Steps to Start SAPinst
To start SAPinst for Windows on a single host, proceed as follows:
- Log on to your host as a user who is a member of the local administration group.
- Start SAPinst from the root directory of the uncompressed archive from SWPM.
Caution
Do not use the user <sid>adm for installation procedures.
SAPinst creates the installation directory sapinst_instdir where it keeps the log files and that is located directly in the Program Files directory. If SAPinst is not able to create sapinst_instdir in the Program Files directory, SAPinst tries to create sapinst_instdir in the directory defined by the environment variable TEMP. SAPinst creates a subdirectory for each installation service.
Note
We recommend that you keep all the installation directories until the system is completely and correctly installed.
The SAPinst Self-Extractor extracts the executables to a temporary directory (TEMP, TMP, TMPDIR, or SystemRoot). These executables are deleted after SAPinst has stopped running. Directories, which are called as sapinst_exe.xxxxxx.xxxx, sometimes remain in the temporary directory. You can safely delete the temporary directories.
The temporary directory also contains the SAPinst Self-Extractor log file dev_selfex.out, which may be useful if an error occurs. To terminate SAPinst and the SAPinst Self-Extractor, press CTRL + C.
Hint
If SAPinst cannot find a temporary directory, the installation terminates with the error FCO-00058.
To terminate SAPinst and the SAPinst Self-Extractor, right-click the icon for the SAPinst output view located in the Windows tray and choose Exit. Alternatively, you can choose the icon for the SAPinst output view located in the Windows tray and then choose File → Exit.
To start SAPinst on Unix, proceed as follows:
- Log on to your host as user root.
- Start SAPinst from the root directory of the uncompressed archive for SWPM.
Caution
Make sure that the root user has not set any environment variables for a different SAP system or database.
SAPinst creates the installation directory sapinst_instdir directly below the temporary directory. SAPinst finds the temporary directory by checking the value of the environment variables TEMP, TMP, or TMPDIR. If no value is set for these variables, SAPinst uses /tmp as default installation directory. Make sure that the temporary directory has the permissions 777.
Caution
Make sure that your operating system does not delete the contents of the temporary directory /tmp. It must also not delete the contents of the directories to which the variables TEMP, TMP, or TMPDIR point, for example, by using a crontab (third party tool) entry.
Communication Ports Used During SAP System Installation
SAPinst includes an SAPinst GUI and the GUI server, both of which use a Java Runtime Environment (JRE).
In a standard installation, SAPinst, SAPinst GUI, and the GUI server run on the same host. If required, you can instead perform a remote installation with SAPinst, where SAPinst GUI runs on a separate host from SAPinst and the GUI server.
When you start SAPinst, SAPinst GUI and the GUI server also start. SAPinst GUI connects to the GUI server using a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) connection and the GUI server connects to SAPinst.
During installation, the default ports 21200, 21212, and 4239 are used for communication between SAPinst, GUI server, SAPinst GUI, and HTTP server.
Default Communication Ports
- SAPinst communicates with the GUI server through port 21200.
- The GUI server communicates with SAPinst GUI through port 21212.
- The HTTP server port is 4239, which is a part of the GUI server.
You receive an error notification if one of these ports is already in use by another service. In this case, start SAPinst with the command line parameters.
SAPinst Command Line Parameters
- SAPINST_DIALOG_PORT=<free_port_number_sapinst_gui_to_gui_server>
- GUISERVER_DIALOG_PORT=<free_port_number_gui_server_to_sapinst_gui>
- GUISERVER_HTTP_PORT=<free_port_number_http_server>
For a list of all available SAPinst properties, start SAPinst with the parameter -p, as follows:
- For Windows: sapinst.exe -p
- For Linux and UNIX: sapinst -p
