The steps to do kernel upgrade are listed below.
1)Execute the command disp+work -v to get the present kernel version
2)Check with the T Code SM51 to Check the R/3 SYSTEM->STATUS to get the present kernel level
3)Download the latest kernel patch from SMP
There are 2 files to be downloaded from SMP:
a) Database Independent Files
This is of the nomenclature SAPEXE_<Patch level>-<release date>.SAR
b) Database Dependent files
This is of the nomenclature SAPEXEDB_<Patch level>-<release date>.SAR
4)Uncar the .SAR files
Uncar the files using the SAPCAR utility and store it in a directory. SAPCAR is a program executable located in the KERNEL folder itself. If SAPCAR is not working, then copy the executable from the kernel folder to the location where the .SAR files are located.
SAPCAR -xvf <filename.SAR>
5)Stop the J2EE Engine and the SAP OS Collector
saposcol u2013k
SAPOSCOL service should be stopped because it also will get overwritten by the new file.
6)Backup the present Kernel directory
Copy the present kernel folder safely. This is important because the activity is completely reversible and switching over to the old kernel will be possible.
7) Copy the new kernel files to the RUN folder location
Copy the files in such a manner that the RUN folder is overwritten by the new files.
/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/exe/run
cp -R <source file > <destination>
8) Check the permissions of the files in the kernel directory
chown [-R] newowner filenames
chmod <1>permissions filename
9) Start the J2EE Engine and the SAP OS Collector
saposcol u2013l
10)Check the latest Kernel level
Execute the command disp+work -v to get the new kernel level.
