SAP Kernel Update using ChAI

Updating SAP system kernel releases of your managed systems involves executing the SAP Kernel Update operation. This operation requires stopping the application server instances, resulting in system downtime.

IT-Conductor’s Change Automation Intelligence (ChAI) streamlines this process by integrating orchestration and monitoring capabilities to automate and optimize SAP kernel updates. It’s a solution to relieve SAP administrators from performing time-consuming tasks, such as establishing connections to the SAP server(s) for patch deployment and the manual stopping and restarting of the SAP system.

By reducing manual effort, ChAI enables IT teams to schedule, deploy, and verify kernel updates with minimal manual intervention while automating key tasks and helps organizations minimize planned downtime, enhance security compliance, and maintain system stability with regular automated patching.

Pre-requisites

Before proceeding to run the automation in IT-Conductor, follow the steps below.

Select the Appropriate Kernel Version & Patch Level

When planning a kernel update, selecting the appropriate kernel version and patch level that aligns with your system's SAP NetWeaver or S/4HANA release is essential. SAP Kernel versions are categorized into distinct code lines, each supporting specific SAP NetWeaver and S/4HANA releases:

72x Kernel: This code line includes versions 720, 721, and 722, along with their EXT and EX2 variants. It supports SAP Business Suite 6.0 (EhP ≤ 6) with SAP NetWeaver releases 7.0 to 7.3 EhP1. Notably, Kernel 721 was the last to support 32-bit platforms; however, maintenance for Kernel 721 concluded on January 1, 2021. For more details, see 1744209 - SAP Kernel 720, 721, and 722: Versions and Kernel Patch Levels.
74x and 75x Kernels: Encompassing versions 740 through 753, these kernels support SAP Business Suite 6.0 (EhP7 and EhP8) and SAP S/4HANA releases 1511, 1610, and 1709. They correspond to SAP NetWeaver releases 7.4 and 7.5, as well as SAP NetWeaver Application Server for ABAP versions 7.51 and 7.52. For more details, see 1969546 - Release Roadmap for Kernel 74x and 75x.
77x and 78x Kernels: Starting from version 773, this code line supports SAP S/4HANA releases from 1809 onward. These kernels are designed to accommodate the latest advancements in SAP technologies. For more details, see 2907361 - Release Roadmap for Kernel 77x and 78x.

Apply Kernel Patch Naming Conventions

Given a specific patch level, the name of the corresponding kernel patch in the SAP ONE Support portal's download section follows this pattern:

Copy:

<Package-name>_<Patch-level>-<SAP-internal-GUID-No>.<archext>

where:

“<Package-name>” is the name of the corresponding kernel archive such as DW, SAPEXE,

SAPEXEDB, and R3trans.

“<Patch-level>” is the patch level.
“<SAP-internal-GUID-No>” is a unique ID, which is indicative of a specific kernel release and platform/database combination.
“<archext>” is the package format, typically SAR.

Prepare your IT-Conductor Environment

Configure your SAP systems for monitoring in IT-Conductor. See SAP NetWeaver Monitoring for more details
Create a Robot User and associate it with the application, database, and OS users. Assign the necessary roles and privileges to execute local actions to stop and start the system. The ownership of the process definition should be assigned to the Robot User.
Download and mount the kernels, the IGS for the kernel, and the host agent to the server before executing the automation in IT-Conductor.

How to Update SAP Kernel using IT-Conductor ChAI

Visit service.itconductor.com and enter your login credentials.
Navigate to the service grid of the SAP system where you’re going to update the kernel and click on the View Service Info icon to see the current kernel number. In this case, it’s 722.

Alternatively, you can also check this on your SAP system.

On the main menu, navigate to Support -> Service Catalog -> Application Support -> BASIS Support -> Start SAP Rolling Kernel Update.
Click on the Checkout Service Request icon to start the wizard and fill in the following fields:
1. SAP SID - refers to the list of SAP systems actively monitored by IT-Conductor. Select the target system that will be patched.
2. SAP Linux System - refers to the list of SAP Linux systems actively monitored by IT-Conductor. Select the target Linux system that will be patched.
3. SAP Kernel Patch Level -refers to the specific update version of the SAP kernel.
4. SAP IGS Kernel Patch Level - refers to the updated version of the Internet Graphics Server (IGS) kernel.

Click on the button to continue.
Upon starting the process, you can see the status in real time. The process will go through the following statuses: Initial (not yet started)/Light blue, Starting/Orange, In Progress/Yellow, Completing/Light Green, Succeeded/Dark Green. Keep track of the statuses by clicking on the Refresh icon.

Once it reaches the Succeded status, click on the Finish button.

Alternatively, return to the dashboard and check the SAP Kernel Patching Jobs section to monitor the status of all ongoing processes. This view is especially useful for tracking multiple systems simultaneously.