R/3 4.6C upgrade to Ehp7 for ECC6.0

[former_member546142]

Hello,

We are planning to perform the upgrade from R/3 4.6C to Ehp7 for ECC6.0. Please find below are specifications of our source system.

SAP : R/3 4.6C non-unicode

OS : Windows2003 R2

DB : MSSQL Server 2005

Target

SAP : Ehp7 for ERP6.0 unicode

OS : Windows 2008R2

DB : MSSQL Server 2008R2

Please suggest us with the approach to achieve the upgrade.

Also, please suggest us the SAP tool to be used for performing the upgrade.

Thanks & Regards,

Ramesh Kote.

[Matt_Fraser]

Hi Ramesh,

Questions about upgrade procedures fall in the category "Software Logistics," so I have changed your primary tag to reflect this. Additionally, for upgrade specifically (vs installations or migrations, etc), the subtopic is "System Maintenance," which is basically about anything you do with the SUM (Software Update Manager) tool. And, that is the answer to your final question: the primary technical tool for the upgrade is SUM.

As Jurgen points out, you aren't going to receive a realistic, step-by-step procedure for such a large upgrade project as a simple answer here. Every upgrade project is a little bit different, as it depends largely upon the scope of what you hope to achieve. For instance, will this be a "technical-only" upgrade? Or will you attempt to introduce new or updated functionality (usually in the form of Business Functions that come with Enhancement Packages) at the same time?

I would urge you to peruse the various links at https://support.sap.com/en/release-upgrade-maintenance/upgrade-information.html to find guidance on the overall procedure. After that, look through https://support.sap.com/en/tools/software-logistics-tools.html for detailed information about using SUM.

At a very high-level, your upgrade strategy will look something like this:

• Install new version of Windows on new hardware (because in-place upgrade of Windows is not supported).
• Install new version of SQL Server on the new system.
• Copy your system from old hardware to new hardware, installing old version of SAP at the same time, with SWPM tool.
• Upgrade SAP and convert to Unicode in "single step" with SUM tool.

Even before you get to this, though, you have a number of planning activities. You will have to work with your Solution Manager and System Landscape Directory systems to ensure they're up-to-date. You'll need to use the Maintenance Planner to prepare the required stack.xml files and access the additional downloads for support packs, kernel updates, etc. You'll need to double-check everything in the Product Availability Matrix to ensure you're using compatible versions at each step.

And you'll need to face some tough questions. For instance, why Windows 2008 R2? Why not a newer version of Windows? Same goes for SQL Server. And why EhP7 and not EhP8? Granted, if you go to EhP8 you can't do the Unicode conversion in the same step; you'll have to do that first, separately. However, this is not necessarily a bad idea. It's what we did in my organization.

If you look through the pages I linked, as well as the blogs and prior questions in the Software Logistics tag I added, you'll find that your questions are mostly answered there.

Cheers,
Matt

[former_member546142]

Hello Matt,

Thanks a lot for the quick response.

I have checked the PAM and found that, the R3 4.6C is not compatible with Windows2008+SQL2008. If this build is possible, we will be good for the upgrade to Ehp7 for ERP6.0.

Please correct me if wrong.

Thanks,

Ramesh.

[Matt_Fraser]

Ramesh,

In this circumstance you'll want to perform a two-step upgrade. You're correct in that 4.6C is only supported on SQL 2005 and Windows 2003. However, SQL 2005 and Windows 2003 remained supported right up to EhP5. Then, EhP5 is supported up to Windows 2012 R2 and SQL 2016, and on that platform you're supported up to EhP8.

So, your upgrade could look something like this, at a very high level:

1. On original hardware, upgrade from 4.6C to 6.0 EhP5 (from Basis 4.6C to NetWeaver 7.02, kernel 4.6D_EX2 to kernel 7.21). Do combined upgrade and Unicode-conversion (double-check this supported on that start release, but it's definitely supported on this target release). This should convert your application from 32-bit to 64-bit automatically at the same time. Platform remains Windows 2003 and SQL 2005 throughout.
2. Copy the 6.05 system from original hardware to new hardware on which Windows 2012 R2 and SQL 2012 (or higher) have already been installed. You will update the kernel to 7.22 EXT 64-bit UC on the new hardware. Otherwise, the application remains the same.
3. On the new hardware, upgrade the application from 6.05 to EhP8 (aka 6.18) (or EhP7 if you insist, but nothing holds you back now from going to EhP8) (NetWeaver 7.5, kernel 7.49). Windows and SQL Server do not change.

Or -- bite the bullet and do a one-step migration (not upgrade) direct to S/4HANA! 🙂 Consider this a legacy system migration, or reimplementation, and a great opportunity to cut out a lot of deadwood and apply lessons learned from years of running an SAP system,.

Cheers,
Matt

[former_member237874]

First of all the tool used will be SUM. You can find the tool at below link

https://support.sap.com/en/tools/software-logistics-tools.html

SUM guide is available and several Notes on the tool at same link.

For the target EHP 7 ERP 6.0. You can get all the information like prerequisites, steps at one location i.e below

https://help.sap.com/viewer/product/SAP_ERP/6.0.7/en-US

Hope this helps.

[JL23]

Already thought to hire an external consultancy with experience in such upgrades?

I don't believe that you could get a response with all steps that others did in a project which lasts for several months with thousands of project days.