Preparing Systems and Instances

When you prepare instances, you bind virtual host names of an instance or a set of instances to network interfaces, and you mount remote memory locations to the local file system. For SAP instances, you register and start the instance agents. For database instances, you attach the database instance to the host and start the database listener.

Prerequisites

The general prerequisites for instance operations have been met.

For more information, see General Prerequisites for Instance Operations.
The instance status is Initial.
Storage partner libraries are available and up-to-date.

For more information, see http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-42216.
Optional: You have specified a preferred host.

For more information, see Setting a Preferred Host for an Instance.
You have unprepared database instances using SAP Landscape Management before performing a prepare operation. During an unprepare operation, SAP Landscape Management writes installation and configuration information needed for attaching the database.

For more information, see Unpreparing Systems and Instances.
The virtual host names can be resolved on the target host.
Operating system users exist with the same passwords as they have on the target host. On UNIX, the UID and GID numbers must not be changed.

Procedure

Choose Operations.
Choose Systems from the tabs.
From the Operations dropdown for the instance, choose Prepare.

To prepare multiple systems and instances at once, choose Mass Operations Prepare and ensure that the entities on which you want to execute the operation are displayed and selected.

Assign a host to each instance or choose Host Assignment and one of the following options:

Option	Description
Preferred	Assign a preferred host that you have set for an instance. If the instance is in status Not Running or Running, the currently assigned host is set as the preferred host. If the instance is in status Initial, the host assignment is not applicable. If the preferred host is not available or locked, no host is automatically assigned to the instance.
Last Used	Assign the last used host to the instance. If the last used host is not available, SAP Landscape Management assigns the first fit host.
First Fit	Assign the first available free host to an instance.

Option

Description

Preferred

Assign a preferred host that you have set for an instance.

If the instance is in status Not Running or Running, the currently assigned host is set as the preferred host.
If the instance is in status Initial, the host assignment is not applicable.
If the preferred host is not available or locked, no host is automatically assigned to the instance.

Last Used

Assign the last used host to the instance. If the last used host is not available, SAP Landscape Management assigns the first fit host.

First Fit

Assign the first available free host to an instance.

Optional: SAP Landscape Management checks if the host assigned to the instance meets the requirements of the instance. These requirements include RAM, SAPs, and so on. To ignore this host check, select the Ignore Host Check checkbox.
Optional: SAP Landscape Management checks if intersystem dependencies are defined, and either performs the necessary action or prompts you to decide whether to proceed with the operation. To ignore any intersystem dependencies, select the Ignore Intersystem Dependencies checkbox.

Note If you want to ignore intersystem and intrasystem dependencies of an instance, or if the instance status is Unknown, you can choose Operations Forced Forced Prepare.
Optional: Select the Set Note checkbox and enter a note to be displayed in the Description column of the instance.
Choose Execute.

Results

Prepare

Calls the storage adapter or the virtualization adapter to prepare the IP addresses.
Binds virtual IP addresses and mounts the file systems configured.
When you prepare an SAP HANA tenant database node:
- Checks if this node is a potential master host.
- If the node is a potential master host, prepares the virtual hostnames of all tenants which have virtual hostnames registered on the SAP HANA tenant database node.
If the potential SAP HANA master node is relocated and there are tenants with virtual hostnames that need to be registered on this master node, they will be bound.
- For database instances:
  1. If database instances were unprepared using SAP Landscape Management, writes the respective service entries if not present.
  2. Attaches the database to the host. That is, registers the database with the operating system.
  3. If necessary, starts the database listeners.
- For SAP instances that do not represent a database:
  1. If an SAP instance was unprepared using SAP Landscape Management, writes the respective service entries if not present.
  2. Registers the instance agent with the operating system.
    - For Unix-like systems: Adds the agent to file /usr/sap/sapservices
    - For Windows systems: Adds the agent to the Windows service registry
  3. Starts the instance agent.
- For custom instances:
  1. Calls operation acc_<custom instance type>_attach.
  2. Performs the necessary actions to register the instance on the host.
The instance status is Not Running.

Next Steps

You can manage activities related to the operation that is currently running.

For more information, see Performing Operations on Activities.
You can view the log of all tasks involved in the process.

For more information, see Working with Logs.