Role upgrade_sap_kernel 

The role upgrade_sap_kernel is used to upgrade the kernel of an already installed SAP system with new code that has been downloaded from the SAP Sowftware Distribution Center (SWDC) in SAP Archive (SAR) files. The SAR files must be available in the directory that is specified in variable upgsapkrn_dir_download_sar_managednode.

The role upgrade_sap_kernel needs the SAP System ID as input in variable upgsapkrn_input_sap_sid, upgsapkrn_input_sap_adm and upgsapkrn_input_sap_sys.

Table of contents

Role upgrade_sap_kernel

Requirements 

This role is intended for the operating system IBM AIX. The target system must be enabled to execute Ansible playbooks. For details, see the prerequisites section in Ansible Content for IBM Power Systems - AIX with SAP Software.

The role upgrade_sap_kernel will create a backup of directory upgsapkrn_dir_upgrade_kernel on the managed node into directory upgsapkrn_dir_kernel_backup_managednode on the managed node.

All provided SAR files will be extracted into directory on the managed node specified in variable upgsapkrn_dir_extracted_sar_managednode.

The extracted files will be copied into directory on the managed node specified in variable upgsapkrn_dir_upgrade_kernel.

Checking prerequisites for SAP kernel upgrade

SAP has a number of requirements:

Check if a system has enough free storage. Exceeding a certain treshold could lead to performance or other problems.
Directory Structure for an ABAP System Based on SAP NetWeaver 7.5.

Variables 

Variable	Usage	Required
`upgsapkrn_input_sap_sid`	SAP system ID	Yes
`upgsapkrn_input_sap_adm`	SAP admin ID	Yes 1
`upgsapkrn_input_sap_sys`	SAP system group ID	Yes 1
`upgsapkrn_dir_download_sar_managednode`	Directory path on the Ansible host where SAR file is located.	Yes 1 2
`upgsapkrn_dir_download_sapcar_managednode`	Directory path on the Ansible host where SAPCAR file is located.	Yes 1 3
`upgsapkrn_dir_sapcar_default_managednode`	Fallback directory on the target host where SAPCAR is searched.	Yes 1
`upgsapkrn_dir_upload_managednode`	Temporary directory path that will be created on the target host.	Yes 1
`upgsapkrn_file_sapcar`	Local SAPCAR file name	Yes 1
`upgsapkrn_dir_extracted_sar_managednode`	Temporary directory path that will be created on the target host.	Yes 1
`upgsapkrn_dir_kernel_backup_managednode`	Temporary directory path that will be created on the target host.	Yes 1
`upgsapkrn_dir_upgrade_kernel`	Directory path of SAP working directory.	Yes 1

Remarks:

1(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10): Default provided.
2: At least one sar file is required in upgsapkrn_dir_download_sar_managednode matching the pattern “*.SAR” or “*.sar”.
3: When upgsapkrn_dir_download_sapcar_managednode is undefined, SAPCAR will be searched in upgsapkrn_dir_download_sar_managednode and upgsapkrn_dir_sapcar_default_managednode.

Defaults 

Suggested default values are provided in defaults/main.yml:

Variable	Default
`upgsapkrn_input_sap_adm`	`"{{ upgsapkrn_input_sap_sid\|lower }}adm"`
`upgsapkrn_input_sap_sys`	`"sapsys"`
`upgsapkrn_dir_download_sar_managednode`	`"/tmp/sar_prov_dir"`
`upgsapkrn_dir_download_sapcar_managednode`	`"/tmp/sapcar_prov_dir"`
`upgsapkrn_dir_sapcar_default_managednode`	`"/usr/sap/hostctrl/exe"`
`upgsapkrn_dir_upload_managednode`	`"/usr/sap/tmp/sar_upload_dir"`
`upgsapkrn_file_sapcar`	`"SAPCAR"`
`upgsapkrn_dir_extracted_sar_managednode`	`"/usr/sap/tmp/sar_extracted_dir"`
`upgsapkrn_dir_kernel_backup_managednode`	`"/sapmnt/{{ upgsapkrn_input_sap_sid }}/exe/uc/kernel_backup_dir"`
`upgsapkrn_dir_upgrade_kernel`	`"/sapmnt/{{ upgsapkrn_input_sap_sid }}/exe/uc/rs6000_64"`

Dependencies 

None.

Example Playbook 

The example playbook is used to replace the existing kernel of SAP system PRD with a new stack kernel on several hosts. It is based on the assumption that a configuration file and an inventory file with contents similar to the configuration documentation exist in the current directory. The necessary archives and the SAPCAR tool must have been downloaded from the SAP Software Distribution Center and stored in the NFS share mounted on /mnt/a. The files will be copied into directory /usr/sap/tmp/sar_upload_dir (default value for variable upgsapkrn_dir_upload_managednode). The playbook is located in the current directory, named MYupgrade_sap_kernel.yml and has the following contents:

- hosts: ibmaix_servers
  vars:
  - upgsapkrn_input_sap_sid: PRD
  - upgsapkrn_dir_download_sar_managednode: /mnt/a
  - upgsapkrn_dir_download_sapcar_managednode: /mnt/a
  - ansible_become_method: su
  roles:
  - role: upgrade_sap_kernel

Note: By specifying variable ansible_become_user: su, you select a method that is available on any AIX server. The default value would be sudo, which may or may not be available on your server (see Ansible User Guide: Understanding privilege escalation: become). If you want to use RBAC, you must specify ansible_become_method: swrole.

To execute this playbook, enter the command:

ansible-playbook -i my_inventory.yaml MYupgrade_sap_kernel.yml