How to upgrade RHEL-SAP-HANA and RHEL-SAP-APPS pay-as-you-go virtual machines from 7.x to 7.9

2025-06-04

Applies to: ✔️ Linux VMs

While Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for SAP 7.x (where x isn't equal to 9) can be accessed in Update Services for SAP Solutions (E4S) and Extended Update Support (EUS), RHEL for SAP 7.9 follows a different approach. In this case, the related content is available in unversioned repositories. As a result, updating a RHEL 7.x system running SAP to RHEL 7.9 requires several manual steps.

This article provides the steps to upgrade Linux virtual machines (VMs) that use RHEL-SAP-HANA or RHEL-SAP-APPS pay-as-you-go (PAYG) images from 7.x to 7.9.

Important

Red Hat Update Infrastructure (RHUI) is intended only for PAYG images. If you use custom or golden images (also known as bring-your-own-subscription (BYOS)), you must attach the system to Red Hat Subscription Manager (RHSM) or Satellite to receive updates. For more information, see How to register and subscribe a RHEL system to the Red Hat Customer Portal using RHSM.

For more information about performing the upgrade process on custom, golden, or PAYG images provided by Red Hat, see:

Note

RHEL 7.9 is the final RHEL 7 release, and maintenance is defined by the Maintenance Support 2 Phase policy.

Prerequisites

Make a backup of the Linux VM or a snapshot of the operating system (OS) disk.
Set up access to the Serial Console.
Stop the SAP process during the OS update process.
Run the commands in this article with root privileges.

Upgrade RHEL-SAP-HANA PAYG images from 7.x to 7.9

Remove the RHUI E4S package installed or updated on the VM:
```
sudo yum remove $(rpm -qa | grep -i rhui)
```
Remove the version lock file:
```
sudo rm /etc/yum/vars/releasever
```

Create a config file by using this command:

sudo tee rhel7-base-sap-ha.config > /dev/null <<< $'[rhui-microsoft-azure-rhel7-base-sap-ha]\nname=Microsoft Azure RPMs for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 (rhel7-base-sap-ha)\nbaseurl=https://rhui4-1.microsoft.com/pulp/repos/unprotected/microsoft-azure-rhel7-base-sap-ha\nenabled=1\ngpgcheck=1\ngpgkey=https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc\nsslverify=1'

Install the rhui-azure-rhel7-base-sap-ha package:

sudo yum --config rhel7-base-sap-ha.config install rhui-azure-rhel7-base-sap-ha

Verify that the corresponding repositories are available and show no errors:

sudo yum repolist

Loaded plugins: langpa cks, product-id, search-disabled-repos, yum_rhui_plugin
repo id                                              repo name            status
rhel-7-server-ansible-2-rhui-rpms/x86_64             Red Hat Ansible Engi    103
rhel-7-server-rhui-extras-rpms/x86_64                Red Hat Enterprise L  1,488
rhel-7-server-rhui-optional-rpms/7Server/x86_64      Red Hat Enterprise L 24,422
rhel-7-server-rhui-rh-common-rpms/7Server/x86_64     Red Hat Enterprise L    243
rhel-7-server-rhui-rpms/7Server/x86_64               Red Hat Enterprise L 34,484
rhel-7-server-rhui-supplementary-rpms/7Server/x86_64 Red Hat Enterprise L    517
rhel-sap-for-rhel-7-server-rhui-rpms/7Server/x86_64  Red Hat Enterprise L    147
rhel-server-rhui-rhscl-7-rpms/7Server/x86_64         Red Hat Software Col 14,708
rhui-microsoft-azure-rhel7-base-sap-apps             Microsoft Azure RPMs      6
repolist: 76,118

Important

A single host can accommodate both SAP HANA and other SAP applications, such as NetWeaver. In this case, all the preceding repositories are required. Optionally, you can modify the /etc/yum.repos.d/rh-cloud-base-sap-ha.repo file based on your system's specific requirements.

Upgrade the system to RHEL 7.9:
```
sudo yum update
```
Reboot the VM to complete the upgrade:
```
sudo reboot 
```

Upgrade RHEL-SAP-APPS PAYG images from 7.x to 7.9

Remove the RHUI EUS-SAP package installed:

sudo yum remove $(rpm -qa | grep -i rhui)

Remove the version lock file:
```
sudo rm /etc/yum/vars/releasever
```

Create a config file by using this command:

sudo tee rhel7-base-sap-apps.config > /dev/null <<< $'[rhui-microsoft-azure-rhel7-base-sap-apps]\nname=Microsoft Azure RPMs for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 (rhel7-base-sap-apps)\nbaseurl=https://rhui4-1.microsoft.com/pulp/repos/unprotected/microsoft-azure-rhel7-base-sap-apps\nenabled=1\ngpgcheck=1\ngpgkey=https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc\nsslverify=1'

Install the rhui-azure-rhel7-base-sap-apps package:

sudo yum --config rhel7-base-sap-apps.config install rhui-azure-rhel7-base-sap-apps

Verify that the corresponding repositories are available and show no errors:

sudo yum repolist

Loaded plugins: langpacks, product-id, search-disabled-repos, yum_rhui_plugin
repo id                                                  repo name        status
rhel-7-server-ansible-2-rhui-rpms/x86_64                 Red Hat Ansible     103
rhel-7-server-rhui-extras-rpms/x86_64                    Red Hat Enterpri  1,488
rhel-7-server-rhui-optional-rpms/7Server/x86_64          Red Hat Enterpri 24,422
rhel-7-server-rhui-rh-common-rpms/7Server/x86_64         Red Hat Enterpri    243
rhel-7-server-rhui-rpms/7Server/x86_64                   Red Hat Enterpri 34,484
rhel-7-server-rhui-supplementary-rpms/7Server/x86_64     Red Hat Enterpri    517
rhel-ha-for-rhel-7-server-rhui-rpms/7Server/x86_64       Red Hat Enterpri    872
rhel-sap-for-rhel-7-server-rhui-rpms/7Server/x86_64      Red Hat Enterpri    147
rhel-sap-hana-for-rhel-7-server-rhui-rpms/7Server/x86_64 Red Hat Enterpri    115
rhel-server-rhui-rhscl-7-rpms/7Server/x86_64             Red Hat Software 14,708
rhui-microsoft-azure-rhel7-base-sap-ha                   Microsoft Azure       6
repolist: 77,105

Upgrade the system to RHEL 7.9:
```
sudo yum update
```
Reboot the VM to complete the upgrade:
```
sudo reboot
```

Next steps

If your next target is to move to RHEL 8 for SAP environments, see How to upgrade SAP-HANA and SAP-APPS PAYG virtual machines from RHEL 7.9 to RHEL 8.x using Leapp for details.

Third-party information disclaimer

The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, about the performance or reliability of these products.

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