Upgrading SAP Kernel, Hotpatches and Database Startup

Upgrading SAP Kernel, Hotpatches and Database Startup
Kernel upgrade is an easy process. 
Go to the SAP OSS Site :- 
http://service.sap.com/SWCenter-Main    SAP R/3        SAP R/3 4.6C            Binary Patches                  SAP KERNEL 4.6D 

Download the kernel programs in a temporary folder. 

Create a folder and copy the executables /exe/run/ then uncar the downloaded files and replace the executables. 

It is recommended to shutdown the R/3 database and all services including saposcol. 

Then restart your system.  

A couple of important points to remember are :-.

a) Always make a copy of the files you're going to replace. For e.g. Create a directory (oldkern) and copy all the old files      before replacing them (this helps when sometimes the new Kernel has problems, and you can revert it)

b) You have to shutdown SAP and the Database using the OLD kernel file. Again it is good practice to shutdown everything       first.  

Refer to this OSS note which is pretty useful :-

102461 - Installation of 4.0B/40B_COM kernel with 4.0A/40B  

How do I find out the current patch level in SAP R/3 4.7

You can use either of these two methods:

1: Follow the path 

System --> Status --> Component Information (The Magnifying glass button in the SAP System Data section) 

2: Use the Transaction code ---- spam

spam(Support package manager) --> package level  

Steps to Start Your Database After Kernel Upgrade

Do these steps to start your database:

1. Open command prompt

2. Give command: SQLPLUS "/as sysdba" If its giving message connected to idle instance then proceed:

3. Give command: startup open If its giving error that database is already open, shut it down first. Then first check what database process is up and running.

4. Try stopping the database: shutdown immediate.

5. Follow step 3 again after shut down the database.

6. Exit from SQLPLUS

7. Run command on command prompt: R3trans -d Check the results whether its still giving error or if it completed with 000 return code, then try starting SAP.

Follow the above steps.         

Applying SP4 to Windows 2000 Server

You need to download a newer SAP kernel. You will need an OSS ID and password to access http://service.sap.com/patches. And you will need to know what R/3 version, database, and OS you currently use. 

Once you are at the patches website, you will need to click in the navigation tree:  R/3 -> R/3 + ?Release number? -> Binary patches ->  SAP Kernel + ?Release number? + 32-Bit -> NT/I386. 

Download everything from the database section and everything from the database independent section. 

One of the files you downloaded should start with SAPCAR and end with a *.exe.  Rename this file to SAPCAR.EXE and place it in the c:\winnt\system32 directory.  Go to \usr\sap\<SID>\SYS\exe\run and backup the entire directory to some other directory -  I usually create a \usr\sap\<SID>\SYS\exe\backup_run directory. Make sure SAP is down, the database is down, the TNS listener is down, and the SAPOSCOL is down before you do this. 

Uncompress all the files you downloaded by opening a DOS box and typing: 

SAPCAR -xvf <file name>.CAR 

All files ending with .SAR or .CAR must be uncompressed. All the extracted files need to be moved to the \usr\sap\<SID>\SYS\exe\run AFTER that directory has been completely backed up. 

Once everything has been downloaded, uncompressed, and moved into the exe\run directory, you can start the SAPOSCOL, the listener and the database services again. And then you should be able to start SAP. If there are any application servers for this database instance, the SAP software will update those kernels on startup. 

If the SAP instance STILL does not come back up, you can take down everything again and restore the exe\run directory with your backup copy. Nothing will have been damaged.