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Step-by-Step Process of Importing Support Packages Into ECC6 EHP4 System
Step-by-Step Process of Importing Support Packages Into ECC6 EHP4 System
The most important part of the installation is the preparation work. This is absolutely critical
that side-effect notes, relevant basis notes and patches are applied before applying the support
packages (see appendix). 99% Preparation, 1% perspiration!
Another point I want to highlight is in this scenario, we are simply updating a subset of
Support packages i.e HR support packages and not the Support Pack ‘Stack’. Whilst it is
recommended to apply the stack, this is not always practical and feasible due to resources,
availability to test and other complexities in large SAP landscapes.
1.1 Check all pre-requisites are met, e.g file system space, SAP notes, locked users, etc. See appendix
below for checklist of what to do.
1.3 Ensure all the required SP’s have been downloaded from the SAP Marketplace and have been
unzipped/uncarred into the …./EPS/in folders. The process of identifying which SP’s to load and the
interdependencies is a separate task on its on and usually conducted in conjunction/direction of the
application/functional team
1.4 Load SP’s from App server (you must first download the *.SAPCAR files and extract it in …
usr/sap/trans/EPS/in
1.5 Define Queue. – Essentially what you are doing here is telling SAP which SPs you want to import.
It is intelligent enough to calculate interdependencies.
Load the SP’s from the Application server (after you have unzipped them into the ../EPS/in
folder). Pick the highest SP number. (It will automatically included other SP’s or
dependencies.). If you are importing SP for different modules e.g HR, Finance, etc, then you
may need to build the queue and change the settings to “Calculation for a Vector of
components”.
The Support Package queue calculation takes place for multiple software components based
on the target Support Package level that has been defined for each software component (see
Defining a Queue Based on Multiple Software Components).
Please refer to link on SAP Help below for known errors during import:
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04/helpdata/en/7e/c6c2ad98a711d2b429006094b9ea64/conte
nt.htm
Generally I Run phase 1 in ‘dialog mode’ and all other phases in ‘background’ mode
These are the various phases the SPAM goes through during the import process. You will see
the phases change in the ‘Status’ section in tcode SPAM:
Preparation Module
1. PROLOGUE
This phase checks whether you are authorized to import Support Packages.
2. CHECK_REQUIREMENTS
This phase checks various requirements for importing a Support Package, for example,
whether the transport control program tp can log on to your system.
3. DISASSEMBLE
This phase unpacks files from the appropriate EPS parcels and saves them to the transport
directory.
4. ADD_TO_BUFFER
This phase places the queue in the transport buffer of your system.
5. MODIFY_BUFFER
This phase prepares the transport buffer for correct processing of the following import
phases.
6. TEST_IMPORT
This phase performs a test import for the queue with the transport control program tp. The
system checks whether there are objects that are in open repairs and that are overwritten
during the import, or whether other conditions prevent the import of an object.
7. IMPORT_OBJECT_LIST
This phase imports the object lists for the Support Packages in the queue into the system.
8. OBJECTS_LOCKED_?
This phase checks whether there are objects that are overwritten by the import, and that are
still in unreleased requests.
9. ADDON_CONFLICTS_?
This phase checks whether there are conflicts between objects in the queue and any installed
add-ons.
10. SCHEDULE_RDDIMPDP
Import 1 Module
11. CREATE_VERS_BEFORE
This phase generates versions of the objects that are contained in the Support Packages in the
queue (if this option is set).
12. SPDD_SPAU_CHECK
13. DDIC_IMPORT
14. AUTO_MOD_SPDD
This phase checks whether all modifications to ABAP Dictionary objects can be adjusted
automatically.
15. RUN_SPDD_?
In this phase, you are asked to adjust your modifications to the ABAP Dictionary objects by
calling transaction SPDD.
This phase imports program code and program texts in an inactive state.
18. DDIC_ACTIVATION
Import 2 Module
19. IMPORT_PROPER
This phase imports all the Repository objects and table entries if they were not already
imported in the INACTIVE_IMPORT phase. This is preceded by actions such as table
conversion and activation of the name tabs.
20. PREPARE_XPRA
This phase prepares the execution of the XPRAs and after-import methods.
22. AUTO_MOD_SPAU
23. XPRA_EXECUTION
24. ABAP_GENERATION
This phase generates the runtime objects for the imported Repository objects (ABAP source
texts and screens).
Clean Up Module
25. RUN_SPAU_?
This phase prompts you to adjust your modifications to Repository objects by calling
transaction SPAU.
This phase deletes the obsolete versions of program code and program texts in the database.
27. EPILOGUE
This phase completes the import. Among other things, it checks whether the queue has been
processed completely.
Once developers complete their SPAU adjustments successfully (be patience, this can take
from several hours to a week or more depending on size of landscape and amount of
customising), simply resume i.e Goto Support Package -> Import Queue (similar to SPDD
steps)
Once EPILOGUE completed, the Status will turn Yellow. You must then go to Support
Packages -> Confirm (Shift F6) to close off or complete the SP implementation.
1.11 Lastly, CONFIRM queue
Method to confirm queue shown below.
1. Confirm and sign-off the support pks and combination of SPs that will be applied and
project/test team available for testing
2. Verify all functional and cross-system dependencies are met. Must review and OSS
note 822379 (netweaver 7 version)
3. Enough Disk space and atleast 85% free space on sapdata filesystem
4. Check if file system /usr/sap/trans/data and ../EPS/in has free space, if not clean-up
old support package data files or Pat files in EPS/in
5. Post a system message & a login screen message indicating the outage (refer to
procedure Applying Support Packages).
6. Check if no tablespace is over 85 % full
7. Verify if you have a recent backup., if not schedule a full on-line backup. If
production, have a backup just before Support pkgs to be safe.
8. Unpack all required SP’s and then load them into SPAM and verify that all queues are
OK e.g SAPCAR -xvf /sapcd/sp/XXXXXXX.CAR –V
9. Update Spam with latest version from Service marketplace. Also ensure binaries R3trans
and tp are updated if necessary. If you are not sure, usually it will not hurt to update these
anyway.
10. Define Queue and perform TEST import and report any SPDD/SPAU conflicts to
project/developers