Which version of NetWeaver am I running?

I’ve seen this question asked a few times, so I thought I’d try put together a basic step-by-step guide on how to check which version of NetWeaver you’re running.

Performing this check on an ABAP system and a Java system is obviously very different. In an ABAP system, you will look for the version information within SAPGUI. However, a Java system provides a web interface for all administrative functions.

Using SAPGUI to check the version of NetWeaver (ABAP Application Server)

1. Log on to the system using SAPGUI
2. On the main menu, choose System > Status…
3. In the “System: Status” dialog that opens you’ll see a section in the middle-right called “SAP System data”. Click the icon next to “Component version” to show details of all the components installed on your system
4. The component you need to look for is called “SAP_BASIS” and is usually at the top of the list.

Release is used to identify the major release of NetWeaver, and Level is used to identify the support pack installed. The list below illustrates how to interpret the values in these fields:

Using a web browser to check the version of NetWeaver (Java Application Server)

Before you start: To access the URL below, you will need administrator privileges on the SAP system in question.

1. Using your web browser, go to the following URL – http://<hostname>:<portnumber>/sap/monitoring/SystemInfo
   Be sure you replace your hostname and port number with the correct values. The port number (if unchanged from the default) will be 5XX00, where XX is the SAP system number.
2. Look for the section called Software Components. This will list the main components used to determine which version you’re running. You’ll most likely see entries for “sap.com/SERVERCORE” and “sap.com/J2EE-FRMW”, and their associated versions. You can click on the All Components link if you want to see more details.

In the Version field, you’re likely to see something like this “7.11 SP1 (1000.7.11.1.0.20081122210100)”. The key info here is quite clearly the first part, where it has identified the version as NetWeaver 7.1 with Enhancement Package 1 and Support Pack 1.

In case it hasn’t already become obvious, the last number in the Release / Version identifies the Enhancement Package – e.g.
701 = 7.0 Enhancement Package 1
711 = 7.1 Enhancement Package 1

I’ve mentioned the term Enhancement Package in the list above, which is still quite foreign to most SAP users – largely due to the fact that the majority of SAP installations are not yet up to NetWeaver 7.0, which is the minimum version required to support this feature. I found the following article which explains what Enhancement Packages are, and would strongly recommend that this be added to your list of “must read” articles: http://saplab.org/2011/01/must-know-about-enhancement-packages/

There is a lot of content available on the Enhancement Framework and the Switch Framework, which are both available since NetWeaver 7.0. These are both important for the technical team to understand before migrating to NetWeaver 7.0. If you’re an ABAP developer… this is perhaps the most key new feature that you need to understand! It’s a very simple concept, but also very important to ABAP development (unless you’re only writing very basic programs) and equally important when implementing Industry Solutions, as these are all built using the Enhancement Framework and activated using the Switch Framework. If time allows, which it seldom does these days, I will try post more information on these two topics in the future.

I hope this has helped you find the information you were looking for. And as usual… if you notice anything above that looks incorrect, please let me know so I can correct it.