1. Deploying SAP on Azure SAP NetWeaver Silent Install

2. Course Agenda Module 1 – Introduction to SAP on Azure
8/25/2018
Course Agenda
Module 1 – Introduction to SAP on Azure
Module 2 – Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines
Module 3 – Microsoft Azure Networking
Module 4 - Architecting SAP NetWeaver on Azure
Module 5 - Building SAP NetWeaver on Azure
Module 6 - SAP NetWeaver Silent Install
Whiteboard Design: Architecting an SAP NetWeaver Solution on Azure
Module 7 - SAP HANA Architecture Design
Module 8 – Building SAP HANA on Azure
Whiteboard Design: Architecting an SAP HANA Solution on Azure
© 2012 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries.
The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

3. Agenda Prerequisites Setup process Monitoring and Troubleshooting
Notes
We’ll start by identifying the prerequisites that must be met in order to perform a silent installation of SAP NetWeaver on Azure. Next, we will step through individual tasks of the setup process. We will conclude by describing the most common setup monitoring techniques and presenting a quick demo illustrating steps involved in preparing for and running a silent install of SAP NetWeaver.

4. Prerequisites (Source VM)
A successful interactive (partial) install on an Azure VM to:
validate all installation media
identify any other prerequisites and dependencies
install OS or DB patches/hot fixes
review results of Installation Prerequisite Checker
generate key silent install files
The setup process of silent SAP NetWeaver installation involves typically two computers – the source and a target. Since our intention is to describe the silent installation process in the context of Azure-based deployments, we will refer to them as the source and the target virtual machines. Note, however, that all information presented here applies also to on-premises scenarios.
On the source VM, you need to perform a partial setup of SAP NetWeaver. This allows us to verify the availability of all relevant sources of installation media as well as identify any prerequisites and dependencies, such as operating system and database management system patches and configuration settings. This step is also required in order to generate key silent install files, which subsequently will be used on the target virtual machine.

5. Prerequisites (Target VM)
Install all necessary OS or DB patches/hot fixes
Implement prerequisites and dependencies:
pagefile of the required size
JDK location and Java policy file
registry HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanworkstation\Parameters DisableCARetryOnInitialConnect (DWORD) set to 1
Verify there are no SAP artifacts:
local SAP users or groups
SAP specific ports in /etc/services
/usr/sap/SAP<SID> directory
DBMS-specific directory

6. Setup Components Installation service:
Support installs of products available to a customer
Has the scope determined by \swpm\product.catalog
Flow control based on a collection of XML files:
control.xml, dialog.xml, keydb.xml, packages.xml, etc.
Software to be installed:
Organized into packages
Packages identified by tag files (label.asc)
Before we start the silent install on the target virtual machine, we need to install the operating system and database management system patches that we applied to the source virtual machine. In addition, we need to ensure that their SAP-specific configuration settings are consistent. Such settings typically include the page file size, Java Development Kit and Java policy options, as well as registry entries. For example, we need to set the value of the DisableCARetryOnInitialConnect entry under the HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanworkstation\parameters key to 1. This requirement is documented in SAP Note and Microsoft Knowledge Base article Without it, we are likely to experience performance issues when attempting to access the sapmnt share hosted on the Azure VM.
In addition, we need to ensure that the target VM does not contain any SAP setup artifacts, which might exist if we attempted to perform an installation on the same computer in the past. Such artifacts might include local SAP users or groups, SAP specific port entries in the /etc/services file, or the presence of the /usr/sap/SAP System ID directory and database management system-specific directories.

7. Key Files
inifile.xml – SAP install initialization file contains target instance configuration info generated by SAPinst
keydb.dtd – Doc type definition (DTD) for keybd.xml file, tables definition and content needed during the service execution
doc.dtd – Doc type definition (DTD) required by SAPinst to parse inifile.xml
xml and dtd files reside in the SAP install dir
Windows C:\Program Files\sapinst_instdir
Linux /tmp/sapinst_instdir
start_dir.cd – file listing install media paths
The core setup component is the installation service. The service supports installation of products that are available to the customer, which scope is determined by the content of the product.catalog file residing under SAP software provisioning manager folder.
Flow control of the installation process is based on a collection of XML files, including, for example, control.xml, dialog.xml, keydb.xml, or packages.xml.
The software to be installed is organized into packages identifiable by tag files within the installation media folder hierarchy

8. Setup Process Documented in SAP Note 950619:
Step through SAPinst interactively to generate the inifile.xml
Create the start_dir.cd file by listing all paths to install media
Create an install directory at any location with any name
Copy the inifile.xml, doc.dtd, keydb.dtd, and start_dir.cd files into the install directory
Find the product id in the inifile.xml embedded in the installation service statement at the beginning of the file
The key silent install files we mentioned earlier consist of inifile.xml, keydb.dtd, doc.dtd, and start_dir.cd.
The first of the files, inifile.xml, serves as the SAP installer initialization file and contains the configuration information generated by installer executable when running the partial setup on the source VM.
The next two files are so called document type definitions or, in short, DTDs. Their primary purpose is to describe data contained in XML documents and relationships among elements in such data.
In particular, doc.dtd is the document type definition file required by the SAP installer to parse inifile.xml.
keydb.dtd serves as the document type definition for keybd.xml file, including definitions of tables used by the installation service.
By default, xml and dtd files reside in the SAP install directory. On Windows systems, this is the C:\Program Files\sapinst_instdir folder. On Linux systems, that is /tmp/sapinst_instdir.
The fourth file, start_dir.cd, contains the listing of installation media paths. This is necessary for install process to automatically locate all files required for the setup.

9. Generating SAP inifile.xml
Run SAPinst interactively
SAPinst automatically captures your SAP installation configuration parameter values
Specific to:
The SAP Application
SAP SID
The Underlying Infrastructure
Disk/File Structure
The setup process is documented in the SAP note
As we mentioned earlier, you start it on the source computer by stepping through the SAPInstaller-based interactive setup. This generates three of the key silent install files – namely inifile.xml, keydb.dtd, and doc.dtd. You need to create manually the fourth file – start_dir.cd and ensure that it contains all paths to the installation media.
Next, on the target computer, you create an install directory at any location with any name. You copy the inifile.xml, doc.dtd, keydb.dtd, and start_dir.cd files into the install directory. You also identify the product id representing the SAP components you intend to install silently. The product id is included in the inifile.xml embedded in the installation service statement at the beginning of the file

10. Editing SAP inifile.xml
Modifiable parameters:
Host,
SID,
Directory,
instance number,
passwords (<strval><![CDATA[<password>]]>),
others…
Interactive execution of SAPinst on the source VM automatically captures installation configuration parameter values. These values represent your choices of the SAP application to be installed, the SAP system ID, and other installation parameters you specify. They also reflect the underlying infrastructure, such as, for example, the Active Directory environment, as well as the partition and file system layout.
Slide 9
If you want to modify the installation process to be performed on the target VM, you can directly edit inifile.xml. This allows you to adjust a number of parameters which are configurable during an interactive, custom install, such as, for example, the host name, SAP system ID, directories where the SAP application should be installed, instance numbers of the SAP system, or passwords for SAP-generated user accounts.

11. Finalizing Creation of inifile.xml
To finalize the creation of the inifile.xml, stop the Software Provisioning Manager wizard at the Parameter Summary screen. Next, terminate the SAPInst process by selecting the Exit Process entry from the SAPInst menu in the wizard interface. You might want to verify that the process actually terminated by using Task Manager. At that point, copy the inifile.xml from the SAP installation directory on the source VM to the silent install directory on the target VM
Stop SAPinst at the Parameter Summary screen
Terminate SAPinst (SAPinst->Exit Process) and ensure it completely exits by checking Task Manager
Copy the inifile.xml file from your SAP installation directory to your silent install directory.

12. Create the start_dir.cd File
start_dir.cd file lists the paths to the SAP installation media
Here is a sample content of the start_dir.cd file. As we mentioned earlier, the file must include location of the setup media for the SAP components you intend to install, including SAP Software Provisioning Manager files and the SAP kernel.

13. Silent Install
Update the PATH environment variable to include the Software Provisioning Manager (SWPM) directory so the SAPinst command can be found
Change directory to the install directory you created
Execute SAPinst with the following parameters:
SAPINST_PARAMETER_CONTAINER_URL=inifile.xml
SAPINST_EXECUTE_PRODUCT_ID=(product id found in inifile.xml)
SAPINST_SKIP_DIALOGS=true
-nogui
-noguiserver
Before you initiate the silent installation, update the PATH environment variable on the target VM in order to include the directory containing Software provisioning Manager files. This way, the SAPinst executable can be automatically located when you invoke the setup. Next, in the command shell, switch to the directory containing the four key silent install files and run the SAPinst.exe with five parameters. The first one named SAPINST_PARAMETER_CONTAINER_URL explicitly references the inifile.xml, the second one named SAPINST_EXECUTE_PRODUCT_ID, identifying the SAP application you intend to install must be set to the product_id you retrieved from inifile.xml, the third one called SAPINST_SKIP_DIALOGS suppresses any interactive prompts, and the last two named nogui and noguiserver prevent the graphical interface from loading during the setup process.

14. Silent Install (Windows)
SAPInst will require re-logon if the user running the install does not have the following user rights:
Act as part of the operating system
Adjust memory quotas for a process
Replace a process level token
Grant these rights prior to installation and re-logon
It is important to note that, when running the SAP installer on Windows, you will be forced to re-logon if the account you are using to run the install does not have sufficient user rights, including the right to act as part of the operating system, the right to adjust memory quotas for a process, and the right to replace a process level token. To eliminate the need to re-logon, you should grant these rights to the account you are using to run the setup and re-logon prior to launching the SAP installer.

15. Install execution (Linux)
The installation directory hosting start_dir.cd:
is owned by the user running SAPinst
grants full access to the primary group of SAPinst user
When running the SAP installer on Linux, make sure that the installation directory hosting the key files is owned by the user that runs the setup process. In addition, make sure that the primary group of that user has full access to the installation directory.

16. Monitoring at Runtime
Logs are written in the directory from which you launched the sapinst command
sapinst.log
sapinst_dev.log
Task manager
Individual package import logs
In order to monitor progress of the installation process at runtime, you can view the logs that are written into the directory from which you launched the SAPinst executable. In particular, you might want to examine the content of the sapinst.log and sapinst_dev.log files. If you want to simply verify that the installation is in progress, you should be able to determine this by viewing list of processes in Task Manager. To view the status of import of individual packages, you can refer to their respective log files.

17. Repeating the install on new VMs
Copy 4 seed files to the new install directory
Ensure the target host has identical disk structure and software repo structure
Edit the inifile.xml
Replace the old <sid> with the new one throughout
Change fld name=“TransHost“ strval to your new hostname if the new host is your transport host
Replace all hostname fields with new host (domain, httphost etc)
In case you need to repeat the silent install on another computer, copy the same 4 seed files to the new install directory, ensure that the target host has identical disk structure and that the installation media are available in the same locations, and edit the inifile.xml to reflect changes to the host name and SAP system identifier.

18. Summary Prerequisites Setup process Monitoring and Troubleshooting
Notes
This concludes our presentation dedicated to performing silent install of SAP NetWeaver. We started by identifying the prerequisites that must be met in order to perform a silent installation of SAP NetWeaver on Azure. Next, we stepped through individual tasks of the setup process. We concluded by describing the most common setup monitoring techniques and presenting a quick demo illustrating steps involved in preparing for and running a silent install of SAP NetWeaver. .