0
SAP NetWeaver 7.3
– What is new and
how to upgrade
Dr. Berg
Comerit Inc.
© 2011 Wellesley Information Services. All rights reserved.
In This Session …
In this session, we take a look at the major new features of
SAP BW 7.3.
We also examine the new upgrade tools and take a step-bystep look at what is required to upgrade a SAP BW system to
version 7.3
Finally, we look at an example
on how to minimize upgrade
risks while also changing the
hardware during the upgrade.
Worth Pondering:
System complexity is
increasing, while attention
spans are decreasing
2
What We’ll Cover …
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
SAP BW 7.3 Overview
New Administrative Cockpit Capabilities
The new Semantic partition (SPO) Options
The HybridProvider and Real-Time Data
Faster Data Load and New Design Options
Front-end and Security Benefits
New in-Memory Possibilities with BW 7.3 and BWA 7.2
Planning and Executing the Upgrade
Wrap-up
3
The Reason for Upgrading
SAP BW 7.3 was released on May 30, 2011 and has been
extensively tested.
Beta Shipment started in July 2010; Ramp Up started on the
29th of November 2010.
BW Version Release Date
1.0E
Dec-98
1.2A
Feb-99
1.2B
Jun-99
2.0A
Feb-00
2.0B
Aug-00
2.1C
Dec-00
3.0A
Nov-01
3.0B
May-02
3.1C
Nov-02
3.2
Mar-03
3.3
Aug-03
3.5
Mar-04
2004S
Jun-07
7.0 (~"7.1")
Dec-08
7.3
May-11
End of mainstream maintenance
Jan-99
Jun-99
Jun-04
Feb-05
Dec-05
Dec-05
Dec-05
Dec-06
Dec-06
Dec-06
Dec-06
Mar/Dec-10
Dec-10
Dec-12
May-16
BW has now been around for
over 12 years!!
4
BW 7.3 Release History and Testing
Seven customers and nine service partners participated
on the beta testing. The beta testing ended in November,
2010 with the following scores:
Very Good
Low Value
1
2
3
4
1
2
3
4
BW 7.3 Functional 1
Completeness
2
3
4
Assistance and Support
BW 7.3 Quality & Reliability
Very Satisfied
BW 7.3 Ease of Installation 1
and Configuration
Had Major Issues
2
3
4
BW 7.3 was tested extensively in a beta
program and in ramp-up for almost one year!
5
Ease of Installation & Upgrade- Wizards and the ASU toolbox
A major new feature of SAP BW is the ability to use a Wizard to
install the system.
This include the following Wizard ‘templates”:
 ABAP Stack initial setup.
 Connectivity initial setup
 Templates for automated configuration
 Business Suite-7 integration
 Technical content reports for Initial Setup
 Upgrade step-by-step (note: 1000009)
You can choose to
use both an Java
and/or a ABAP stack
when installing 7.3
6
NEW: Specific Database Support –IBM DB2
IBM DB2: 7.3 supports specific database features:
 DB2
v9.5 supports PSA, DSO and fact table compressions for reduced disk volume
(integrates with DB2 storage management)
 Support
for MDC clustering in the DB Cockpit. This is available in v9.5.2. or higher
and default for all DSO tables and PSA in version 9.7
 Much
 DB2
faster request deletion if MDC clustering is used
v9.7 supports Index compressions for reduced disk volume
 Support
for IBM DB2’s DPF (Database Partitioning Feature)
In the past, BW has been unable to take advantage of vendor specific
database features. This is changed & workarounds are less needed.
7
What We’ll Cover …
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
SAP BW 7.3 Overview
New Administrative Cockpit Capabilities
The new Semantic partition (SPO) Options
The HybridProvider and Real-Time Data
Faster Data Load and New Design Options
Front-end and Security Benefits
New in-Memory Possibilities with BW 7.3 and BWA 7.2
Planning and Executing the Upgrade
Wrap-up
8
New 7.3 Performance and Admin Monitoring Capabilities
New monitors include:
 Monitor of database usage and object sizes (i.e. InfoCubes, DSOs)
 Query usage statistics are more visible (similar to RSRT, RSRV, RSTT)
 We can see more of the use of BWA and sizes
 Monitor for the actual use of OLAP/MDX Cache and hit ratios
 You can now selectively delete internal statistics in RSDDSTATWHM by
date through the updated RSDDSTAT_DATA_DELETE ABAP program.
There is also a new MDX Editor for coding and syntax assistance
Solution Manager has
also been updated to
take advantage of
these new monitors.
9
New 7.3 Performance and Admin Monitoring Capabilities
Other New monitors include:
 DEAMON
A
update information (i.e. RDA capacity status, usage)
performance monitoring workbench for performance trends
 Process
chain monitoring (new transaction: RSPCM) with error
and active chain monitoring, user specific displays, and
performance threshold monitoring (i.e. for SLAs)
NLS: In BW 7.3 the Near
Line Storage has also be
enhanced to include
archiving, support for
write optimized DSOs and
database support for tools
such as DB2 Viper (v9.5)
and much more
10
What We’ll Cover …
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
SAP BW 7.3 Overview
New Administrative Cockpit Capabilities
The new Semantic partition (SPO) Options
The HybridProvider and Real-Time Data
Faster Data Load and New Design Options
Front-end and Security Benefits
New in-Memory Possibilities with BW 7.3 and BWA 7.2
Planning and Executing the Upgrade
Wrap-up
11
Semantic Partitioned Objects (SPO)
When data stores and InfoCubes are allowed to grow over time the data
load and query performance suffers.
Normally objects should be physically partitioned when the numbers of
records exceed 100 million. However, this may be different depending on
the size of your hardware and the type of database you use.
In BW 7.3 we get an option to create a Semantic Partitioned Object (SPO)
through wizards. You can partition based on fields such as calendar
year, region, country etc.
12
Semantic Partitioned Objects (SPO)
When a SPO is created, a reference structure keeps track of the
partitions. The structure is placed in the MultiProvider for querying.
Source: SAP AG, 2011
SPO Wizards create all Data Transfer Processes (DTP), transformations,
filters for each data store and a process chain automatically.
13
What We’ll Cover …
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
SAP BW 7.3 Overview
New Administrative Cockpit Capabilities
The new Semantic partition (SPO) Options
The HybridProvider and Real-Time Data
Faster Data Load and New Design Options
Front-end and Security Benefits
New in-Memory Possibilities with BW 7.3 and BWA 7.2
Planning and Executing the Upgrade
Wrap-up
14
The New Hybrid Provider and Real Time Data
The "HybridProvider" (HP) is new in BW v7.3. The core idea is to link the
historical data inside BW with real-time data.
There are two ways of implementing a HP:
 HP based on a DSO
 HP based on a Virtual InfoCube
Real-Time Data
Acquisition
HybridProvider
Transaction
Data
Indexing
ECC
and
External
Systems
BWA based
InfoCube
Direct
reads
Virtual
InfoCube
RDA
Real-Time
Data
Acquisition
Query
(real time)
Direct
Access
Option 1: The DSO Based HybridProvider
Core Features:
Real-time data is in the DSO and historical data in the BWA based InfoCube
The DSO use real-time data acquisition (RDA) to load data
BW automatically creates a process chain for the HybridProvder's data flow
The process chain is executed for every closed request
Real-Time Data
Acquisition
HybridProvider
Transaction
Data
Indexing
ECC
and
External
Systems
BWA based
InfoCube
Direct
reads
RDA
Real-Time
Data
Acquisition
Query
(real time)
Direct
Access
Virtual
InfoCube
This solution provides for really fast queries, but delta logic has to be custom designed
Option 1: The DSO Based HybridProvider
This solution provides for really fast queries, but delta logic has to
be custom designed and may be complex. However, the solution
allows for high-frequency updates and very rapid query response.
This is a good option if
you have a low volume of
new records and a high
number of queries or
operational dashboards
Option 2: The Virtual Cube Based HybridProvider
Core Features:
Data is read in real-time from ECC, while historical data is read from BWA
The difference depends on how often BWA is loaded
Non-complex data logic can be applied
DTP is permitted if you do not filter the data set
Real-Time Data
Acquisition
HybridProvider
Transaction
Data
Indexing
ECC
and
External
Systems
BWA based
InfoCube
Direct
reads
RDA
Real-Time
Data
Acquisition
Query
(real time)
Direct
Access
Virtual
InfoCube
NOTE: Virtual cubes with many users may place high-stress on the ERP system
What We’ll Cover …
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
SAP BW 7.3 Overview
New Administrative Cockpit Capabilities
The new Semantic partition (SPO) Options
The HybridProvider and Real-Time Data
Faster Data Load and New Design Options
Front-end and Security Benefits
New in-Memory Possibilities with BW 7.3 and BWA 7.2
Planning and Executing the Upgrade
Wrap-up
Hint for Experts: The search feature in the BW 7.3
Admin Workbench has been improved so that it is
easier to search more items such as process chains.
19
Faster Data Load and New Design Options - Activation
During activation, BW 7.0 has to lookup in the NIRV table to see if the object
already exist. This can be a slow process.
In BW 7.0 we may buffer the number ranges to compare the data load with
records in-memory. This speeds up data activation.
However, in BW 7.3 the data activation is changed from single lookups to
package fetch of the active table, resulting in faster activation and less locks
on the lookup tables. The new method may result in 15-30% faster data
activation (20-40% in-lab tests).
For data transformations the option ‘Read from DataStore’ for a faster data
look-up is also available. In addition, the use of navigational attributes as
sources in Masterdata transformations reduce overhead for lookups.
Combined, this may lead to an additional 10-20% improvement.
The 7.3 initial load runtime option “Insert only” and the ““Unique
data records only” prevents all look-ups during activation
20
New Data Design Options – Delta, Init and WebServices
In NW 7.3 you can create
generic delta extraction for the
Universal Data (UD) & Database
Connect (DB) options, as well as
for flat files.
In addition you can the new
DataSource adapter “Web
Service Pull” to load data from
external web services. You can even create generic WebServices delta loads,
and load the new data straight into the staging area of BW 7.3.
While web services does not support hierarchies yet, there is now integration
of hierarchies into the standard process flow such as transformation and DTPs,
as well as being able to load hierarchies from flat file using a new DataSource.
When you use delta loads, the first time BW 7.3 automatically
defines it an “init load” after that it automatically switches to
“delta” as the InfoPackage mode (no need to define it anymore!)
21
New Options - ETL Interface and Shut-Downs
SAP BW 7.3 has a new interface to
create and manage data flows
graphically in a 'drag-and-drop'
manner, including:
 Data
Flow Copy to copy data
flows and process chains.
 Data
Flow Migration to migrate, or
reverse migrate, data flows with
automatic adoption of
InfoPackages and process chains
 Data
Flow Wizard to automatically
create complete data flows from a
DataSource
Source: SAP AG, 2011
NEW: use “RS_SYSTEM_SHUTDOWN” to restart an application server and
suspend RDA and process chains and re-start them in a controlled manner.
Data loads are not in “flux’ and you do not have to clean up partial loads.
22
What We’ll Cover …
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
SAP BW 7.3 Overview
New Administrative Cockpit Capabilities
The new Semantic partition (SPO) Options
The HybridProvider and Real-Time Data
Faster Data Load and New Design Options
Front-end and Security Benefits
New in-Memory Possibilities with BW 7.3 and BWA 7.2
Planning and Executing the Upgrade
Wrap-up
23
Security Changes and New Mass Change Feature
When companies upgraded from BW
version 3.5 to 7.0, security migration
was optional and many did only a
technical upgrade and kept the
'obsolete authorization' concept. A
security migration is now required.
Great BW 7.3 Security Admin
Feature: you can make mass
changes to authorizations
instead of one-by-one. This can
be done by cut-and-paste in a
worklist, hierarchy nodes, and
you can also add users to
multiple analysis authorizations
SAP recommends to migrate to the new concept before
upgrading a 7.0 system. (Notes: 931898; 938871; 946724, 958665; 1001652)
24
Security features in BW 7.0 and 7.3
Some companies did not do a security conversion in BW 7.0 since items
such as 0TCTAUTHH did not migrate (manually reassigned for the
hierarchies) and passwords became case sensitive. Now it is required.
SAP still have the ABAP migration tool in BW 7.0. It can be used in SA38
(RSEC_MIGRATION) and migration can occur before the upgrade.
Authorizations are building
blocks of the 7.0/7.3
reporting concept and
security contains both the
data value and hierarchy
restrictions.
Security can be built using
“RSECADMIN” transaction
SAP BW 3.5 and BW
7.0 without security
conversion
BW 7.0 and 7.3 with
security conversion
Technical
Foundation
Maintenance
Number of
InfoObjects
Navigational
attributes
Hierarchy
authorization
Authorization Objects
Composition of
Authorizations
Only intersection of
authorization objects are
permitted
Per InfoCube and
Per InfoObject only
InfoObject
Authorization
Relevance
Analysis authorizations
Not changeable
Changeable
10 fields at 10 characters Unlimited
On global basis
Individually
Via GUID 0TCTAUTHH
Equivalent to value
authorizations
Union ('as expected')
25
BW 7.0 and 7.3 Authorization Objects
Authorization objects for the Data Warehousing Workbench:
After the required
S_RS_DS: For the DataSource or its sub objects (BI 7.x)
S_RS_ISNEW: For new InfoSources or their sub objects (NW BI 7.x) security conversion you
S_RS_DTP: For the data transfer process and its sub objects
have access to lower
S_RS_TR: For transformation rules and their sub objects
security granularity for
S_RS_CTT: For currency translation types
developers and users.
S_RS_UOM: For quantity conversion types
S_RS_THJT: For key date derivation types
S_RS_PLENQ: Authorizations for maintaining or displaying the lock settings
S_RS_RST: Authorization object for the RS trace tool
S_RS_PC: For process chains
S_RS_OHDEST: Open Hub Destination
Authorization objects for the Business Explorer:
S_RS_DAS: For Data Access Services
S_RS_BTMP: For BEx Web templates
S_RS_BEXTX: Authorizations for the maintenance of BEx texts
Authorization objects for the Admin of analysis authorizations
S_RSEC: Authorization for assignment and administration of analysis authorizations
S_RS_AUTH: Authorization object to include analysis authorizations in roles
Changed Authorization Objects:
S_RS_ADMWB (Data Warehousing Workbench: Objects):
New sub objects:
CONT_ACT – Installing Business Content; USE_DND - Drag & Drop to InfoAreas and
application components; CNG_RUN - Attribute change run
26
What We’ll Cover …
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
SAP BW 7.3 Overview
New Administrative Cockpit Capabilities
The new Semantic partition (SPO) Options
The HybridProvider and Real-Time Data
Faster Data Load and New Design Options
Front-end and Security Benefits
New in-Memory Possibilities with BW 7.3 and BWA 7.2
Planning and Executing the Upgrade
Wrap-up
27
CompositeProviders: Unions of indexes in BWA
With 7.3 you get a tool to create a new “CompositeProvider” to
join indices inside the BWA system.
This works similar to MultiProviders, but can be modeled ad-hoc
and the joins are executed inside BWA and not inside the BW
Analytical Engine (this is much faster)
Source: SAP AG, 2011
All BW 7.3 CompositeProviders, DSOs, MultiProviders & InfoCubes are available
as InfoProviders for querying. Even queries can be defined as InfoProviders.
28
In Memory Processing - BWA 7.2 and BW 7.3
BIG DEAL! - In BW 7.3 you can
also build analytical indexes.
These are simply 'data
containers' from APD that is
stored in BWA. You can build
queries on them
Using the Index Designer in
BOBJ Data Services, you can
also index data from external
data files and data bases and
query it in SAP Business
Warehouse 7.3.
3. Queries are routed to BWA
by the Analytical engine
SAP BW
BI Analytical Engine
2. Indexes copied in
to RAM on blades
InfoCubes
1. Indexing and
compression
stored on a file
system
DSOs
Business Object
Data Services
External data
It is important to note that
currently, the BO indexes are
on dedicated HW blades.
Data
Integrator
Index Designer
Files
Databases
29
The New SAP BW 7.3 Features – Modeling in BWA 7.2
With BW 7.3 and BWA
7.2 you can complete
many of the joins and
the aggregation that
previously was
conducted in the BI
Analytical engine, and
was therefore hard to
performance tune.
It also reduces the data
being transferred to the
app-server and
therefore are much
faster as well.
The New SAP BWA 7.2 / BW 7.3 – Faster Performance
Source: SAP AG, 2011
The major benefit of the BWA 7.2 on BW 7.3 is that you can
move more of the calculation over to the accelerator and
materialize the result in-memory. This improves the reads
and calculations in the OLAP/ BI analytical engine on the
BW side is substantially reduced.
The following calculations is included in BW 7.3 / BWA 7.2
SUM
MIN
MAX
CNT (count all detailed values)
CN0 (Count all values not zero or null) AVG (average)
AV0 (Average for all values not zero or null)
The SAP BW 7.3/BWA 7.2 Limitations and Query Settings
There are still some limitations. For example you cannot use the
exception aggregation for single key figures in BWA if it uses:
1) Virtual key figures
2) Conversion before aggregation
3) Formula calculation before aggregation
4) Non-cumulative key figures
5) Key figures with elimination of internal business volume
You also get more detailed
control on each query as to how
it reads the BWA. Think of it as
similar to Query read modes
(more details at SDN :
http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/7095000
3-f7ef-2d10-b1bc-ee483800b25c?QuickLink=index&overridelayout=true
What We’ll Cover …
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
SAP BW 7.3 Overview
New Administrative Cockpit Capabilities
The new Semantic partition (SPO) Options
The HybridProvider and Real-Time Data
Faster Data Load and New Design Options
Front-end and Security Benefits
New in-Memory Possibilities with BW 7.3 and BWA 7.2
Planning and Executing the Upgrade
Wrap-up
33
Some Upgrade Options and Java Stack Recommendations
NW Java 7.3 is now included,
and it is suggested that ABAP
and Java Stack is split if not
already done so. A tool to split
the stack is available in EhP2
(in SAPInst) and in SAPInst in
ABAP 7.30.
Option 1
Recommended
Option 2
This gives better scalability
(multiple hardware servers).
Double stack upgrade is still
possible.
The java server is not used for
IP after BW 7.30 (re-developed in
ABAP HTTP)
You can automatically create
connections between Java-ABAP
for EP/IP or front-end Java using
CTC (notes: 983156, 1178800)
Recommended
Option 3
Upgrade Decision: Low, Standard and High Resources
A major decision is: Are you going to
minimize the system down-time, or
doing a low resource upgrade. The
trade-off is between using more
system resources, or downtime.
In the 'standard' upgrade, we create a shadow system, while the BW system
is still operating. We turn off any archiving to make sure we do not miss any
data, and do our system backup right before the downtime starts. Therefore
we can do much of the upgrade before the downtime (shorten the outage).
In a very high system resource upgrade, we also use a shadow system, but
imports are much faster and we can keep archiving on (may create large
logs), but downtime starts earlier.
Most companies should use the standard upgrade method,
unless their system is very small or have limited resources. For
those, the shadow system is created during the downtime.
35
System Switch Upgrade and Shadow Systems
Application Data
You can use a shadow
system to reduce the
system outage.
Target Release
SAP BW
7.3
XPRA
Import &
Data Conversion
Target Release
System
Also, by doing a hardware
switch/ upgrade, we can
minimize any impact to
Shadow
the production system
System
(reduced upgrade risk).
Application Data
Source
Release
Target
Release
Target Release
System
Source Release
System
- High system resource - locks
system in the REPACHK2 phase
- Standard system resource - locks
system in the REPACHK2 phase
- Low system resource - locks
system in the LOCKEU_PRE phase
(note: 851449)
SPDD
Shadow System Installation
Application
Data
BW 7.0
EhP1
Target
Release
BW 7.0
36
Upgrade Resources
Team Lead
Basis
resource
Technical reviewer
BW Developer
Upgrade Support
External
Regression Testers
•
A Dedicated team with a technical team lead (100%), a Basis resource
(100%) and a technical reviewer/tester (100% is required).
•
In addition, a dedicated “go-to” resource for technical issues is
recommended. This should be an individual that have solid
knowledge about the upgrade and have done his before.
•
Regression testing is required on behalf or the user community. This
should be coordinated with the Power Users or existing developers.
37
The Upgrade Execution and Clean-up
•
To reduce the overall size: clean the PSA, delete log-files and objects
not needed (i.e. DSOs and InfoCubes), empty aggregates etc.
•
You are now ready to launch the upgrade front-end that will take you
through all the steps of the NW 7.3 upgrade.
Remember to also select the new BI
content package as part of your upgrade.
38
The Upgrade Interface
While the upgrade interface is simplified, there is still a need
to thoroughly understand how to setup connectivity,
hardware and shadow systems.
This not a
place to
"experiment"
and "explore"
options..
SAP has a great
step-by-step 'wizard'
tool to help with the
7.3 upgrade.
39
Step-1 - Planning the Upgrade and getting started
1. Stop all Deamon Process - RSRDA
2. Remove all temporary database objects - SAP_DROP_TMPTABLES
3. Run the upgrade check - RSUPGRCHECK
4. If you copied your system from Prod, check the storage - SECSTORE
5. Make sure all objects and programs has a library entry - TLIBG
6. Create an XML file for the new stack in Sol. Mgr
Planning the Upgrade is a significant task and it is important to start
in an organized manner. ALWAYS; read the SAP notes for your
database, OS and NW release prior to starting these activities.
40
ASU Provide a list of pre- and post upgrade tasks
Some of the manual preparation steps
Some of the manual follow-up steps
There is also support for documentation of each task. Team
members can consolidate their comments, test results and
outcomes. This reduce the number of emails and everyone
can see what has been done and see results in one place.
41
Step -2: Getting the Files Key you need
1. Select the update option for your system
2. Select the stack you want to update (make sure you are connected)
3. Select the target system you want to upgrade to (NW 7.3)
4. Select all files for the operating system and database you have
5. Select the files for the stack (all)
There are some different files required for each type of database,
operating system and stacks. Make sure you collect the right versions.
42
Step -3: Downloading the files
This may sound like a simple step, but some organizations
may experience slow networks, internal network timeouts
or long waits depending on peak loads on their network.
You may consider doing this in the evening
after everyone has gone home.
43
Step -5: The Lock down and Preprocessing
While, technically you have not yet locked
the system, configuration changes to
process chains, info packages & queries
are no longer possible after this step
The real lock-down of the BW system
takes place when the pre-processing step
is complete. After this the system is
unavailable for users.
There are many steps between these options. The best timing may be
to complete all tasks from step 1 through 5 before Friday's 5pm when
you may be able to bring the system down. Make sure you do a
system backup before you proceed to step 6!
44
Step -1: Hardware Install, Dev Copy & Sandbox upgrade
In this example, we are installing new
Hardware. This creates a lot of
flexibility and less project risk!
First, we copy the BW 7.0 development
box to the new hardware.
BW 7.0
Sandbox
BW 7.0
Dev. Box
BW 7.0
QA Box
BW 7.0
Prod Box
1
BW 7.3
Sandbox
Second, we upgrade the new sandbox
in a controlled manner and document
all activities
We want to create a repeatable process, so no ad-hoc activities are
allowed. Remember, extra time has to be set aside for notes research
and unforeseen issues.
BENEFITS: this is also a test run for upgrading the
development box (!), thereby reducing the upgrade risk. After
the upgrade we also get a refreshed sandbox environment.
45
45
Step -2: Development box copy and upgrade
Now we have to freeze all development
activities.
Normally the work in the 7.0 dev box
ids transported to QA for testing and
the dev box is locked.
BW 7.0
Sandbox
1
BW 7.3
Sandbox
BW 7.0
Dev. Box
BW 7.0
QA Box
BW 7.0
Prod Box
2
BW 7.3
Dev. Box
Using the upgrade script and all steps collected and written during the
sandbox upgrade, we are upgrading the new development box. This is
intended to be a structured approach that is repeatable.
The developers participate in in-depth testing of the new 7.3 dev. box.
BENEFITS: the outage of the development box occurred after the sandbox
upgrade and the development outage is minimized. This is also the second time
we have upgraded the development box, so any issues should be well known.
46
46
Step -3: Production box copy and QA upgrade
We copy production environment to
the development box after all testing in
the QA has been completed and all the
object has been transported to the
production system.
BW 7.0
Sandbox
1
BW 7.3
Sandbox
BW 7.0
Dev. Box
2
BW 7.3
Dev. Box
BW 7.0
QA Box
BW 7.0
Prod Box
3
BW 7.3
QA Box
Notice that no copies of Sandbox, nor
QA is made. Instead we get to upgrade the development box and the
production box 'twice'.
This is a significant risk mitigation strategy, but it does require that
transports and client dependent objects are switched back on the new
Sandbox and QA systems.
BENEFITS: This approach turns the QA upgrade into a real 'dress rehearsal' for
the production box upgrade. Also, since we are switching the hardware, the risk
to the upgrade in minimal (BW 7.0 prod is not taken off-line until after the
upgrade).
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Step -4: Production box copy and QA upgrade
You now are ready for the cutover
weekend.
The best timing is to start the
production box on Thursday evening
after the BW system has completed
data loads. A full backup is taken.
BW 7.0
Sandbox
1
BW 7.3
Sandbox
BW 7.0
Dev. Box
2
BW 7.3
Dev. Box
BW 7.0
QA Box
BW 7.0
Prod Box
3
4
BW 7.3
QA Box
BW 7.3
Prod Box
The system is unavailable on Friday
and is completely upgraded by
Saturday 6am.
A major consideration is the time it
takes for Unicode conversion, unless
already done.
Plan for having basis and technical people working the night from Thursday to
Friday and possibly to Saturday, depending how long the upgrade takes.
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Cut-Over to Production - Testing and Verification
The system verification takes place by testers on Saturday between 6
am and noon. A complete data load is executed by manually running
the process chains and data is also validated.
The RESTORE decision
A restore decision is made at 3 pm
on Saturday:
- If the system does not pass the validation,
the system is restored from backup
and will be ready by Monday 8am.
- If the system passes validation, the
process chains are scheduled and run
at normal scheduled times and data is
validated once more before declaring
success.
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Some Useful Hints and Programs for older systems
If some of the InfoSets becomes inactive, you can still use the program
RSQ_ISET_MASS_OPERATIONS to activate all InfoSets.
If you are still on 3.5 queries, or older versions (i.e. 3.1c, 3.0B), consider
running the program RSR_GEN_DIRECT_ALL_QUERIES to regenerate all
queries in the system into the 7.0 release.
NW BI 7.0 had a new transformation concept that replaced transfer and
update rules, but not all companies has migrated. To do so, convert the
DataSources and the Persistent Staging Area to the new DTP process,
(SAP Note 906789). To test the conversion of the DataSources can also run:
RSSM_CREATE_REQDONE_FROM_SEL; RSSM_HASH_ENTRIES_CREATE for all
requests; RSSTATMAN_CHECK_CONVERT_DTA; RSSTATMAN_CHECK_CONVERT_PSA.
If you are upgrading from an old BW system and is going through BW
7.0 to upgrade to 7.3, redefine the BI Statistics, (notes 934848 & 964418).
Also, use SM37 in production to find any other jobs that are scheduled,
and make sure they are also tested
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Resources
•
SAP NW 7.3 on Sap Developer Network
 www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/nw-73
•
Unveiling SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse 7.3
 by Lothar Henkes, SAP, SAPinsider - 2010 (Volume 11),
October (Issue 4)
•
Features list for the SAP NetWeaver BW 7.3
 www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/edw?rid=/library/uuid/304444f7e02d-2d10-9c97-d5e3ecf09882
•
SAP NW 7.3 Business Content
 http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw73/helpdata/en/ca/6fbd3574
6dbd2de10000009b38f889/frameset.htm
•
Roadmap - SAP NetWEaver BW 7.3
 http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/bw73?rid=/library/uuid/300347b5-9bcf-2d10-efa9-8cc8d89ee72c
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7 Key Points to Take Home
•
BW is a good version to upgrade on. It has been extensively
tested and is ready for 'prime time'.
•
The upgrade is technical and strong skills are required
•
Plan for how much of the new functionality you will deploy
•
You will need to spend time on security conversion if you have
not already done so.
•
The upgrade is unique, so don't rely of past experiences.
•
Complete an technical review before you start the upgrade. Plan
for hardware upgrade, database upgrade and server upgrades as
part of the BW upgrade.
•
Make sure you have access to experts and decide early how much
risk you can live with
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Your Turn!
How to contact me:
Dr. Berg
Bberg@ComeritInc.com
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Disclaimer
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respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries all over the world. All other product
and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Wellesley Information Services is neither owned nor controlled by
SAP.
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