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Install SAP software

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After you've created infrastructure for your new SAP system using Azure Center for SAP solutions, you need to install the SAP software.

In this how-to guide, you'll learn two ways to install the SAP software for your system. Choose whichever method is appropriate for your use case. You can either:

Prerequisites

Review the prerequisites for your preferred installation method: through the Azure Center for SAP solutions installation wizard or through an outside method

Prerequisites for wizard installation

  • An Azure subscription.
  • An Azure account with Contributor role access to the subscriptions and resource groups in which the Virtual Instance for SAP solutions exists.
  • A user-assigned managed identity with Storage Blob Data Reader and Reader and Data Access roles on the Storage Account which has the SAP software.
  • A network set up for your SAP deployment.
  • A deployment of S/4HANA infrastructure.
  • If you are installing an SAP System through Azure Center for SAP solutions, you should have the SAP installation media available in a storage account. For more information, see how to download the SAP installation media.
  • If you're installing a Highly Available (HA) SAP system, get the Service Principal identifier (SPN ID) and password to authorize the Azure fence agent (fencing device) against Azure resources. For more information, see Use Azure CLI to create a Microsoft Entra app and configure it to access Media Services API.
    • For an example, see the Red Hat documentation for Creating a Microsoft Entra Application.
    • To avoid frequent password expiry, use the Azure Command-Line Interface (Azure CLI) to create the Service Principal identifier and password instead of the Azure portal.

Prerequisites for outside installation

  • An Azure subscription.
  • An Azure account with Contributor role access to the subscriptions and resource groups in which the Virtual Instance for SAP solutions exists.
  • A user-assigned managed identity that you created during infrastructure deployment with Contributor role access on the subscription, or on all resource groups (compute, network and storage) that the SAP System is a part of.
  • Infrastructure for the SAP system that you previously created through Azure Center for SAP solution. Don't make any changes to this infrastructure.
  • An SAP System (and underlying infrastructure resources) that is up and running.
  • Optionally, you can add fully installed application servers to the system before detecting the SAP software; then, the SAP system with additional application servers will also be detected.
    • If you add additional application servers to this Virtual Instance for SAP solutions after infrastructure deployment, the previously created user-assigned managed identity also needs Contributor role access on the subscription or on the resource group under which this new application server exists.
    • The number of application virtual machines installed should not be less than the number created during the infrastructure deployment phase in Azure Center for SAP solutions. You can still detect additional application servers.

Only the following scenarios are supported for this installation method:

  • Infrastructure for S4/HANA was created through Azure Center for SAP solutions. The S4/HANA application was installed outside Azure Center for SAP solutions through a different tool.
  • Only S4/HANA installation done outside Azure Center for SAP solutions can be detected. If you have installed a different SAP Application than S4/HANA, the detection will fail.
  • If you want a fresh installation of S4/HANA software on the infrastructure deployed by Azure Center for SAP solutions, use the wizard installation option instead.

Install SAP with Azure Center for SAP solutions

To install the SAP software directly, use the Azure Center for SAP solutions installation wizard.

  1. Sign in to the Azure portal.

  2. Search for and select Virtual Instance for SAP solutions.

  3. Select your Virtual Instance for SAP solutions instance.

  4. On the Overview page for the Virtual Instance for SAP solutions resource, select Install SAP software.

  5. In the Prerequisites tab of the wizard, review the prerequisites. Then, select Next.

  6. On the Software tab, provide information about your SAP media.

    1. For Have you uploaded the software to an Azure storage account?, select Yes.

    2. For Software version, use the SAP S/4HANA 1909 SPS03 or SAP S/4HANA 2020 SPS 03 or SAP S/4HANA 2021 ISS 00 or S/4 HANA 2022 ISS 00 . Please note only those versions will light up which are supported with the OS version that was used to deploy the infrastructure previously.

    3. For BOM directory location, select Browse and find the path to your BOM file. For example, https://<your-storage-account>.blob.core.windows.net/sapbits/sapfiles/boms/S41909SPS03_v0010ms.yaml.

    4. For High Availability (HA) systems only, enter the client identifier for the STONITH Fencing Agent service principal for Fencing client ID.

    5. For High Availability (HA) systems only, enter the password for the Fencing Agent service principal for Fencing client password.

    6. Select Next.

  7. On the Review + install tab, review the software settings.

  8. Select Install to proceed with installation.

  9. Wait for the installation to complete. The process takes approximately three hours. You can see the progress, along with estimated times for each step, in the wizard.

  10. After the installation completes, sign in with your SAP system credentials. To find the SAP system and HANA DB credentials for the newly installed system, see how to manage a Virtual Instance for SAP solutions.

Install SAP through outside method

If you install the SAP software elsewhere, you need to detect the software installation and update your Virtual Instance for SAP solutions metadata.

  1. Sign in to the Azure portal. Make sure to sign in with an Azure account that has Contributor role access to the subscription or resource groups where the SAP system exists.

  2. Search for and select Azure Center for SAP solutions in the Azure portal's search bar.

  3. Select Virtual Instances for SAP solutions. Then select the Virtual Instance for SAP solutions resource that you want to detect.

  4. On the resource's overview page, select Confirm already installed software. Read all the instructions, then select Confirm. Extensions will now be installed on ASCS, APP and DB virtual machines and start discovering SAP metadata.

  5. Wait for the Virtual Instance for SAP solutions resource to be detected and populated with the metadata. The process completes after all SAP system components have been detected.

  6. Review the Virtual Instance for SAP solutions resource in the Azure portal. The resource page now shows the SAP system resources, and information about the system.

Limitations

The following are known limitations and issues.

Application servers

You can install a maximum of 10 Application Servers, excluding the Primary Application Server.

SAP package version changes

When SAP changes the version of packages for a component in the BOM, you might encounter problems with the automated installation shell script. It's recommended to download your SAP installation media as soon as possible to avoid issues.

If you encounter this problem, follow these steps:

  1. Download a new valid package from the SAP software downloads page.

  2. Upload the new package in the archives folder of your Azure Storage account.

  3. Update the following contents in the BOM file(s) that reference the updated component.

    • name to the new package name
    • archive to the new package name and extension
    • checksum to the new checksum
    • filename to the new shortened package name
    • permissions to 0755
    • url to the new SAP download URL

  4. Reupload the BOM file(s) in the subfolder (S41909SPS03_v0011ms or S42020SPS03_v0003ms or S4HANA_2021_ISS_v0001ms or S42022SPS00_v0001ms) of the boms folder

Special characters like $ in S-user password is not accepted while downloading the BOM.

  1. Clone the SAP automation repository. For more information, see how to download the SAP installation media.

    git clone https://github.com/Azure/sap-automation.git

  2. Before running the Ansible playbook set the SPASS environment variable below. Single quotes should be present in the command.

    export SPASS='password_with_special_chars'

  3. Run the Ansible playbook:

    ansible-playbook ./sap-automation/deploy/ansible/playbook_bom_downloader.yaml -e "bom_base_name=S41909SPS03_v0011ms" -e "deployer_kv_name=dummy_value" -e "s_user=<username>" -e "s_password=$SPASS" -e "sapbits_access_key=<storageAccountAccessKey>" -e "sapbits_location_base_path=<containerBasePath>"
    • For <username>, use your SAP username.
    • For <bom_base_name>, use the SAP Version you want to install i.e. S41909SPS03_v0011ms or S42020SPS03_v0003ms or S4HANA_2021_ISS_v0001ms or S42022SPS00_v0001ms
    • For <storageAccountAccessKey>, use your storage account's access key. You found this value in the Download SAP media section
    • For <containerBasePath>, use the path to your sapbits container. You found this value in the Download SAP media section. The format is https://<your-storage-account>.blob.core.windows.net/sapbits

Next steps