These steps are based on the assumption that you are familiar with SAP BASIS
technology and terminology for BASIS, Web AS (WAS) with versions 610, 620, 640,
700 and 710 as well as <sid>adm and root user accounts on the Operating System
level.

Kernel files are runtime or executable files located on the Operating System level of
your SAP system under /sapmnt/<SID>exe and/or /usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/exe/run for
UNIX based systems and under <drive>:\usr\sap\<SID\SYS\exe\run directory of
Windows based systems.
These files are very important for the runtime of the system and all or most or
sometimes a few files have to be upgraded based on the system requirement or it
could even be a business driven process and also if you come across some errors in
the system that might indicate kernel issue and that is when you might have to
upgrade your SAP Kernel.
The existing kernel version in SAP can be viewed using the menu optionSystem\ue000

. The Kernel Release is 640 in our
example and the Patch level is 224 which is current version of our Kernel. Once we
upgrade the kernel to a new release version, we should come here and check if it has
changed/updated.

Another way to check Kernel version is from the Operating System level as
<sid>adm user and executing the command \u201cdisp+work\u201d and hit enter. There you
will see the Kernel Release and the Patch Number.

Since the Kernel files are important, it becomes kind of mandatory or compulsory to
back up the old kernel files before you upgrade your kernel to a new level. Backing of
the Kernel files can be done using UNIX or Windows based utility so you can fall back
on them in case the new kernel does not work for whatever reason.
Kernel files can be downloaded from SAP Service Market Place (SMP) and would
require an SAP OSS ID or Marketplace ID (Sxxx) which is obtained from the customer
where you are working as an SAP BASIS person. The web address for SMP is

If you have to upgrade the entire Kernel of your SAP System, you will have to
download the following two or sometimes three archive files (.CAR or .SAR which is
Compressed Archive or SAP Archive) and they are:
SAPEXE

Click on \u201cSAP Kernel\u201d and then on either 32 bit Unicode/Non Unicode or 64 bit
Unicode/Non Unicode depending on what is your Kernel requirement and type. In our
example screen shot below we have selected \u201cKernel 64-BIT\u201d