How to install a new license in your SAP ABAP Platform Developer Edition

[Andre_Fischer]

Caution

• 12.08.2022 - The process to download a license for your ABAP Platform Developer Edition described in this blog is currently not applicable since the license that is available at that place is not valid anymore.
  
  As a workaround you can get a new license for ABAP and HANA at https://go.support.sap.com/minisap/#/minisap .
  Please checkout this blog post Update ABAP and HANA License for the ABAP Platform, Developer Edition for Docker | SAP Blogs from gregor.wolf that describes this workaround in more detail.
  
   

Overview

Since I am not a Docker expert I want to share how a new license can be downloaded and installed in the new Docker based SAP ABAP Platform Developer Edition.

As an overview I will start with the four steps that you have to perform before starting with screen shots:

1. Download license from https://developers.sap.com/trials-downloads.html?search=ABAP+Platform


2. Unpack the license using a tool that supports .rar files


3. Navigate to the folder where the SAP license file A4H.txt can be found


4. Open a CMD prompt and enter the following command
   

   docker cp A4H.txt a4h:/opt/sap/ASABAP_license​

   
   

 

Download license

You can download license from https://developers.sap.com/trials-downloads.html?search=ABAP+Platform .

Unpack license

Using some tool like WinRAR (or sapcar ;-)) you can unpack the two license files

 

 

into two sub folders ABAP Demo license and SAP HANA license

 

 

where in the folder ABAP Demo license we find the file A4H.txt.

 

 

Import the license

Open a CMD prompt in the folder where you have downloaded the file A4H.txt where you run the following command

docker cp A4H.txt a4h:/opt/sap/ASABAP_license

 

In order to activate the license you have to stop the ABAP system

 

CAUTION:
Be sure to use the following command to shut down the system gracefully.

 

docker stop --time 7200 a4h

How to include this script into the shutdown procedure in Windows please check my following blog

How to gracefully shutdown your SAP ABAP Platform Developer Edition when shutting down Windows | SAP...

 

Start and let the license be installed during startup

Afterwards you can start your system again using the following docker command

docker start -ai a4h

Within the output of this command you will find information that the ABAP license was installed successfully:

 

 

 

[abo]

I've updated it a few days ago with the container still running: it took AGES to shutdown, possibly because the script was waiting for some process that had changed PID. Next time, I'm going to try copying the license before starting the container, for curiosity.

[Andre_Fischer]

Let me know about the result.

[abo]

Will do, sometimes around end of june / beginning of july.

The renewal was done on apr.5th

[philippdoelker]

Been looking for this! Thanks a lot.

[JaimeRodriguez]

About the Docker documentation, there is a command to update the license after copying it, without resetting the container:

> docker exec -it a4h /usr/local/bin/asabap_license_update

[GreggHinkle]

When I logged into my SAP ABAP Platform Developer Edition system today I got a warning about the pending license expiration since the license has an expiration date of 11.05.2021 which is in 6 days. I downloaded the license using the above method, but the expiration date of the downloaded license is still 11.05.2021. When will a newly updated license be available so that I can update my about to expire license?

[Andre_Fischer]

Hi Gregg,

thanks for the heads up. I will talk to my colleagues and will let you know.

Best regards,

Andre

 

[julieplummer20]

Hi Gregg, hi all,

For technical reasons, and since the existing license is about to run out, please get your license from here for now:

https://go.support.sap.com/minisap/#/minisap

Go to https://go.support.sap.com/minisap/#/minisap and proceed as follows

1. Choose A4H - SAP NetWeaver AS ABAP 7.4 and above (Linux / SAP HANA)
2. Enter your personal data and agree to the License Agreement.
3. Choose Generate bottom right corner of screen.)
4. The web site automatically generates a .txt file for this system. Download and save this file, eg on the desktop for convenience.

Then you can proceed as André describes in "Import the license" above.

Since the minisap site provides a .txt file, you don't need to unpack it.

DONT FORGET to shut down GRACEFULLY.

HTH and thanks to André for the heads-up.

Julie.

[GreggHinkle]

Hi Julie,

Thanks, that worked perfectly. I also had to include the Hardware Key in license request form since it would not generate the license without it, so you may want to include that in your instructions as well. In addition, I issued the docker cp A4H_Multiple.txt a4h:/opt/sap/ASABAP_license command when my docker container was shutdown so I didn't have to worry about bringing it down gracefully after I copied the license. When I started it up again, the license was updated with 3 more months. Thanks again.

Gregg

[former_member246854]

Updated the license successfully and able to login the system.

Day 1, Every thing worked perfectly.

Day 2, when I start the system through docker, getting below error. (Tried updating license again and started the docker. But, no luck yet )

FAIL: process disp+work Dispatcher not running
Worker Processes: the start command failed, exit code=2
The service Worker Processes has failed to start and initialization is blocked until the problem is resolved
You can try your luck 10 times until initialization is terminated

Hint: docker containers can be joined by: docker exec -it <name> bash
Hint: HDB license must not be expired
Hint: HDB must be running
Hint: AS ABAP license must be valid

Can someone, please help me here.

[Andre_Fischer]

Have you followed the approach that I described and have downloaded the link from here:
https://developers.sap.com/trials-downloads.html?search=ABAP+Platform

or have you chosen the approach that my colleague Julie described since the licenses from the location I pointed you to were not working a while ago?

[former_member246854]

I followed the approach mentioned by Julie. Downloaded the license from the below link.

https://go.support.sap.com/minisap/#/minisap

[former_member246854]

Solved by deleting the instance from docker and re-installing it.

 

[julieplummer20]

Hi Naveen,

Thanks for getting in touch.

Good to hear that this is now working.

BR Julie.

[kyo_choi2]

Followed the instruction to the teeth but it's still not changing the dates.  In Slicense transaction, it shows following attached picture.  Status is in red.  Is there something I missed?

[julieplummer20]

Hi Kyo Choi,

Please try deleting ALL existing licenses, then following the procedure described by André.

BR Julie.

 

[sappy]

Hi Julie,

 

I think that worked.  It's been installed.  Thanks.

[julieplummer20]

Hi Kyo choi,

Super. Thanks for letting me know.

BR Julie.

[abo]

As already noted copying the license when the container is stopped works nicely; alternatively, one could notify the system about the change so that you probably don't wait ages for timeouts.

[DenisGaland]

Hello,

The key available in the site is expired since the 28th of July, would it be possible to create a new key that is valid?

Thanks & regards

Denis

[julieplummer20]

Hi Denis, I have just downloaded the license from https://developers.sap.com/trials-downloads.html?search=ABAP. It expires March 31st 2022.

Are you referring to the "minisap" license?

If so, please download directly from here: https://developers.sap.com/trials-downloads.html?search=ABAP

If not, please tell me what exactly you mean by "this site" (URL) and "key".

Best wishes,
Julie.

[DenisGaland]

Hello Julie,

Where do we see this date March 31st 2022?

I have taken the license from here

I saw in the readmelicense\Licenses\ABAP Demo license\Info.txt

Valid for hardware key J1851296352
Expires on July 28th 2021

Maybe that file is not relevant, however, I have followed the procedure from the blog (I had to do it some months ago and it went ok) and I have this message in the SAP Gui, after several reboots of the Docker container

What could be wrong?

Regards

Denis

[10muscat]

Ona fresh machine, which user do i need to login to be able to delete the license. I used SAP* with password as Ldtf5432. and it doesn't allow it.

[julieplummer20]

Hi Denis,

I am very sorry; I misread your comment, and I thought you were referring to a different product version.

We will upload the new license and I will let you know.

Thanks for your patience and best wishes,

Julie.

 

[julieplummer20]

Hi Denis,

As a workaround, can you obtain the license from :

SAP License Keys for Preview, Evaluation and Developer Versions ?

Then install it as detailed above, by André.

BR Julie.

[julieplummer20]

Hi Mus cat,

Have you tried DEVELOPER and Ldtf5432 ?

Julie.

[DenisGaland]

Thank you julie.plummer , and andre.fischer , that worked 🙂

Have a great week-end

Denis

[Saif4TechGlobe]

Hi andre.fischer julie.plummer

License of my SAP AS ABAP 1909 was expired. I tried to get new license from  link https://go.support.sap.com/minisap/#/minisap and it has updated

through manual upload

But when I followed steps suggested by andre.fischer : by importing license and restarting container, it keeps on removing (Maintenance_HDB) license every time I start container:

HDB: started, pid=583

hdb_license_update: starting

---

Retrieving HDB license information

---

HDB Hardware Key : XXXXXXXXXX

HDB Expiration Date: 2022-08-09 23:59:59

Days to expire : 324

---

Not updating HDB license: the file /opt/sap/HDB_license was not found

---

hdb_license_update: started, pid=1513

asabap_license_update: starting

---

Retrieving AS ABAP license information

---

SAP License Key Administration - Copyright (C) 2003 - 2016 SAP AG

System ID. . . . : A4H

Hardware Key . . : XXXXXXXXXXX (of this computer)

Installation No. : DEMOSYSTEM

System No. . . . : 000000000850609884

Release. . . . . : 777

Software products: NetWeaver_HDB

---

AS ABAP license can be automatically renewed from the file /opt/sap/ASABAP_license

Hint: new container : docker run ... -v <local file path>:/opt/sap/ASABAP_license

Hint: existing container: docker cp <local file path> <container name>:/opt/sap/ASABAP_license

---

Updating AS ABAP license: found the file /opt/sap/ASABAP_license

Removing the current AS ABAP License

SAP License Key Administration - Copyright (C) 2003 - 2016 SAP AG

2 license key(s) were deleted.

Installing the license from the file /opt/sap/ASABAP_license

SAP License Key Administration - Copyright (C) 2003 - 2016 SAP AG

rc of SsfLibVerify: 5 = SSF_API_SIGNER_ERRORS = there are signer errors.

uResult = 27 = SSF_API_SIGNER_NOT_OK/SSF_API_RECIPIENT_NOT_OK = Signature not

valid / operation not okay for recipient.

asabap_license_update: the start command failed, exit code=7

Application Server: starting

19.09.2021 14:16:17

Start

OK

 

Now:

Status after updating license through commands

 

Please suggest either how to update license of both SW products or how to remove this auto update command whenever I start container.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

KR,

Saif

[former_member11684]

If your license has expired and you cannot enter through the SAP GUI, follow these steps:

1 - Start a4h and copy the hardware key

docker start -ai a4h

2 - Generate key in the following link with the hardware key:

 

https://go.support.sap.com/minisap/#/minisap

3 - Rename the file A4H_Multiple.txt to A4H.txt

4 - Copy the license

docker cp A4H.txt a4h:/opt/sap/ASABAP_license

5 - Run the following command and the license will be activated

docker start -ai a4h



6 - You can check the science with the SLICENSE transaction

 

[marcfbe]

Open a shell: docker exec -it a4h bash

Then remove the file from /opt/sap/ASABAP_license

[marcfbe]

Precisely. Just a question why SAP can't document it this way

[quovadis]

Hello Community Experts,

I did quite some configuration on my a4h instance running on my laptop, namely lots of ICF objects, but also saml (saml2) and oauth clients (soauth2) configuration.

Now I want to export it.

The CAL documentation at https://caldocs.hana.ondemand.com/caldocs/help/7bd4548f-a95b-4ee9-910a-08c74b4f6c37_Getting_Started_... pages 12 onwards explains that I can do the transport of ABAP object as copies and I am happy with this option. But there is not much detail how to collect different changed objects ?

For instance, regarding transport of ICF objects a colleague pointed me to the following resource https://wiki.scn.sap.com/wiki/display/ABAPConn/Transporting+ICF+Services and that does the job.

But how can I transport saml2 and  soauth2 configuration changes?  is it at all possible ?

I would also like to transport relevant authorization objects (S_SCOPE objects for instance) or the entire authorization profiles ?

On a side note, the system option that is supposed to enable automatic tracking of changes is ON but that did not result in any transports being created automatically.

any help appreciated; thx; Piotr

[kyo_choi2]

While taking a power nap, I failed to check the license again.

Unfortunately this is happening now; sap* cannot delete the license.  And I cannot login with developer or ddic due to "Logon not possible (error in license check). 

I have downloaded new license and tried following as well which does not seem to change the license either,

docker cp A4H_Multiple.txt a4h:/opt/sap/ASABAP_license

Is there anything else I can do?

[kyo_choi2]

I was able to update the license by changing the license file name from A4H_Multiple.txt to A4H.txt.  With following command the dates of the license changed to 3 months from today but it's still not valid.  Is there something I did not do correctly?

[julieplummer20]

Hi Kyo Choi,

According to SAP Note "2164980 - SLICENSE shows red Status due to reason “not yet valid", one possible cause is that the OS system has the wrong date.

Check the date and time of the server at OS level, in order to verify that it’s correct.

That is, executecommand “date” (without quotes).

The SAP system receives the time and the date from the OS. Therefore, you need to stop the system, adjust the correct system's date/time on OS level and re-start the system.

If you do not feel confident about doing this, please just let me know.

BR Julie.

[kyo_choi2]

Hi Julie,

Thanks for the reply.  I have tried following and date is correct and time zone was adjusted from PST to Arizona.  I have re-created the license file after time adjustment but same issue.  Is there anything else I can do?  Thanks.

[julieplummer20]

Hi Kyo Choi,

Is that your Windows OS / date and time?

If so, sorry, I didn't express myself clearly: You must check date and time IN LINUX (SUSE).

Please just check that quickly and let me know.

Best wishes,

Julie.

[kyo_choi2]

You are absolutely correct.  Somehow the container did not have the correct date.  I had to restart the PC and the container changed the date.  Thanks.

[julieplummer20]

Hi Kyo Choi,

You're welcome. Does this mean everything is working now?

I see the screenshot, just want to be sure.

Thanks and best wishes Julie.

[kyo_choi2]

Yes, it's working now.  Thank you so much.

[jens_seifert2]

Hello

i wanted to renew the mini SAP license on https://go.support.sap.com/minisap/ .

I become a popup for user and password, i try my SAP universal ID and also my OSS user and password, i also rest the OSS Password but it dose not accept anything .

Or is https://go.support.sap.com/minisap/  now a user and password scam 😉 ?

 

[JaimeRodriguez]

Hi, it is the same for me.

License from Developer Trials and Downloads | SAP Developer is an old version (expired from July 28th)

There is some alternative?

[jens_seifert2]

Hello,

i tested today and now it works without any user credentials.

[JaimeRodriguez]

Yes, it seems a temporary failure.

Thank you jens.seifert2

[julieplummer20]

Hi Ricardo, hi Marc,

Have just updated the FAQs.

It will be published soon.

Best wishes,

Julie.

[cmllop85]

Hello,

On the SAP ABAP platform 1909 developer edition, the initial license included for SAP Hana had a duration of a year and a half aproximately. I understand it will expire around August 2022.

Could someone please advise how this license could be renewed?

[P843715]

Hi,

I really like having my own (local) ABAP Development Platform 1909.  I know I have renewed the license at least once without any issues.  My license expired recently, so I followed RICARDO COYLLO MAYTA directions which worked in the past.  I am able to receive the new A4H.txt file and when I look at the contents it does seem to now show the expiration date is in August 2022.  However when I ensure I am in the correct directory where my A4H.txt file is located and run the command "docker cp A4H.txt a4h:/opt/sap/ASABAP_license" I keep receiving the following error:  "Error response from daemon: Error processing tar file(exit status 1): unlinkat /opt/sap/ASABAP_license: device or resource busy".

 

I have tried this command both when A4H is up (ran docker start -ai a4h) and when it is down (ran docker stop --time 7200 a4h).  I also checked the permission of the A4H.txt file and it appears wide open.   Any ideas/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

[flow_]

Hello,

I am interested in an answer to that question too.

If it is possible to extend the hana license of the SAP ABAP platform 1909 developer edition, I would appreciate that very much.

[NicholasB]

Thanks andre.fischer, this was exactly what I was looking for after my beloved trial platform informed me my licenses are expired.

[alexandre_src]

Hi guys,

I just followed all the steps as proposed in this blog; however, after restarting the A4H, I'm getting the following highlighted errors:

Have anyone already had this error?

Kr, Alexandre

Edit1: I just tried to install both A4H and HDB licenses separately, as indicated in Gregor's blog post. However, I was not lucky  
The error remains.

Edit2: 
I realized that I downloaded the licenses using the wrong Hardware key.
After moving the correct licenses to their respective folders, I noticed the HDB license has been updated. However, on the other hand, the error below is still appearing when updating the AS ABAP License:

Perhaps I had broken something in that docker image, and I am afraid that can no longer be reverted 😞