) and Storage Supported operating systems

R930 (Intel Haswell) and Dell EMC SC4020/SC8000 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP3 / SP4 for SAP
applications
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP1 for SAP applications

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.6 / 6.7 for SAP HANA

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 for SAP HANA

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Server model (CPU) and Storage Supported operating systems

R930 (Intel Broadwell) and Dell EMC SC4020 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4 for SAP applications
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP1 / SP2 / SP3 for SAP
applications

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.7 for SAP HANA

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 / 7.3 / 7.4 for SAP HANA

Table 14. Available upgrade paths for PowerEdge R940 scale-out systems

Server model (CPU) and Storage Supported operating systems

R940 (Intel Skylake) and Dell EMC SC5020 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2 / SP3 for SAP
applications

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3 / 7.4 for SAP Solutions

To identify the latest version of the service pack that you can use with an appliance, see
Certified and Supported SAP HANA Hardware Directory.

Upgrades

Prerequisites Before you perform an upgrade, it is recommended that you create a backup of the SAP
HANA database and the operating system.

Stopping the database on scale-out systems

The procedure varies depending on your setup. To stop the database on a scale-out
system:
1. Shut down the SAP HANA database by running the following command:
sapcontrol –nr <InstanceId> -function StopSystem HDB 1000
500
2. Ensure that the database is stopped on all nodes by running either of the
following commands:
 ps faux|grep [h]db
 ps faux|grep sapadm

If the OCFS2 is not defined as a cluster resource, then follow these steps:

1. Unmount the OCFS2 file system on all nodes by running the following command:
umount –a –t ocfs2

2. Ensure that the OCFS2 file system is not mounted if a process is still accessing it.
The output of the command grep ocfs2 /proc/mounts must be empty. If it is
not, identify the process that is blocking the unmount by running the following
command:

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 Upgrades

lsof /hana/shared

Kill that process and repeat step 3.

3. Stop the cluster on all nodes by running the following command:

/etc/init.d/openais stop

4. When the upgrade is complete, restart the nodes one after the other.
5. Verify that the OCFS2 volumes are mounted correctly and the database is
available.

Cluster maintenance mode

Before you perform an upgrade, it is recommended that you place the cluster into
maintenance mode or shut it down.

You can place the cluster into maintenance mode by running the following command:
crm configure property maintenance-mode=true

You can disable the mode later by running the following command:
crm configure property maintenance-mode=false

You can disable the cluster service before an upgrade by running the following command:
chkconfig openais off

After a successful update, you can enable the cluster by running the following command:
chkconfig openais on

Post-upgrade activities
After you perform an upgrade, verify that all recommended operating system settings
have been implemented.

If an SAP HANA Hardware Configuration Check Tool (HWCCT) is used for validation,
ensure that you download the latest patches from SAP Note 2161344: HWCCT patch
note.

SUSE For information about updating SAP HANA/ operating system versions to a later version,
see the Linux Operating System with SAP HANA Reference Guide.

See the SUSE Upgrade Guide to consolidate the available upgrade path, as shown in the
following figure from the SUSE web site:

Figure 1. SUSE upgrade path

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Media download
You can get an evaluation copy of an ISO image from the SUSE website.

Upgrade from SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1 to SP2 for SAP
applications
To upgrade from SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1 to SP2 for an SAP application,
using Zypper:
1. To receive updates, ensure that the system is registered with SUSE.
2. Upgrade to the latest packages on SP1 by running the following command:
zypper up

3. Upgrade according to the recommendations from SUSE.

4. To determine if you must apply any changes to the operating system settings, see
SAP Note 1824819 - SAP HANA DB: Recommended OS settings for SLES 11 /
SLES for SAP Applications 11 SP2.
For more information about changing operating system settings, see SAP Note
1824819: SAP HANA DB: Recommended OS settings for SUSE Linux Enterprise
Server 11 / SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 11 SP2.

For more details, see How to upgrade to SLES/SLED 11 SP2.

Upgrade from SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP2 to SP3 for SAP
applications
To upgrade from SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP2 to SP3 for an SAP application,
using Zypper:
1. Ensure that the system is registered with SUSE to receive updates.
2. Upgrade to the latest packages on SP2 by running the following command:
zypper up

3. Upgrade according to the recommendations from SUSE.

4. To determine if you must apply any changes to the operating system settings, see
SAP Note 1954788 - SAP HANA DB: Recommended OS settings for SUSE Linux
Enterprise Server 11/ SLES for SAP Applications 11 SP3.
For more information about changing operating system settings, see SAP Note
1954788: SAP HANA DB: Recommended OS settings for SLES 11 / SLES for
SAP Applications 11 SP3.

For more details, see How to upgrade to SLES/SLED 11 SP3.

Upgrade from SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP3 to SP4 for SAP
applications
To upgrade from SLES 11 SP3 to SP4 for an SAP application, using Zypper, follow these
steps.

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Note: When you upgrade to SP4 on NVMe-based R920 scale-up systems, the NVMe driver is
removed. SLES 11 SP4 provides its own NVMe driver.

1. Ensure that the system is registered with SUSE to receive updates.

2. Upgrade to the latest packages on SP3 by running the following command:
zypper up

3. Upgrade according to the recommendations from SUSE.

4. To determine if you must apply any changes to the operating system settings, see
SAP Note 2240716 - SAP HANA DB: Recommended OS settings for SLES 11 /
SLES for SAP Applications 11 SP4.
For more details, see How to upgrade to SLES/SLED 11 SP4.

Upgrade from SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP3 to SUSE Linux

Enterprise Server 12 GA for SAP applications
To perform an upgrade from SLES 11 SP3 to SLES 12 Ga for scale-up physical solutions,
using the DVD update process:
1. Boot from the SLES 12 for SAP Applications DVD and select Upgrade in the boot
menu.
2. If you get an error message such as nothing provides libeventlog.so,
select solution 1 to uninstall syslog-ng.
During the upgrade, rsyslog replaces syslog-ng.
3. In the Installation settings window, select Packages and then click Search.
a. Remove the packages SUSE_SLES_SAP-release and elilo.

Note: Do not touch SUSE_SLES-SAP-release-DVD.

b. Install the package grub2-x86_64_efi.

4. In the Installation Settings window, select Booting and clear Enable Secure
Boot Support.
5. To determine if you must apply any changes to the operating system settings, see
SAP Note 2205917 - SAP HANA DB: Recommended OS settings for SLES 12 /
SLES for SAP Applications 12.
For more details about the upgrade process, see the SUSE Deployment Guide.

Upgrade from SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4 to SUSE Linux

Enterprise Server 12 SP1 for SAP applications
To perform an upgrade from SLES 11 SP4 to SLES 12 SP1 for scale-up physical
solutions, using the DVD update process:
1. Boot from the SLES 12 SP1 for SAP Applications DVD and select Upgrade in the
boot menu.
2. If you get an error message such as nothing provides libeventlog.so,
select solution 1 to uninstall syslog-ng.

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 Upgrades

During the upgrade, rsyslog replaces syslog-ng.

3. In the Installation Settings window, select Packages and then click Search.
a. Remove the packages SUSE_SLES_SAP-release and elilo.

Note: Do not touch SUSE_SLES-SAP-release-DVD.

b. Install the package grub2-x86_64_efi.

4. In the Installation Settings window, select Booting and clear Enable Secure
Boot Support.
5. To determine if you must apply any changes to the operating system settings, see
SAP Note 2205917 - SAP HANA DB: Recommended OS settings for SLES 12 /
SLES for SAP Applications 12.
Upgrade from SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP1 to SLES 12 SP2 for
SAP Applications
To upgrade from SLES 12 SP1 to SP2 using the DVD update method, follow these steps
in addition to those steps provided in the official documentation for scale-up physical
solutions:
1. Boot from the SLES 12 SP2 for SAP Applications DVD, and select Upgrade from
the boot menu.
2. On the Installation Settings overview page, select Booting and clear Enable
Secure Boot Support.
3. To determine if you must apply any changes to the operating system settings, see
SAP Note 2205917 - SAP HANA DB: Recommended OS settings for SLES 12 /
SLES for SAP Applications 12.
Upgrade from SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2 to SLES 12 SP3 for
SAP Applications
For the DVD update method, see the SUSE upgrade documentation. There are no special
considerations.
Upgrade from SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3 to SLES 12 SP4 for
SAP Applications
For the DVD update method, see the SUSE upgrade documentation. There are no special
considerations.
Upgrade from SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3/SP4 to SLES 15 for
SAP Applications
For the DVD update method, see the SUSE upgrade documentation. Also, follow these
additional steps for scale-up physical solutions:
1. Boot from the SLES 15 for SAP Applications Installations DVD SLE-15-
Installer-DVD-x86_64-GM-DVD1.iso file and select Upgrade from the boot
menu. During the upgrade process, you need the second media SLE-15-
Packages-x86_64-GM-DVD1.iso file.
During the deployment process, select the following modules:
 Basesystem-Module 15-0

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 Desktop-Applications-Module 15-0
 Legacy-Module 15-0
 SLE-15-SAP 15-0
 SLEHA15 15-0
 Server-Applications-Module 15-0
2. To determine if you must apply any changes to the operating system settings, see
SAP Note 2205917: SAP HANA DB: Recommended OS settings for SLES 12 /
SLES for SAP Applications 12.

Red Hat Media download

You can get an evaluation copy of an ISO image from the Red Hat website.

Log in to proceed with the download.

Recommended operating system settings for SAP HANA

Determine if you must apply the settings that are described in the following links to your
updated version of the operating system. You might also need to apply additional
packages.

• SAP Note 2136965: SAP HANA DB: Recommended OS settings for RHEL 6.6
• SAP Note 2247020: SAP HANA DB: Recommended OS settings for RHEL 6.7
• SAP Note 2292690: SAP HANA DB: Recommended OS settings for RHEL 7

For more information about updating SAP HANA/ operating system versions to a later
version, see the Linux Operating System with SAP HANA Reference Guide.
Clear version locks
Before upgrading, determine if any version locks are set on the system by running the
following command:
yum versionlock

If any package is displayed in red, clear that version lock.

For example:

[root@dellhana4 ~]# yum versionlock

Loaded plugins: product-id, rhnplugin, security, subscription-
manager,
versionlock
This system is not registered to Red Hat Subscription Management.
You
can use subscription-manager to register.
This system is receiving updates from RHN Classic or RHN
Satellite.
kernel-2.6.32-431.29.2.el6.*
kernel-firmware-2.6.32-431.29.2.el6.*
kernel-headers-2.6.32-431.29.2.el6.*

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nss-softokn-freebl-3.14.3-12.el6_5.*
nss-softokn-3.14.3-12.el6_5.*
versionlock list done

If any version locks these could be cleared by yum versionlock

clear
[root@dellhana4 ~]# yum versionlock clear
Loaded plugins: product-id, rhnplugin, security, subscription-
manager,
versionlock
This system is not registered to Red Hat Subscription Management.
You
can use subscription-manager to register.
This system is receiving updates from RHN Classic or RHN
Satellite.
versionlock cleared
Upgrade RHEL 6 for HANA series using Red Hat Satellite Server

To get to the new release version, register the product with Red Hat and run the following
command:

yum update

You can look up the current release information in /etc/redhat-release by running

the following command:

cat /etc/redhat-release

To determine if you must apply any changes to the operating system settings, see Media
download.

For more information, see the upstream documentation at the Red Hat Knowledgebase.

Upgrade Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.6 using
media
To mount a local Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.6 ISO or DVD and update to this version,
follow the instructions in the Red Hat Knowledgebase.

Note: When you upgrade to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.6 on NVMe-based R920 scale-up
systems, the NVMe driver is removed. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.6 provides its own NVMe
driver.

1. Mount the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.6 installation ISO to a directory such as
/mnt.
2. Copy the media.repo file from the root of the mounted directory to
/etc/yum.repos.d/ and set the permissions.
3. Edit the new repo file, changing the gpgcheck=0 setting to 1 and adding the
following lines:

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enabled=1
baseurl=file:///mnt/
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-redhat-release

4. Clear the related caches by running the following commands:

 yum clean all
 subscription-manager clean
5. Verify that you can get the packages list from the DVD repository and, if so,
perform an update by running the following command:
yum -y update --disablerepo=* --enablerepo=<YOUR_REPO_NAME>

6. Update nss-softokn-freebl and glibc from the USB key.

reboot
package-cleanup --oldkernels --count=1

7. Determine if you must apply any changes to the operating system settings.
For more information about changing operating system settings, see SAP Note
2136965: SAP HANA DB: Recommended OS settings for RHEL 6.6.

Upgrade Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.6 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.7 using
EUS channel
It is recommended that you subscribe the system to the EUS channel for long-term
support of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 series. For a description of the process, see the
Red Hat Knowledgebase.

Determine if any version locks are set as described in Recommended operating system
settings for SAP HANA, and clear them before performing the upgrade.

Upgrade Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.7 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.10
using EUS channel
It is recommended that you subscribe the system to the EUS channel for long-term
support of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 series. For a description of the process, see the
Red Hat Knowledgebase.

Determine if any version locks are set as described in Recommended operating system
settings for SAP HANA, and clear them before performing the upgrade.

Upgrade Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.7 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 using
EUS channel
The upgrade process that is described in the Red Hat Knowledgebase has been tested.
Based on the preupgrade check, Red Hat does not advise upgrading these systems. For
an upgrade to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x, request a reinstallation from a Dell EMC
service partner.

The upgrade requires that the system is unregistered from the Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6.7 EUS channel, registered to receive updates for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.9, and
then upgraded to that version.

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Verify if any version locks are set as described in Recommended operating system
settings for SAP HANA. If any version locks are set, clear them before the upgrade
procedure.

If all errors and issues are fixed in advance, the system might be upgraded from Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 6.9 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2.

Note: This procedure is only for experimental systems. It is not or recommended.

Upgrade Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.7 over Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.10 to
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 using EUS channel
Red Hat offers an upgrade path from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.7 over Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 6.10 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4. The Red Hat Knowledgebase and
the Product Enhancement Advisor describe this process. Based on the preupgrade check,
Red Hat does not advise upgrading these systems. For an upgrade to Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 7.x, request reinstallation from a Dell EMC service partner.

Verify if any version locks are set as described in Recommended operating system
settings for SAP HANA. If any version locks are set, clear them before the upgrade
procedure.

Upgrade Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3 using
EUS channel
It is recommended that you subscribe the system to the EUS channel for long-term
support of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 series. For a description of the process, see the
Red Hat Knowledgebase.

Determine if any version locks are set as described in Recommended operating system
settings for SAP HANA, and clear them before performing the upgrade.

Ensure that the system is registered to the EUS channel. For more information, see the
Red Hat Knowledgebase.

Upgrade Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 using
EUS channel
It is recommended that you subscribe the system to the EUS channel for long-term
support of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 series. For a description of the process, see the
Red Hat Knowledgebase.

Determine if any version locks are set as described in Recommended operating system
settings for SAP HANA, and clear them before performing the upgrade.

Ensure that the system is registered to the EUS channel. For more information, see the
Red Hat Knowledgebase.

Upgrade Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 (no
E4S support)
Other than the Red Hat documentation, there are no special considerations.

Upgrade Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6
Other than the Red Hat documentation, there are no special considerations.

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Note: Unlike Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 has no extended update
service, which results in a shorter maintenance window. It is recommended that you continue to
use Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 and then upgrade to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6, which is the
next EUS release, when it is qualified for SAP HANA appliance workloads.

Upgrade Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
Red Hat offers an upgrade path from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6 to Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 8. The Red Hat Knowledgebase and the Product Enhancement Advisor describe
this process. Based on the preupgrade check, Red Hat does not advise upgrading these
systems. For an upgrade to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x, request reinstallation from a
Dell EMC service partner.

Verify if any version locks are set as described in Recommended operating system
settings for SAP HANA. If any version locks are set, clear them before the upgrade
procedure.

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References

SAP The following documentation on SAP.com provides additional and relevant information.
documentation Access to these documents depends on your login credentials. If you do not have access
to a document, contact your Dell EMC representative.
• SAP Note 2235581: Supported Operating Systems
• Certified and supported SAP HANA hardware directory
• SAP Note 2205917: SAP HANA DB: Recommended OS settings for SLES 12 /
SLES for SAP Applications 12

SUSE The following documentation on SUSE.com provides additional and relevant information.
documentation • SUSE Product Support Lifecycle

Red Hat The following documentation on RedHat.com provides additional and relevant information.
documentation • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Life Cycle

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