Chapter 5. Quick Start Guide to RHEL System Roles for SAP

Procedure

1. Run the command on the local host to check the current setting.

   # locale

2. The output should display either C or en_US.UTF-8 in the line starting with LC_MESSAGES=.

   1. If the command does not produce the expected output, run the following command on the local host before executing the ansible-playbook command:

      # export LC_ALL=C

      Or

      # export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8

Procedure

1. Make a bakckup, if you would like to preserve the original configuration of the server.

   Note

   These roles are run after the installation of RHEL, therefore a backup should not be required.

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

   - hosts: localhost
     connection: local
     roles:
       - sap-preconfigure
       - sap-netweaver-preconfigure

   Important

   The correct indentation of 2 spaces in front of roles: is essential.

3. Run the RHEL System Roles sap-preconfigure and sap-netweaver-preconfigure to prepare the managed nodes for the installation of SAP NetWeaver.

   # ansible-playbook sap-netweaver.yml

   At the end of the playbook run, the command will report that a reboot is required because role sap-preconfigure has changed the SELinux state from enabled to disabled, according to SAP Note 2772999.

4. Reboot the managed nodes so that the new SELinux state will become effective. If you set the role variable sap_preconfigure_reboot_ok to yes, the role will reboot the server as the last step of its execution.

   Note

   By changing role variable sap_preconfigure_selinux_state from the default disabled to permissive before or at the time of running the playbook, you can have the role sap-preconfigure set the SELinux state to permissive, which is also allowed for SAP NetWeaver on RHEL 8. See the Examples section in this document for more information on setting role variables.

Procedure

1. Create a YAML file named sap-netweaver.yml with the following content:

   - hosts: localhost
     connection: local
     vars:
       sap_preconfigure_assert: yes
       sap_preconfigure_assert_ignore_errors: yes
       sap_netweaver_preconfigure_assert: yes
       sap_netweaver_preconfigure_assert_ignore_errors: yes
     roles:
       - sap-preconfigure
       - sap-netweaver-preconfigure

2. Run the following command:

   # ansible-playbook sap-netweaver.yml

   In case you would like to get a more compact output, you can filter the output to just display the essential FAIL or PASS information for each assertion. If you are using a terminal with dark background, replace all occurrences of color code [30m in the following command sequence by [37m. Otherwise, the output of some lines will be unreadable due to dark font on dark background.

   In case you accidentally ran the above command on a terminal with dark background, you can re-enable the default white font again with the following command:

   # awk 'BEGIN{printf ("\033[37mResetting font color\n")}'

Procedure

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

   Note

   These roles are run after the installation of RHEL, therefore a backup should not be required.

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

   [sap_hana]
   host01
   host02
   host03

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

   # ssh host01 uname -a
   # ssh host02 hostname
   # ssh host03 echo test

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

   - hosts: sap_hana
     roles:
       - sap-preconfigure
       - sap-hana-preconfigure

   Important

   The correct indentation (e.g. 2 spaces in front of roles:) is essential.

5. Run the RHEL System Roles sap-preconfigure and sap-hana-preconfigure to prepare the managed nodes for the installation of SAP HANA.

   # ansible-playbook sap-hana.yml

   Note

   Do not run these roles against an SAP or other production system. The role will enforce a certain configuration on the managed node(s), which typically is intended only right after the installation of RHEL and before the initial installation of SAP software.

   At the end of the playbook run, the command will report for each managed node that a reboot is required, for example because role sap-preconfigure has changed the SELinux state from enabled to disabled (as per requirement in SAP Note 2292690 or SAP Note 2777782).

6. Reboot the managed nodes

Procedure

1. Verify each host

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

   - hosts: all
     vars:
       sap_preconfigure_assert: yes
       sap_preconfigure_assert_ignore_errors: yes
       sap_hana_preconfigure_assert: yes
       sap_hana_preconfigure_assert_ignore_errors: yes
     roles:
       - sap-preconfigure
       - sap-hana-preconfigure

3. Run the ansible-playbook command line option -l to specify the name of the remote host to verify.

   # ansible-playbook sap-hana.yml -l host01