2582827 - sp_rename fails during SAP upgrade due to table replication

You are upgrading an SAP system running on MS SQL Server and the upgrade fails in phase MAIN_SWITCH/EU_SWITCH with the following error:

4 EPU201XBEGIN OF SECTION BEING ANALYZED LASTOFFSET 568 NOW BEGIN OF EU_SWITCH ================
1 ETQ000 ==================================================
1 ETQ399 Executing SQL script '..\var\RENAME_T_TOLD01.TQL'.
2 ETQ399 Connecting to database 'mss'.
4 ETQ010 Date & Time: 20171223052857
3 ETQ398 SQL: sp_rename '[<sid>].[<TABLE_NAME>]', '<TABLE_NAME>~~OLD'
4 ETQ010 Date & Time: 20171223052857
1EETQ008 Error message: DBSL error 103 (db code 2812):
1EETQ009XCould not find stored procedure 'sap_rename'.
1EETQ003 exit code: "20"
4 ETQ399 Rollback.
4 EPU202XEND OF SECTION BEING ANALYZED END OF EU_SWITCH ====================================================

If you query sys.objects, you can find the original table '<TABLE_NAME>' in the correct schema <sid>. The table renamed table '<TABLE_NAME>~~OLD' does not exist.

If you try to run manually the procedure in SQL Server Management Studio:

sp_rename '[<sid>].[<TABLE_NAME>]', '<TABLE_NAME>~~OLD'

You get the following error:

Msg 15051, Level 11, State 1, Procedure sp_rename, Line 343
Cannot rename the table because it is published for replication.

• SAP Systems based on SAP NetWeaver;
• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and higher;

UPGRADATION, upgrade, upgrading, fails, failing, failed , KBA , BC-DB-MSS-UPG , SQL Server Upgrades in SAP NetWeaver Products , BC-UPG-TLS-TLA , Upgrade tools for ABAP , BC-UPG-RDM , README: Upgrade Supplements , Problem