Kernel Patch Upgrade Procedure in Windows ,Oracle as Database

1. From the command prompt migrate to the current run folder, in <SID> system it is - \usr\sap\SID\sys\exe\run.

2. Execute the command disp+work –v|more, and note down the current kernel patch level: 

3. Log into the SAP System, check whether any users are logged in, if so, notify them of the outage and send either a message using SM02/ use function module (SE37_ TH_POPUP and ask them to log off.

4. Freeze all the BTC jobs using SE38 – Program BTCTRNS1.

5. Stop the SAP System from the SAP MMC.

6. Check whether the database stopped, if not stop it explicitly using a shutdown immediate command at the SQL prompt.

7. In Windows system you will also need to stop the Services explicitly as these may not be stopped when you stop SAP and the Oracle Databases.

SAP Services to be stopped:

SAPOSCOL

SAP<SID>_<Instance Number>

Oracle Services to be stopped:

Oracle<SID>920TNSListener

OracleService<SID>

Other Services that needs to be stopped so that they do not intervene during the Kernel Patch upgrade:

Distributed Transaction Coordinator

Note – Change the startup types of SAP<SID>_<Instance Number> and SAPOSCOL to manual, as during the kernel patch upgrade once the executables SAPSTARTSRV.EXE and SAPOSCOL.EXE are replaced, these services have a tendency to start automatically and hence interrupt the kernel patch upgrade.

8. Now again migrate to the D:\usr\sap\<SID>\sys\exe using the Windows Explorer and take a backup of the present kernel folder (/run) and copy it to a safe location with the name, Old_Kernel_<SID><patch level>.

9. Copy and paste the contents of New Kernel into \usr\sap\<SID>\sys\exe\run

10. Note – During the patch upgrade you may be interrupted by the DLL sapevents.dll, this is used by the SAP system to communicate with the NT Event Log, rename this file to sapevents.dll.bak and continue or restart the copy (This is actually used by the Windows Service  “Windows Management Instrumentation”) – Check SAP Note 657763 for details. 

11. Change the startup of services back to automatic.

12. Restart Database & SAP.

13. Check that all the services have started properly.

14. SE38 – Execute transaction BTCTRNS2.

15. Check Windows Event Log & SM21 for any errors. Do a quick Health check of the important transactions.