SAP Hybris Upgradation to 2005 – Why and How to do it?

SAP Hybris commerce has been getting upgraded to keep itself up for the ongoing competition in the field. The changes that are considered include tackling the defects of the platform, updates on the security, enhancements, and modifications to its architecture.

The existing integration is now powered by the enhanced data model of SAP Commerce Cloud 2005, and it’s the very right time for an upgrade.

Also Read: FedEx Integration in SAP Hybris eCommerce – Everything you need to know about it.

Benefits of the Upgrade

Here are few major benefits of the upgrade of SAP Hybris to 2005:

• The upgrade allows an organization to streamline the complete ecosystem.
• Gathering information, examining them, and ensuring whether or not they are required for the current set, this ensures that the system runs smoothly and the way it should benefit the enterprise in the best possible manner.
• It allows refreshing all the applications and enhances the performance of the system.
• It also strengthens your enterprise’s security. As the patches do not last more than two years, the system runs smoothly without any interruption in the technical support.

Step-by-Step Procedure: SAP Hybris Upgradation to 2005

Upgrading SAP commerce includes the following steps. These steps are common for near to almost all releases. Let’s have a quick glance.

• Download, unzip and build the new distribution.
• Pass the custom code to the newer version of SAP Commerce and make the changes that are required to ensure compatibility
• Copy the configuration files and make change wherever necessary
• Migrate data and media files.

Note: Compatibility can be a major issue if you are carrying over the custom code, so pay attention to the additional information section of the upgrade guide for each module you include in the upgraded system.

Here is the detailed procedure for the same:

Step 1: Close the SAP Commerce Instance

The first step should be shutting down the instance of SAP Commerce that you want to upgrade.

Caution: It is advised to take back up of everything that will be touched in this upgrade. So, keep a copy of the entire SAP Commerce while retaining its directory structure and components, e.g. platform, configuration files and extensions. To optimize the size of your archive, you can run ant clean.

Step 2: Determining the location for 2005 Platform Deployment

1. Replace Platform and SAP Commerce alongside the extensions (in $ {HYBRIS_BIN_DIR})
2. Download the SAP Commerce ZIP file and Extract everything to a new folder, just where you want to install the 2005 system.
3. If required, update the customized extensions to accommodate changes to the third-party libraries or deprecated functions.

Step 3: Migrating System Configuration

Move to the old system configuration and do the following:

1. Run ant clean on the new system. This will create the config folder in the new instance of SAP Commerce. If asked to choose a configuration template, choose the production configuration template.
2. From your old location copy local. properties and local extensions.xml configuration files to the new config folder (<${HYBRIS_CONFIG_DIR})>
3. You might have a few third-party DB drivers, e.g. MySQL or Oracle, look for them in your ${HYBRIS_BIN_DIR}/platform/lib/dbdriver folder.
4. If found, make a copy of these drivers to your new platform in a folder placed at the same path.
5. In case you need to, editing can be done in the localextesios.xml file to add more extensions found in the new release. Also, optionally, adjust the local properties file to include any new or changed properties.
6. We recommended changing the database connection and let it locate to the point that contains the new copy of your database, In this way, the old database will be preserved and will be available back in case of migration errors.
7. Install a License if necessary. You can find more information regarding the license here.

Step 4: Migrating File Data

A platform stores data in the binary form that needs to be migrated before starting the system with the new upgrade.

Those media data files are stored in ${HYBRIS_DATA_DIR}/media

Step 5: Migrate your media data

1. Create a backup of the media files for future safety.
2. Copy the files in the same directory in the new SAP Commerce location
3. For the systems with embedded HSQLDB, database is located at <HYBRIS_DATA_DIR>/hsqldb. You may again create the same path and copy-paste that folder there.

Step 6: Start the Platform Build Once

1. Navigate to the <HYBRIS_BIN_DIR>/platform directory.
2. Run sentantenv.bat on Windows or ../setantenx.sh on Linux.
3. Execute ant all.
4. Wait for the build to finish. It may take some time.

Step 7: Upgrading the Database

To be able to use the existing database, you need to make some changes to adjust it to the new system installed. Two ways of executing this upgrade are as follows:

1. Online using Administration Console of SAP
2. Using the Command Line

Step 8: Adjust your existing database for the new system.

Upgrade using the Administration Console can be handled in the following manner:

1. Navigate to $ {HYBRIS_BIN_DIR}/platform directory
2. To start your system, execute hybrisserver.bat on Windows. For a Linux system, run hybrisserver.sh from your current directory.
3. Quick open SAP Commerce Console, http://localhost:9001/platform/update
4. Select Update Running System and confirm by clicking the update button.

Step 9: Upgrade from the command line

To upgrade from the command line:

1. Go to <HYBRIS_BIN_DIR/platform> directory
2. Run ant updatesystem

Also Read: Dynatrace for SAP Hybris – The Arrival of the Commerce Cloud Monitoring Age

The Final Word

SAP Hybris upgrades are important for the smooth functioning of the system but at times get complex too. The entire upgrade should be taken as teamwork where all the enterprise teams can work together to make this happen appropriately. It is, indeed, a realization of the foundation of each enterprise where new futures are implemented.

Also, a very important thing that needs to be kept in mind during the upgrade is to ensure minimal moving parts. It would lead to a successful upgrade in a short period.  This fact plays a vital role in the major upgrades.

Make sure to upgrade your SAP Hybris Commerce regularly. When a gap of time gets in between the two upgrades, it becomes difficult to manage things and makes it much more complex. An interval of 12-18 months is considered an ideal period for the gap between the two upgrades. Follow all the above-mentioned steps and suggestions and make sure the upgrade takes place well in time and efficiently.

To take expert help in SAP Hybris Upgradation to 2005, contact Stridely. This way, you can save your time and efforts while having the surety of successful upgrade.