SAP on IBM i Kernel Upgrade Taxes CPU

December 2, 2014 Alex Woodie

SAP on IBM i is considered one of the great, albeit largely unknown, combinations in enterprise computing. But organizations running that combo should be aware of a software upgrade from the German software giant that could cause performance issues.

The issue has to do with an upgrade to the SAP kernel that was issued in July. Apparently, IBM i shops that load SAP ERP Central Component 6.0 Enhancement Package 7 (EHP7) have been experiencing longer response times from the ERP server.

The information was shared last month by Christian Bartels, a product manager with IBM Germany who helps manage the relationship between SAP and IBM’s Power and IBM i platforms. Bartels shared the information in a recent blog post on the SAP website.

“When you are planning an upgrade or update to a higher SAP release,” Bartels writes, “you have always been advised to test carefully and check SAP Notes for potential additional resources that may be required for the new release. For example, SAP Note 1974405 explains that you may need 5 to 10 percent more CPU resources when upgrading to SAP ERP Central Component 6.0 EHP7.

“However,” he continues, “SAP recently got feedback from customers, that the additional CPU resources may exceed that in some cases. These customers have experienced longer response times after upgrading to a release that contains SAP_BASIS at release 7.40 and a kernel at release 7.40 or higher (for example by upgrading to SAP ERP Central Component 6.0 EHP7).”

The SAP kernel has undergone major changes in 7.4x compared to 7.2x, Bartels says, in particular in the area of memory management and process communication. To get the best performance from this kernel, SAP has put together a set of recommendations, which you can read in SAP Note 2098347. The note will soon be translated into English, Bartels says.