How to download SAP kernelThis article answers the following queries : How to download SAP kernel ? What is the process to be followed to download SAP kernel? What is the best practice for SAP kernel upgrade?-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SAP Kernel can be downloaded  from Service Market Place(SMP).To download SAP Kernel, login to SMP and goto Software Downloads -> Software Downlad Center.  From there please navigate as belowUnder Support packages and Patches, navigate to My Company’s Application Components -> My Company’s Software

Click on  "My company's software"  link to view  all the company’s software that is available as below:

From the above list, please select your software for which kernel upgrade to be done example : SAP Netweaver PI or SAP Netweaver or SAP SCM or SAP R/3 or SAP R/3 Enterprise etc)

In the below example am selecting SAP Netweaver as my software and proceeding further

In the above list, select the correct version of software for which you would like to download kernel. In this example, am selecting “SAP EHP1 FOR SAP NETWEAVER 7.0” and proceeding further.

Note : The current software version can be identified from SAP ABAP System’s menu. Please navigate to   System  -> Status. After under SAP system Data tab, by clicking Component Version/Component details you can view the version of the software.

After selecting software, select Entry by Component link as below

It lists components as below :

Please select Application Server ABAP in that list and proceed further. It leads to below screen.

Please select the appropriate kernel from the list based on your SAP system setup like 32 / 64bit , Unicode/NonUnicode, Operating system on which your system runs :

In my case, am selecting SAP kernel 7.01 64bit Unicode and Operating system as Windows on x64 64bit.

After this click on #Database independent link as above to view below screen

Select the kernel patch which you would like to download and click on Add to Download Basket tab. This results in below screen

Next in the above screen, click on database in which your sap system is running. In my case, am selecting MS SQL server as the database and proceeding further.

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                 In the above list select the kernel patch which you would like to download and click on “Add to Download Basket”. Once you click this button, a screen similar to below will appear

Click on download basket pushbutton which displays screen as below:

In the above screen, click on the above items and save these files in your local desktop and later transfer these files into the desired server in which you would like to perform kernel upgrade.

Best practice is to download N-1 kernel patch from the Service Market Place. It means if the current kernel patch is 176 and the prior kernel patch is 150 and if you are in a lower kernel version (for ex: 124 etc), it is better to upgrade to N-1 kernel patch i.e. to 150 instead of upgrading directly to 176.  The reason for this is sometimes upgrading to latest kernel may lead to some issues like performance problems, system startup failure etc. To avoid this, it is suggested to apply N-1 kernel patch.