Let’s take a minute to look at the Linux versions currently supported by SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise. SAP supports both Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), SUSE Linux Enterprise (SLES), and Oracle Linux, but the exact version depends on the version of SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise.
The SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence BI 4.2 SP7 – Supported Platforms guide indicates support for the following Linux editions:
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12
Oracle Linux 7.2 (as of SP04+)
Oracle Linux 7.5 (as of SP07+)
The SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence BI 4.1 SP6 – Supported Platforms guide indicates support for the following Linux editions:
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Update 3
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Update 2
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11
End of Mainstream Maintenance: 12/31/2018
End of Priority One Support Phase: 12/31/2020
The SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence BI 4.0 SP7 – Supported Platforms guide indicates support for the following Linux editions:
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Update 2
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Update 2
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP2
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11
End of Mainstream Maintenance: 12/31/2015
End of Priority One Support Phase: 12/31/2017
The SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.1 SP6 for Linux – Supported Platforms guide indicates support for the following Linux editions:
Red Hat Linux Enterprise Server 4
Red Hat Linux Advanced Server 4
Red Hat Linux Enterprise Server 5
Red Hat Linux Enterprise Advanced Platform Server 5
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 SP3
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP2
End of Mainstream Maintenance: 12/31/2015
End of Priority One Support Phase: 12/31/2018
The SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI R2 SP6 for Linux – Supported Platforms guide indicates support for the following Linux editions:
Red Hat 4.0 Advanced Server
Red Hat 4.0 Enterprise Server
SUSE Linux 9.0 Enterprise Server
IMPORTANT: Be sure to read the footnotes in SAP’s Product Availability Matrix, as you must insure the support pack of Linux is supported by the desired support pack of SAP BusinessObjects.
Higher patches beyond the specified minimum patch requirement may be used, but they may not be officially tested by SAP.
Next, let’s look at free versions of Linux. These Linux distributions aren’t supported by SAP as production platforms! However, they are perfectly suited to determining if Linux is a good fit for your business intelligence system architecture. CentOS is an “Enterprise-class Linux Distribution derived from sources freely provided to the public by a prominent North American Enterprise Linux vendor”. That vendor is Red Hat. On the SUSE front, Novell offers openSUSE.
Although I’ve installed XI R2 on Linux for customers multiple times, I did not until recently install XI 3.1.
Updates
- January 14, 2020 – added SAP BI 4.2.
- July 22, 2015 – updated BI 4.1 to SP6. Note that earlier versions, including BI 4.0, will no longer be supported at end of 2015
- August 28, 2013 – added BI 4.0 SP7 and BI 4.1 SP1
- July 25, 2013 – updated XI 3.1 supported platforms for SP6 and added BI 4.0 SP6 supported platforms
