missing sles-release !!!

Esteemed List, I installed production copy of SLES9 on x86 and x86_64 machines selecting 'Full installation" but the sles-release rpm which creates /etc/issue and /etc/SuSE-release files is missing on both the systems (tried with autoyast and manual installation). Even the "Detailed selection" does not have any option to select this package. Could anyone pls. suggest if I am doing anything wrong anywhere OR post-installation is the only way to install this package. Thanks, Ajay