SAP Now Support In Place Upgrade of Windows for SAP Systems

In Place Windows Upgrades

It is now possible to upgrade the operating system of a SAP ABAP or Java based system from Windows 2003 to Windows 2008 or Windows 2008 R2.  It is also possible to upgrade from Windows 2008 to Windows 2008 R2.  Previously the only way to upgrade the Windows operating system was to perform a SAP Homogeneous System Copy process.  The new in place upgrade process is described in OSS Note 1494740.  It should be noted that there are some important topics to consider when planning an "in place" upgrade:

1. Upgrade from 32 bit to 64 bit is not possible

2. Windows Itanium/IA64 based systems cannot be upgraded

3. Systems with large amounts of non-MS or non-SAP software installed may be problematic

4. Ensure backup agents and monitoring software is supported on the target Windows release

5. Systems such as Adobe Document Server, BOBJ etc may not support in place upgrade

6. Backup the OS disk prior to the upgrade

7. Clustered systems must always be reinstalled due to dramatic improvements and new functionality in Windows 2008 clustering

Many customers have a policy of Reinstalling the operating system as installing the Windows OS is relatively quick and simple and the Homogeneous System Copy procedure for SQL Server via detach/attach is fast.  The SAP System Copy guides have moved to SDN.  OSS Note 151603 and Note 551915 are useful.  Note 551915 has some scripts attached that can be used to recreate the logins needed for SAP to login to SQL Server.  Also ensure to use the very latest copy of the SAP Tools for MS SQL Server.