Efficient Optimization and Automation of monthly SAP Maintenance with automatics

We ensure the world keeps moving

With 160 years of tradition, DEUTZ AG is one of the world's leading manufacturers of innovative drive systems. DEUTZ develops, produces, sells, and maintains drive solutions with power ranges up to 620 kW for off-highway applications.

DEUTZ operates its SAP system landscapes partly independently in its own data center and partly in the SAP Private Cloud Environment. The continuous support and regular updating of all servers and SAP systems were previously associated with considerable time expenditure—a task that is essential for secure and stable operations.

Challenges

In its own data center, DEUTZ hosts and maintains over 50 SAP systems (AS ABAP, AS JAVA, SAP Content Server, Web Dispatcher, etc.) across approximately 15 SAP system landscapes. Regular tasks arise for these systems:

• OS patches (Windows and Linux)

• DB patches (MaxDB and SAP HANA)

• SAP kernel patches (including Web Dispatcher and SAP Content Server)

• SAP Host Agent patches

• SAP Diagnostic Agent patches

• SAP support packages and add-on updates (e.g., SAP Solution Tools)

• FIORI component update

• SAP security notes

• SAP system copies

• SAP release updates/upgrades

The manual preparation and execution of these diverse tasks—especially considering the dependencies between systems—posed a major challenge, particularly since maintenance often had to occur within defined time windows (during the week for non-production and on weekends for productive systems).

The Value of Automation

Given the large number of internal SAP systems, it quickly became clear that recurring and largely standardized maintenance tasks could be carried out much more efficiently through automation. Automation not only eliminates potential sources of error but also frees up valuable human resources—resources that can then be used specifically for support and strategic projects.

The Decision for automatics

The SAP Technology Team at DEUTZ aimed to fully automate recurring maintenance tasks as much as possible. Even initial partial automations showed that, particularly, the automated deployment of OS patches enabled enormous time savings. With automatics, they found a solution that not only covers numerous maintenance tasks “out of the box” but also offers the ability to create and expand individual tasks and workflows as needed—a decisive advantage, especially noticeable during monthly OS patching.

Implementation, Handling, and Onboarding

The installation of the solution via the provided image was quick and straightforward. Despite DEUTZ AG’s strict security measures, the connection of Windows servers—although WinRM was initially a challenge—was successfully implemented thanks to the committed support from automatics. The solution stands out due to its intuitive operation; the helpful user guide and competent support during the creation of the first custom workflows significantly facilitated the onboarding into automation.

Satisfaction with the automatics Solution

The introduction of automatics was carried out in small iterations so that each workflow could be thoroughly tested and safely integrated into operations. Although individual systems, such as the SAP Content Server, were initially not recognized automatically, automatics support quickly responded with tailored custom workflows. The ability to integrate non-SAP systems into the central automation process ensures a unified overview and significantly simplifies maintenance. Customer requests are taken seriously by automatics—smaller features were implemented within days, larger releases are continuously published throughout the year. For about half a year now, automatics has been an essential and indispensable part of many maintenance procedures at DEUTZ.

Features in Use

Numerous automated workflows are already in use today, significantly optimizing the maintenance process. Additionally, templates have further simplified and accelerated the repetition of maintenance processes—currently, a proof of concept is testing the option for performing SAP system copies.

automatics Standard Workflows

SAP Kernel Change, Database Patch, SAP Host Agent Patch,SAP Diagnostic Agent Patch, SAP Support Package and Add-On Update, SAP System Messages.

Custom Extended automatics Workflows

SAP Stop and Start, SAP Restart (with or without OS restart), Lock/Unlock SAP users, Suspend/Release background jobs, Windows patches for SAP and non-SAP systems, Restart Windows services on non-SAP servers.

Integration of Non-SAP Systems

To use as few but as central software solutions as possible, non-SAP systems were also integrated into automatics. Tasks such as OS patching, starting and stopping Windows services, and patching the SAP Host Agent and Diagnostic Agent are centrally managed—enabling a comprehensive overview and centralized maintenance across all servers to be managed.

Process of an OS Patch at DEUTZ AG

Clearly structured processes ensure a smooth sequence:

For internally hosted Windows servers with SAP systems:

• Check Free Space on Drive C (Custom Task): Ensure sufficient disk space.

• Stop liveCache (Custom Task): If present, the liveCache service is stopped before shutting down the SAP instance.

• SAP System Stop (automatics Workflow): Orderly shutdown of SAP and database instances.

• Windows OS Patch incl. Forced VM Reboot (Custom Task): Check for available OS updates, output of packages & versions, installation of available updates, followed by a server reboot.

• SAP System Start (automatics Workflow): Orderly startup of SAP and database instances.

• Start liveCache (Custom Task): If present, the liveCache service is restarted after the SAP instance is up.

For internally hosted Windows servers with non-SAP systems:Use the same process as SAP systems, excluding SAP-specific stop/start actions.

For interface services:A custom workflow ensures that after restarting the ERP system hosted by SAP, the Windows services on various interface servers are automatically restarted to ensure a stable connection.

Conclusion

Thanks to comprehensive automation and parallelization via automatics, maintenance processes have been significantly optimized. As described above, maintenance is now performed outside regular business hours, avoiding downtime during operating hours.

Non-productive systems are, for example, automatically patched on Thursdays between 4:00 and 6:00 a.m., and productive systems on Saturdays between 3:00 and 5:00 p.m. Detailed email alerts provide information about start, end, and potential errors, while regular log checks guarantee the availability of all systems.

An impressive efficiency gain is reflected in the fact that active working hours on maintenance weekends have been reduced from approximately 6 hours to 1 hour—provided no additional measures are needed. Furthermore, the automated reading of SAP system info enables a quick overview of version statuses and system health.

Overall, the implementation of automatics has not only significantly accelerated DEUTZ AG’s maintenance process but also standardized it and sustainably improved the security and stability of the SAP system landscapes.

A report by Christian Schroeder,SAP Technology Inhouse Consultant at DEUTZ AG