FAQ: R/3 Installation Procedure
1. Question: How and from where can I get all the necessary tools for an installation: installation package, guide and current information?
Answer: One of the tasks to do before the installation is to check that the planned OS/DB configuration is supported for the Kernel release on the system to be installed. For that please check appropriate SAP Note “Released operating systems R/3 <your Kernel Release> <your Database>", (component XX-SER-SWREL) for supported OS and DB versions. To order an installation package please create customer message under XX-SER-SWFL-SHIP component and specify exact OS and DB versions as well as SAP Release you would like to install. An installation guide you can download from here: http://service.sap.com/instguides. A list of notes with the current information may be found in beginning of the installation guide.
2. Question: How do I find out what exactly happens during given installation step?
Answer: Usually there is directory DOCU on the Kernel CD where you can find file r3s_doc.car (r3s_doc.sar). The archive contains help-files in the HTML-format. Please unpack the archive and run _start.htm file from /doc directory. This should give you detailed information on every step of the installation. You can switch between technical and full name views.
3. Question: Which files are important for an error analysis during the the installation?
Answer: Please refer to the SAP Note 331082 “Useful log files
for installation problems”. For release 6.20 all the trace information is logged in the sapinst.log and sapinst_dev.log files, which can be found in the current installation directory.
All the input during the interactive part of installation as well as information that rules the flow of the installation are written in keydb.xml file instead of formerly used R3S-file. The code itself that is executed by SAPinst is stored in control.xml file. If you experience a problem by doing an installation with SAPinst and you are not able to find the error reason and fix it, please upload files above onto available sapservX as well as additional log file(s), if sapinst.log references those file in the error message.
4. Question: What changes in the installation flow have been made in release 6.20 comparing against prior releases?
Answer: First of all, a new installation tool SAPinst has been developed. The most changes in the general flow of installation are: you have to set up three installation directories (one for the central instance installation, one for the database instance installation, and one for the Java core installation); there is no single-step procedure to install a central instance and a database instance on one host comparable to the CENTRDB.R3S installation service of the former installation tool R3SETUP – instead, you have to start the installation tool SAPinst more than once. For best understanding of the new procedure please carefully read the whole installation guide, not only the chapters you are currently interested.