Red Hat Summit Red Hat SummitSupportConsoleDevelopersStart a trialContact

Installing RHEL 9 for SAP Solutions

Red Hat Enterprise Linux for SAP Solutions 9

Red Hat Customer Content Services

Abstract

Perform a standard installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 on different architectures. First, you install RHEL. After installation, you assign a subscription, install additional packages, and then configure certain system settings to prepare the system for SAP software installation. You can perform the RHEL installation by using the graphical user interface, or you can perform a non-interactive installation. For the additional installation and configuration steps, the command line interface is described, but you can also use the Ansible Automation Platform GUI.

Making open source more inclusive
Copy link

Red Hat is committed to replacing problematic language in our code and documentation. We are beginning with these four terms: master, slave, blacklist, and whitelist. Due to the enormity of this endeavor, these changes will be gradually implemented over upcoming releases. For more details on making our language more inclusive, see our CTO Chris Wright’s message.

Providing feedback on Red Hat documentation
Copy link

We appreciate your feedback on our documentation. Let us know how we can improve it.

Submitting feedback through Jira (account required)

  1. Make sure you are logged in to the Jira website.
  2. Provide feedback by clicking on this link.
  3. Enter a descriptive title in the Summary field.
  4. Enter your suggestion for improvement in the Description field. Include links to the relevant parts of the documentation.
  5. If you want to be notified about future updates, please make sure you are assigned as Reporter.
  6. Click Create at the bottom of the dialogue.

Chapter 1. Introduction
Copy link

1.1. What is RHEL for SAP Solutions
Copy link

RHEL for SAP Solutions is a Red Hat subscription that consists of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and additional software repositories and services specifically designed for running SAP HANA and/or SAP ABAP Platform, including SAP S/4HANA, on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

text

For more information, refer to Overview of Red Hat Enterprise Linux for SAP Solutions Subscription.

RHEL for SAP Solutions consists of the following repositories:

text

1.2. Overview of the installation steps
Copy link

Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 9 for SAP Solutions consists of the following steps:

  1. Install RHEL 9 using one of the standard Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 installation ISO images.

  2. Install additional packages needed for running SAP software, either

    • from another repository source, for example, a Red Hat Satellite system, or

    • from the RHEL 9 for SAP Solutions image, which contains only a set of additional packages needed for SAP.

      Note

      There are also ISO images named Red Hat Enterprise Linux for SAP Solutions, but those only contain the additional software packages required to be installed on top of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. It is not possible to install RHEL for SAP Solutions from these ISO images.

The recommended and easiest way is to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, attach it to a repository source, and then use the RHEL System Roles for SAP for:

  • installing additional software packages and
  • configuring the system according to the requirements of the SAP software.

Chapter 2. Installing RHEL 9 for SAP Solutions
Copy link

Before installing RHEL 9 for SAP Solutions, verify that the system fulfills the requirements of the SAP software, e.g., regarding the RAM size, the swap space, and the storage. For RHEL 9 systems running the SAP HANA database, you must use a RHEL 9 minor release for which the E4S repos are available and which is supported by SAP. For RHEL 9 systems running the SAP ABAP Platform, you can use any RHEL 9 minor release.

You can install RHEL 9 in interactive mode or you can perform an unattended installation using Kickstart. This document explains how to perform an interactive installation. Please take a look at the product documentation for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 for further guidance on how to install RHEL 9.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. Boot your server from the RHEL 9 installation source. For more information on how to boot your server, see Performing a standard RHEL 9 installation.

  2. The following screen appears:

    text

  3. Select the language to be used during the installation process and click Continue. The following screen will appear:

    text

  4. Under LOCALIZATION, select the desired keyboard layout, language(s) of the installed system, and time and date.

  5. Under SOFTWARE, click Software Selection.

    • In the Software Selection window, select Server as your Base Environment and click Done.

      Note

      Do not select any additional software.

  6. Under SYSTEM, click Installation Destination.

    • In the Installation Destination window, select the storage configuration according to the requirements of the SAP software and according to your needs and click Done.

      Note

      For a test system, you can remove the default /home file system allocation and use a large root (/) file system.

  7. Under SYSTEM, click Network & Host Name, and configure your network connection.
  8. Under USER SETTINGS, click Root Password and/or User Creation to configure the initial user(s) for your system. In the screens which show up, click Done once you have entered the necessary user information to return to the main installation screen again.

  9. Click Begin Installation. The following screen confirms that the installation is ongoing:

    text

    Once RHEL 9 is successfully installed, the screen will look like this:

    text

  10. Click Reboot System.

Chapter 3. Completing post-installation tasks
Copy link

This section describes how to complete the post-installation tasks.

3.1. Registering your system
Copy link

This section explains how to register your RHEL server to Red Hat Satellite.

Note

Different steps apply if your system is registered to the Red Hat Customer Portal or your Cloud provider.

Prerequisites

  • You must have a valid Red Hat Enterprise Linux for SAP Solutions subscription so your server has access to required packages via a Red Hat Satellite server, the Red Hat Customer Portal, or your Cloud provider.

  • You must have the following information provided to you by your Satellite administrator:

    • An activation key.
    • A string representing the name of the organization.
    • A URL for the Katello client package.
  • You have system administrator access.

Procedure

  1. Download the Katello client rpm package: 

    # wget https://sat.int.example.com/pub/katello-ca-consumer-latest.noarch.rpm
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    Replace the URL with the URL provided by your Satellite administrator.

  2. Install the Katello client rpm package: 

    # dnf install -y katello-ca-consumer-latest.noarch.rpm
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    Replace the package name with the name of the package you downloaded.

  3. Register your system: 

    # subscription-manager register --org="your-organization-name" \
--activationkey="your-activation-key"
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    Replace your-organization-name with the string representing the name of the organization and replace your-activation-key with the activation key. Both are provided by your Satellite administrator.

3.2. Applying the RHEL release lock
Copy link

For RHEL systems running the SAP HANA database, it is essential that you set the RHEL release lock so that the system remains on the correct RHEL minor release even when doing package updates. Otherwise, the system might be updated to a RHEL release which is not supported by SAP. For RHEL systems not running the SAP HANA database, any RHEL 9 minor release can be used, so applying the RHEL release lock is not necessary in this case.

Prerequisites

  • You have system administrator access.

Procedure

  1. Clear the dnf cache: 

    # rm -rf /var/cache/dnf
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  2. Set the release lock: 

    # subscription-manager release --set=9.x
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    Replace 9.x with the supported minor release of RHEL 9 (for example 9.4).

3.3. Enabling required repositories
Copy link

You need to enable certain RHEL repositories to have access to packages required for the SAP HANA installation. For more information on which repositories to enable, see RHEL for SAP Subscriptions and Repositories.

Prerequisites

  • You have system administrator access.

Procedure

  • Disable all repositories and enable the required ones.

    • For systems running the SAP HANA database, enable the e4s repos after ensuring that the RHEL release lock is set properly (example for RHEL 9.4): 
    # subscription-manager release
Release: 9.4
# subscription-manager repos \
--disable=\* \
--enable="rhel-9-for-$(uname -m)-baseos-e4s-rpms" \
--enable="rhel-9-for-$(uname -m)-appstream-e4s-rpms" \
--enable="rhel-9-for-$(uname -m)-sap-solutions-e4s-rpms" \
--enable="rhel-9-for-$(uname -m)-sap-netweaver-e4s-rpms"
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
Note
  • If you intend to use the system for the SAP HANA database only, enabling the sap-netweaver-e4s-rpms repository is not required.
  • For systems running the SAP Application Platform only, if you do not want to restrict your system to a specific RHEL minor release when updating packages, enable the normal repos. In this case, verify that no RHEL release lock is set.

Chapter 4. RHEL System Roles for SAP
Copy link

The RHEL System Roles for SAP provide a quick, easy, and consistent method for preparing your local system or any number of remote systems according to applicable SAP notes for SAP software. They include the Ansible roles sap_general_preconfigure, sap_netweaver_preconfigure, and sap_hana_preconfigure and require an Ansible execution system (e.g., Ansible Automation Platform, Ansible Core).

4.1. Installing Ansible Core
Copy link

Ansible Core is available in the RHEL 9 AppStream repository.

If you already have an Ansible Automation Platform or Ansible Core package installed, you can skip this step and proceed to Installing RHEL System Roles for SAP.

Prerequisites

  • You have system administrator access.

Procedure

  • Install the ansible-core package: 

    # dnf install ansible-core
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

4.2. Installing RHEL System Roles for SAP
Copy link

RHEL System Roles for SAP is available in the RHEL for SAP Solutions r epository. It requires certain functionality delivered in the RHEL System Roles, which are available in the AppStream repository.

Prerequisites

  • You have system administrator access.
  • You have installed the Ansible Core package or Ansible Automation Platform.

Procedure

  • Install RHEL System Roles for SAP and RHEL System Roles: 

    # dnf install rhel-system-roles-sap rhel-system-roles
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

4.3.1. Preparing a local system
Copy link

If the Ansible Engine is installed on the same system on which you want to install the SAP software, perform the steps outlined in this procedure to configure your local managed node.

Prerequisites

  • You have system administrator access.

Procedure

  1. Make a backup of the system if you would like to preserve the original configuration of the server.

  2. Create a file named sap.yml with the following content: 

    ---

- hosts: localhost
  vars:
    ansible_connection: local
    sap_general_preconfigure_max_hostname_length: 64
    sap_general_preconfigure_reboot_ok: false
    sap_general_preconfigure_fail_if_reboot_required: false
    sap_hana_preconfigure_reboot_ok: false
    sap_hana_preconfigure_fail_if_reboot_required: false
    sap_hana_preconfigure_update: true
  roles:
    - sap_general_preconfigure
    - sap_netweaver_preconfigure
    - sap_hana_preconfigure
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
    Important

    The correct indentation and the use of spaces instead of tabs is essential for YAML files.

    Note
    • The line sap_general_preconfigure_max_hostname_length: 64 is only required if your hostname (hostname -s) is longer than 13 characters and if you are not using this system for an SAP ABAP Platform instance. Without this line, the role sap_general_preconfigure will fail its hostname check because a hostname with more than 13 characters is not allowed for an SAP ABAP Platform instance as per SAP note 611361.
    • The line sap_netweaver_preconfigure is used to perform specific installation and configuration steps for an SAP ABAP Platform. It can be removed or commented out for an SAP HANA database only system.
    • The line sap_hana_preconfigure is used to perform specific installation and configuration steps for an SAP HANA database. It can be removed or commented out for an SAP ABAP Platform only system.

  3. Run the sap.yml Ansible playbook: 

    # ansible-playbook sap.yml -e 'ansible_python_interpreter=/usr/libexec/platform-python'
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    This will configure this system according to the applicable SAP notes for SAP ABAP Platform and/or SAP HANA on RHEL 9.

  4. After the ansible-playbook command has finished successfully, reboot the system: 

    # reboot
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

4.3.2. Preparing one or more remote systems
Copy link

If the Ansible Engine is installed on the same system on which you want to install the SAP software, perform the steps outlined in this procedure to configure your local managed node.

Prerequisites

  • You have system administrator access.

Procedure

  1. Make a backup of the remote systems if you would like to preserve the original configuration of the server.

  2. Create an inventory file or modify file /etc/ansible/hosts to contain the name of a group of hosts and each system which you intend to configure (=managed node) in a separate line (example for three hosts in a host group named sap_hosts): 

    [sap_hosts]
host01
host02
host03
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  3. Verify that you can log in to all three hosts using ssh without a password. Example: 

    # ssh host01 uname -a
# ssh host02 hostname
# ssh host03 echo test
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  4. Create a YAML file named sap.yml with the following content: 

    ---

- hosts: sap_hosts
  vars:
    sap_general_preconfigure_max_hostname_length: 64
    sap_general_preconfigure_reboot_ok: false
    sap_general_preconfigure_fail_if_reboot_required: false
    sap_hana_preconfigure_reboot_ok: true
    sap_hana_preconfigure_fail_if_reboot_required: false
    sap_hana_preconfigure_update: true
  roles:
    - sap_general_preconfigure
    - sap_netweaver_preconfigure
    - sap_hana_preconfigure
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
    Note
    • The line sap_general_preconfigure_max_hostname_length: 64 is only required if your hostname (hostname -s) is longer than 13 characters and if you are not using this system for an SAP ABAP Platform instance. Without this line, the role sap_general_preconfigure will fail its hostname check because a hostname with more than 13 characters is not allowed for an SAP ABAP Platform instance as per SAP note 611361.
    • The line sap_netweaver_preconfigure is used to perform specific installation and configuration steps for an SAP ABAP Platform. It can be removed or commented out for an SAP HANA database only system.
    • The line sap_hana_preconfigure is used to perform specific installation and configuration steps for an SAP HANA database. It can be removed or commented out for an SAP ABAP Platform only system.

  5. Run the sap.yml Ansible playbook: 

    # ansible-playbook sap.yml
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    This will configure all systems that are part of host group sap_hosts according to the applicable SAP notes for SAP ABAP Platform and/or SAP HANA on RHEL 9. Finally, if necessary, the systems are rebooted.

Legal Notice
Copy link

Copyright © 2025 Red Hat, Inc.
The text of and illustrations in this document are licensed by Red Hat under a Creative Commons Attribution–Share Alike 3.0 Unported license ("CC-BY-SA"). An explanation of CC-BY-SA is available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/. In accordance with CC-BY-SA, if you distribute this document or an adaptation of it, you must provide the URL for the original version.
Red Hat, as the licensor of this document, waives the right to enforce, and agrees not to assert, Section 4d of CC-BY-SA to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law.
Red Hat, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the Shadowman logo, the Red Hat logo, JBoss, OpenShift, Fedora, the Infinity logo, and RHCE are trademarks of Red Hat, Inc., registered in the United States and other countries.
Linux® is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States and other countries.
Java® is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
XFS® is a trademark of Silicon Graphics International Corp. or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries.
MySQL® is a registered trademark of MySQL AB in the United States, the European Union and other countries.
Node.js® is an official trademark of Joyent. Red Hat is not formally related to or endorsed by the official Joyent Node.js open source or commercial project.
The OpenStack® Word Mark and OpenStack logo are either registered trademarks/service marks or trademarks/service marks of the OpenStack Foundation, in the United States and other countries and are used with the OpenStack Foundation's permission. We are not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by the OpenStack Foundation, or the OpenStack community.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Back to top
Red Hat logoGithubredditYoutubeTwitter

Learn

Try, buy, & sell

Communities

About Red Hat Documentation

We help Red Hat users innovate and achieve their goals with our products and services with content they can trust. Explore our recent updates.

Making open source more inclusive

Red Hat is committed to replacing problematic language in our code, documentation, and web properties. For more details, see the Red Hat Blog.

About Red Hat

We deliver hardened solutions that make it easier for enterprises to work across platforms and environments, from the core datacenter to the network edge.

Theme

© 2025 Red Hat