Where Do Profiles Come From?

Definition

When an SAP instance is installed on a host using the SAP installation program R3INST , a start profile and an instance profile are automatically generated. If it is the first instance of an SAP System, the system also creates a default profile. Otherwise the existing default profile is simply updated.

The SAP installation program ascertains various profile settings. For example, appropriate buffer sizes, important data directories, and the name of the database host.

The profiles are placed in a global file directory so as to have access from every client in the system.

SAP start and stop utilities are also generated during the installation process. Your new installation may not require these utilities, depending on whether two or more instances share the same profile. If so, these redundant utilities can be removed. However, before you delete the utilities, complete the entire installation process and verify its operability.

In R/3 Releases 2.1x / 2.2x, the profiles were generated with the names: START_ and _ . From Release 3.0A, the profiles are generated with the names: START__ and __ . The ‘ startsap ’ script first looks for profiles that end with _ . If these profiles do not exist, the names from the Releases 2.1x / 2.2x are used.