Kernel Upgrade in SAP

CHECK BEFORE

Check the current kernel version:

1. System > Status:
   
2. Operating system level:
    

DOWNLOAD

Download kernel from Support packages and patches ---> By Alphabetical Index (A-Z) ---> K ---> SAP kernel <bit> <uc> ---> SAP kernel <release> (...) ---> There choose <operating system> ---> both #Database independent and <database specific> archives

Example:

EXTRACTION, UPDATE

1. Change to profile folder:
   
2. Find the instance profile
   
3. Find DIR_CT_RUN by "sappfpar check pf=<instance pf with full path> DIR_CT_RUN"
   
4. Copy kernel folder, in this case NTAMD64 as NTAMD64.bak
   
5. Copy SAR files one level above, in this case to "<drive>:\usr\sap\<SID>\SYS\exe\uc":
   
6. Stop SAP at this point. Also stop processes of this SAP system. 
7. Extract kernel archives by "sapcar -xfj <SAR archive> -R <destination folder>". First extract SAPEXE and SAPEXEDB SAR files and then the rest (dw sar, lib_dbsl sar, etc):
   
8. Start SAP start service SAP<SID>_<instance nr> from Windows service manager or by sapcontrol -nr <instance nr> -function StartService <SID> command
9. Restart SAP:
   
10. Restart SAP Start Service:
    

CHECK AFTER

Check the new kernel version:

1. System > Status:
   
2. Operating system level: