SAP S/4HANA Conversion: What is the Software Update Manager?

The conversion to SAP S/4HANA is carried out by the Software Update Manager (SUM). SUM is a tool that delivers software maintenance or support for your SAP systems.

The SUM tool is exercised for the below-mentioned activities in Real Time Scenarios

• Release upgrades
• Authorizing augmentation packages and add-ons
• Performing or Implementing maintenance packages
• Improving different segments
• Implementing the system conversion to SAP S/4HANA

Besides, it allows the following advantages and attributes:

• The Database Migration Option (DMO) or system update linked with database migration to SAP HANA, SAP ASE, Microsoft SQL Server, SAP MaxDB, or IBM DB2 for Linux, Unix, and Windows.
• The Zero Downtime Option (ZDO) and near-Zero Downtime Resources (nZDM). These instances permit you to promote your performance with the merest acknowledged downtime and decreased business downtime.
• The benchmarking engine and the table identification. Both tools are to be repeated in succession with DMO. The benchmarking tool assists you to determine or evaluate the duration of the migration. The table comparison can be applied to match the number of rows between the source and target system.
• The necessity check tool can be practiced to check the source system before you commence the conversion. The tool validates if the source operating system and database version match the specifications for the transformation to SAP S/4HANA.This new feature is covered exclusively in SAP S/4 HANA Administration Training.

SAP suggests that you download the most advanced support package for SUM as it includes the latest improvements and is updated periodically. The tool is presented independently from SAP application product cargoes via the Software Logistics Toolset (SL Toolset).

Always Practice SUM Variant 2.0: All system transformations and changes from SAP ERP to SAP S/4HANA have to be handled via SUM version 2.0 which is extensively discussed in the SAP S/4 HANA Administration training.

SUM includes the subsequent technologies to diminish the downtime to switch to SAP S/4HANA: system switch upgrade, DMO, and system move. We will discuss each of these options in the SAP S/4 Hana administration training online in the following sections.

System Switch Upgrade
As of SAP Web Application Server 6.10, SAP launched the system switch upgrade. With this process, the majority of upgrade work, including design development, changes, activation, and administration, is done in a shaded area of the database while uptime. Throughout the upgrade, a second “shadow” instance is established in the identical database as the source system to be upgraded in SAP S/4 Hana Administration.

The shadow instance practices the corresponding kernel as the target announcement but only allows capacities required by the upgrade device. No path to application data is plausible. The shadow instance is employed to improve the delivered target release according to the company’s specifications and to combine support packages, add-ons, and adjustments into the target release while the system is nevertheless being utilized productively. In the production database, the unique repository is organized in shadow tables below an alternative name. The shadow system permits you to access these tables. You can acquire a thorough knowledge about this while practicing the administration tasks in SAP S/4 HANA Administration training delivered by experts.

If you prefer the approved upgrade strategy, you can achieve upgrade procedures that have to be delivered during downtime before downtime commences. Several situations may run while uptime, such as activation and distribution. As an outcome of the correction adjustment, activation, and circulation during uptime, the new table arrangement is previously known in an unexpected stage of the upgrade. This doubles the number of tables in which data can be filled in the shadow import.

All Data Dictionary (DDIC) articles are connected and initiated in the shadow instance. Then a distribution schedule determines how to perform the transformation from an object in the source to the quarry release. This period can take up to manifold hours. Because both DDIC correction and activation run while uptime, downtime is no longer reliant on the number of support packages or add-ons involved in the upgrade of SAP S/4 HANA Administration. During the downtime periods, the switch is proceeded to the new system of SAP S/4 HANA and any remaining data is added. Any elements of the source release system that are no longer required are deleted.

The system switch upgrade has the following outcomes on the methodology of the technical upgrade of SAP S/4 HANA Administration.

Expanded Resource and Space Requirements
Operating the shadow instance in correspondence with the production instance boosts demands on system resources. The shadow instance can be fixed on a separate server if the possible system resources for the production instance are too limited.

Shadow Instance Installation
The installation module in SUM is practiced to install the shadow instance. The module first generates profiles, records, and an extra database user then follows programs and files required by the shadow instance. All tables required for the shadow system are imported into the database. Supplementary table contents are transcribed into the shadow system to facilitate adjustment, activation, and distribution capacities in the shadow system.

Operating the Shadow System in SAP S/4 HANA
The shadow system is utilized to deliver the alteration adjustment of the ABAP Dictionary objects and to stimulate and scatter the requests included in the upgrade. After the change adjustment, there is a constant inactive repository with the information of the table compositions of the target release, including support packages and add-ons.

Support Packages and Add-ons
The entire runtime of the upgrade expands with the number of support packages blended into it, particularly the import stage into the shadow tables and the activation period, which expand enormously. Providentially, these run in the shadow instance while the system is still being used productively.

SUM can be configured to accommodate its behavior and to lessen downtime. To make it more comfortable, SAP has classified parameter frames into the following pre-configuration modes:

Single System
The single system pre-configuration mode has the below-mentioned features and attributes:

• More continued downtime. Administration of the production and shadow system is only probable autonomously of each other. Hence, no additional resources are required.
• No shadow instance runs in uptime. The production process terminates before the import of the replacement set into the shadow tables, or at least before the shadow instance is begun for the first time.
• The single system choice is only possible for the standard update or upgrades scenario in SAP S/4 HANA Administration. It cannot be used in combination with DMO. All the above-mentioned tasks can be viewed and implemented when we go through the installation manuals of SAP S/4 HANA Administration Conversion in SAP S/4 HANA Administration Training.