SAP Netweaver 2004s ABAP - remove MaxDB instance

[former_member185932]

I successfully installed SAP Netweaver 2004s SP08. For some reason I tried to update system kernel and the package level to SP09. However, this didn't go well so I decided to uninstall everything and reinstall SP08. This is where the problems began!

For some reason I didn't use the uninstall tools and decided to try and wipe everything out myself. I deleted the C:\SAP directory and C:\sapdb directory. I cleared the registry and ran both cleanup tools (cleanup.exe and the RegClean tool).

Now when I run the SAP Netweaver 2004s SP08 setup.exe file the system still seems to think I have MaxDB installed (or at least an Instance of MaxDB). The setup utility creates the C:\SAP directory but doesn't create the C:\sapdb directory.

<b>My question is - why is the install program not creating the C:\sapdb directory?</b> I believe it has found a MaxDB instance and believes it can install to this instance. How can I delete this instance? I'm sure I've deleted all presence of MaxDB and SAPDB from the registry so I don't know how else to resolve this issue.

Thanks for any help.

JB

[suresh_krishnamoorthy · Accepted solution]

Hi Jonathan,

See the OSS note 599129, it should help you.

Regards, Suresh KB

[former_member185932 · Accepted solution]

Suresh,

Thanks for your reply. I tried the first recommendation in the note (after installing the required MaxDB program dbmcli):

dbmcli db_enum

It resulted in: "Error! Connection failed to node (local) for database (no dbname): database instance not found"

Any other ideas?

Thanks again for your help.

JB

[former_member185932 · Accepted solution]

Bizarre... Whilst trying to reinstall to the C: drive the Installer told me that it would create c:\sapdb and c:\sap and it would consume something like 18200Mb.

After it failed to install properly to the C: drive <i>again</i> I decided to try and install to a different hard drive (I have a couple spare in my system) so I told the installer to put it on the G: drive. The installer told me that it would create g:\sapdb and g:\sap and it would consume something like 21200Mb. Why the discrepancy?? What files have been left behind on C: drive that the installer assumes aren't required.... if only I could have tracked down these files.

Anyway, the installer is happily chugging it's way through the sapdb installation now and I'll report back here when I've confirmed it's up and running.

Cheers,

JB

[former_member185932 · Accepted solution]

<u>UPDATE</u>

Unfortunately it didn't work - it seemed to install to G drive successfully. However, when attempting to log in it would give an immediate short-dump even before the SAP menu & splash screen were displayed. It short dumped on function module AC_SYSTEM_FLUSH.

I have now uninstalled it from G drive. I've attempted a re-install on the C drive but it is the same. It states it requires 18800Mb to install and when installation begins it skips the SAPDB directory creation and population. It only creates C:\SAP directory.

<b>Why does it skip creating the SAPDB directory? Is there a log of why it would skip this step? Is there a file that exists that is telling the installer that the SAPDB directory is not required?</b> It installed successfully to the G drive so I don't think the registry is at fault so I can only assume it is a file or directory that exists that is causing it to skip the step.

Any advice or help would be much appreciated.

Thanks and regards,

JB

[roland_mallmann · Accepted solution]

Hi,

do you still have other MaxDB instances on the machine? If not, do you see any 'SAPDB Tech*' Registry entries under:

> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

> CurrentControlSet

> Services

Do you have any current MaxDB Installation protocolls (normally they reside in <drive>:\sapdb\data\wrk and are named 'MaxDBServer*.log'

Regards,

Roland

[former_member185932 · Accepted solution]

Roland,

Thanks for your reply - I have checked under the registry key you mention and there is nothing for 'SAPDB Tech' - I've searched the entire registry for SAPDB and MaxDB and found no traces.

Also, there are no MaxDB logs due to the fact that I deleted the sapdb directory.

Any other ideas? I'm still convinced there is a file or directory somewhere that fools the installer into thinking that MaxDB is already installed on the PC.

Cheers,

JB

[former_member185932 · Accepted solution]

<u>UPDATE</u>

I have found log files for the MaxDB installation - it is stored in the 'C:\Documents and Settings\<name>\Local Settings\Temp' directory with the names 'Maxdb_SAPNW.txt' and 'MaxDBSAPNWPREV.txt'

In both log files the following is shown after running the installer:

Wed Nov 29 20:03:03 GMT 2006 MaxDB: Start SoftwareCheck
Wed Nov 29 20:03:03 GMT 2006 MaxDB: IndepProgPath: 
Wed Nov 29 20:03:03 GMT 2006 MaxDB: IndepDataPath: 
Wed Nov 29 20:03:03 GMT 2006 MaxDB: Software doesn't exist, Variable MAXDB_SOFTW_EXISTS set to NO
Wed Nov 29 20:03:03 GMT 2006 MaxDB: end of Check Section!

After that nothing else is written to the logs as the C:\SAP directory is created and filled. I can see from the logs that when the installation was successful the following was written:

Sat Nov 25 15:11:16 GMT 2006 MaxDB: Start SoftwareCheck
Sat Nov 25 15:11:16 GMT 2006 MaxDB: IndepProgPath: 
Sat Nov 25 15:11:16 GMT 2006 MaxDB: IndepDataPath: 
Sat Nov 25 15:11:16 GMT 2006 MaxDB: Software doesn't exist, Variable MAXDB_SOFTW_EXISTS set to NO
Sat Nov 25 15:11:16 GMT 2006 MaxDB: end of Check Section!
Sat Nov 25 15:11:41 GMT 2006 MaxDB: Start of Extracting Software and Backup.
Sat Nov 25 15:18:34 GMT 2006 MaxDB: End of Extracting Software and Backup.
Sat Nov 25 15:18:34 GMT 2006 MaxDB: Start of CallSdbinst
Sat Nov 25 15:18:34 GMT 2006 MaxDB: IndepProgPath = C:/sapdb/programs
Sat Nov 25 15:18:34 GMT 2006 MaxDB: inst_type = :restore:
Sat Nov 25 15:18:34 GMT 2006 MaxDB: Calling sdbinst with template option sapmds
Sat Nov 25 15:18:34 GMT 2006 MaxDB SID: NSP
Sat Nov 25 15:18:34 GMT 2006 MaxDB drive: C:
Sat Nov 25 15:18:34 GMT 2006 MaxDB softwarepath: C:/sapdb
Sat Nov 25 15:18:34 GMT 2006 MaxDB Software location: C:/sapdb/NSP/_tempLocation
Sat Nov 25 15:18:34 GMT 2006 MaxDB backup_loc: C:/sapdb/NSP/_tempLocation/load/load_datasave
Sat Nov 25 15:18:34 GMT 2006 MaxDB program: C:/sapdb/NSP/_tempLocation/sdbinst.exe
Sat Nov 25 15:18:34 GMT 2006 MaxDB paramfile: C:/sapdb/NSP/_tempLocation/sapmds.txt
....and so on....

So the check has determined that the software needs installing but then doesn't install it... bizarre. Any ideas anyone?

Thanks,

JB

[former_member185932 · Accepted solution]

<u>UPDATE</u>

I have now found the files that were causing my system to skip the installation of c:\sapdb. After sifting through a huge log file created by Sysinternals Process Monitor I found that the following directory was being read by the installer:

c:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Universal\SAP\

I deleted the SAP directory, ran the Installer again and hey presto it worked fine.

I did get the AC_SYSTEM_FLUSH error again but a simple reinstall of SAP GUI fixed this.

I have applied Manfred's bug fix and I'm now in the process of importing SP9 and SP10.

Thanks for all responses to my queries.

Cheers,

JB

[former_member185932 · Accepted solution]

SP09 and SP10 loaded successfully.

Thanks again to all who contributed.

Cheers,

JB

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hello,

I had the same problem and I did what you said, remove the following directory:

c:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Universal\SAP\

Now it's working fine,

Thanks for your help,

Rewards,

CP

[Former Member]

hi Jonathan,

if you want to upgrade your NSP system to SP9 see first /thread/266221 [original link is broken] .

regards, Manfred

[former_member185932]

Manfred,

Thanks for your reply - I wish I'd known about this sooner and I wouldn't be in this mess! If I can figure out how to get Netweaver 2004s to install on my PC again I will be sure to give your bug fix a try.

Thanks again,

JB