Do we really need SolMan if we only have 1 SAP system? Need to find 'official' statement from SAP confirming

[Former Member]

Hi all

I need some clarification regarding Solution Manager and whether it's absolutely needed or not.

In this case, the customer will only have one SAP ECC system (NW 7 EHP 1). It's a copy of a specific set of data from a company they aquired and they will only need to access it occasionally for audit purposes.

In general, no changes will need to be made, but over time / due to support agreements etc then potentially it may need to be patched.

For the time being, I believe we can get away without Solution Manager. You don't need SolMan to install a standard SAP license (you can request through OSS and install via SLICENSE, right?).

What about Maintenance Certificates - when are those needed? For Support Package updates? Or for SAP upgrades? We won't be doing either in the short term, potentially in the future this may be required though.

Is it true that you need to use SolMan to install Maintenance Certificates? Or can you do it without?

I found a few forums etc that seem to suggest that you can do it without/that you don't need SolMan. Of course, I can't find this anywhere on SAP's official pages - as they REALLY want you to use SolMan!! It would be great if I could find something 'official' though from SAP that says 'you do not need SolMan' - anyone aware of whether that statement exists somewhere?!?

Is there any legal requirement until SAP's licensing to say that you absolutely have to have a SolMan system if they are to support you? We want to meet all the legal / license requirements but if we don't absolutely need to install SolMan then it would be preferable not to!

Thanks

Ross

[manish_singh13 · Accepted solution]

Hi Ross,

You need to update maintenance certificate only in case of applying any new add-on or sp. Normal system usage can be done without it. So yes you can use only 1 System without installing Solman.

Please go through below SAP Note also:

1533350 - Information on Maintenance Certificates and License Management Workcenter in Solution Mana...

Thanks,

MPS

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thanks Manish...

Looking through this note it says that Maintenance Certificates can be installed via two methods, one is via SolMan the other is without:

Manual (without using Solution Manager):

In this method you request the maintenance certificate via the License portal and receive it as a text file. Then using this text file via transaction SLICENSE you install the Maintenance certificate on the system. A detailed Procedure can be found here: Manual Implementation.

So we DON'T need SolMan to do add-ons/SPs as we can manually apply the certificate.

Is there any other reason/legal requirement we'd need SolMan?

[Sriram2009 · Accepted solution]

Hi Ross.

Refer the SAP Maintenance tools link.

Maintenance Tools: Maintenance Planner and Maintenance Optimizer - Solution Manager - SCN Wiki

Regards

SS

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

I had a look through that, and there's several people commenting about SAP forcing people to use SolMan etc... but it doesn't really answer any of my questions I'm afraid!

[manish_singh13 · Accepted solution]

Hi Ross,

I haven't heard about any legal requirement or Solman is mandatory.

Solman is used for Project Documentation, System Monitoring, New deployment, License management and similar other configs and YES it is mandatory if you have small to huge landscape for maintaining your systems properly (monitoring tools etc.).

But in your case, only one ECC system is getting installed and you won't be applying SPs or Add-Ons so I think you are good to go. I think you won't be needing help from SAP also (SAP Router config, Message creation for issues.).

If you still want confirmation then you can directly call at SAP Helpdesk number and they can update/confirm you.

Thanks,

MPS