Introduction

As announced in SAP BusinessObjects addendum to Statement of Direction on Feb 2021 (and the June 2022 update), SAP Crystal Reports 2020 services are no longer supported on Linux and Unix operating systems from version BI 4.3 SP2 on (Q4 2021), to remove dependency of a 3rd party component that simulates Windows API on Linux and Unix.

SAP Crystal Reports 2020 reports are still fully supported, by distributing SAP Crystal Reports 2020 (CR 2020) services in SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) platform to a Windows server.

Such distributed deployment could also be used with BI 4.3 and BI 4.2:

• to add more Crystal Reports processing power, by adding a Windows server
• avoid Linux or Unix specific issues

Below are the detailed steps to:

1. perform an ‘Expand’ install (using BI 4.3 SP01 as example)
2. check the newly installed Windows CR2020 services

Install steps:

1. Download and run BI platform installer, on a clean Windows server
2. Choose installation folder (could use default)
3. Select “Custom/Expand” install type
   • 
4. In Select Features dialog, only select following CR 2020 related features:
   • Servers / SAP Crystal Reports Services / SAP Crystal Reports 2020 Processing Services
   • Servers / SAP Crystal Reports Services / SAP Crystal Reports 2020 Scheduling Services
   • Integration Server / BW Publisher Server
   • Database Access
   • Samples
   • 
5. Read information on the ‘Expand Installation’ dialog, click Next
6. Provide a SIA (Server Intelligence Agent) name (could use default)
   • 
7. Enter existing CMS name / port / logon information
   • 
   • Note: if your existing CMS has Corba SSL enabled, you may want to disable it during install. Otherwise the installer may have difficulty connect to your existing CMS. See SAPNote 2634052 for steps to enable / disable Corba SSL.
8. Select Automatic Server Start (could use default)
9. Finish the install

After install:

1. Perform necessary database configurations on this Windows server, e.g.
   • install database drivers from vendor,
   • configure ODBC DSN (with same name)
2. Login to CMC (Central Management Console), check the newly added CR2020 services are there and running on Windows (like screenshot below).
3. To prove newly installed CR2020 services are working, stop other CR2020 servers (e.g. on Linux/Unix).
4. Check if your CR2020 reports could still view and schedule (now processed on your Windows server).

Check server status in CMC

Note: In our setup, AdaptiveProcessingServer on Windows is not required, and can be stopped (like above).

Conclusion

With above steps, now you should be able to quickly distribute SAP Crystal Reports 2020 services in BI platform, to a Windows server.

Don’t hesitate to comment, or share your experience / suggestion below.

For more details, see:

• “Custom (Expand) installation” chapter in “BI platform Installation Guide for Windows”
• “Server Administration” chapter in “BI platform Administrator Guide“
• BI platform landing page on SAP Help Portal