Table of Contents
Welcome! This comprehensive guide will make you a SAP HANA pro by teaching you all key concepts from administration to application development.
We will take an in-depth look at SAP HANA‘s industry-leading capabilities backed by research, benchmarks and real-world examples.
Let‘s get started!
Why is SAP HANA a Game Changer?
Before diving into the technology, you need to understand why SAP HANA is revolutionizing business computing.
As per SAP benchmarks, SAP HANA delivers:
- Up to 300x faster analytics than legacy databases
- 20x better data compression reducing storage needs
- 100k complex queries per hour enabling real-time intelligence
This is enabled by…
SAP HANA‘s Unique In-Memory Architecture
SAP utilizes advanced dynamic parallelism, vectorization, multicore processors, and data compression algorithms to optimize in-memory data processing.
Key Advantages:
| ● Column-oriented data storage | Optimized for analytics vs row-based systems |
| ● Multiple compression types | Saves memory and bandwidth based on data patterns (dictionary, cluster etc.) |
| ● Parallel execution | Scales query execution across multiple cores |
This translates to jaw-dropping performance vs traditional databases!
Now that you know why SAP HANA is lightning fast, let‘s explore how you can deploy it.
Deployment and Sizing Options
SAP HANA can be deployed on-premise or on any major cloud platform:
On-Premise
- Certified HANA appliances with preconfigured hardware/software
- Flexible virtual machine installation
Cloud
- Managed HANA service on AWS, GCP, Azure etc.
- Automated provisioning, scaling, and high availability
Sizing depends on use case complexity. Typically for analytics, 64-128 GB RAM systems suffice for most needs.
You can start small and scale-out to multi-terabyte systems easily. Here is a sample sizing guideline:
| Use Case | Data Size | RAM | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prototyping | < 500 GB | 32 GB+ | 200 GB+ |
| Analytics Sandbox | < 2 TB | 128 GB+ | 500 GB+ |
| Enterprise Reporting | < 5 TB | 256 GB+ | 1+ TB |
| Strategic Workloads | 10+ TB | 1+ TB | 10+ TB |
With cloud options reducing start-up costs, you can readily experience benefits first-hand!
Next up, let‘s get into details of how SAP HANA stores your data…
SAP HANA Database Containers
SAP HANA logically separates data into isolated database containers for security and separation of concerns.
Types of database containers:
- Tenant Databases: Separate containers for each tenant in multi-tenant apps
- Workspaces: Containers for isolated development, QA, staging, production
- Store Database: Optional container for imported schemas
You can configure automated data movement across containers and systems enabling advanced use cases!
Now that you know data basics, let‘s deep dive into SAP HANA Studio.
Getting Started with SAP HANA Studio
Previously, we installed SAP HANA studio. Now, let‘s explore some key features…
Connecting to Systems
You can connect to multiple environments from your studio:
Configure each connection with:
- Host, Port, SSL options
- Authentication mechanisms (SAML, LDAP etc.)
- System database/tenant database
This enables working across systems.
Exploring the Interface
The studio provides an intuitive Eclipse-based interface for administration, modeling, development and more.
Some key panels:
Systems View – Registered systems
Security Console – Manage authorizations
Modeler – Data models
Catalog – Database explorer
SQL Console – Editor to write SQL
Multiple perspectives allow focusing on key tasks!
Now that you can navigate the tooling, let‘s dive deeper into security administration…
Managing Users, Privileges and Authorizations
As data assets grow, enhanced data security is a must. SAP HANA provides comprehensive user access controls.
Overview
Out-of-the-box security features include:
- Authentication: Validate user identity
- Authorization: Control access
- User management: Administer users
- Encryption: Protect data
You can layer enterprise mechanisms like LDAP atop core capabilities.
Managing Users
Administrators have full control over user lifecycle:
Key tasks
- Add/remove users
- Change passwords
- Configure password policies
- Enable multifactor authentication
- Integrate external identity providers
For example:
-- Add user
CREATE USER User1 PASSWORD Welcome1;
-- Enforce password expiry
ALTER USER User1 DISABLE PASSWORD LIFETIME;Controlling Privileges
Privileges authorize specific actions like creating tables. Manage through:
- Predefined roles with bundled privileges
- Assign users to roles
- Grant object privileges directly
For example:
-- Grant role
GRANT MODELER to User1;
-- Revoke table privilege
REVOKE INSERT ON Employees FROM User1; Follow principle of least privilege for tight security!
There are additional capabilities like row-level and column-level access control using analytic privileges and policies – great for GDPR compliance!
This covers the basics of hardened security with SAP HANA.
Now let‘s explore tips as you develop applications…
Development Best Practices
Leveraging SAP HANA‘s high performance requires adapting some best practices. We will focus on modeling and SQL scripting here.
Optimized Modeling
- Avoid JOINS between models and views. Use unions and aggregation
- Create master views for reuse, easy change propagation
- Reduce attribute views proliferation. Share them or use entity-attribute modeling
- Build models incrementally for quick results
- Create proxy models as facade for information hiding
- Use derived attributes to limit table exposure
This balances flexibility and performance.
Efficient SQL
- Limit SQL I/O with selective column fetches
- Use FILTERS judiciously to limit rows before joins
- Create BUFFERED indexes for commonly joined columns
- Parameterize queries for reused via input tables
- Avoid cursors, use set-based processing
- Freeze views post-testing to boost performance
Follow these guidelines for optimized applications!
Now that you know how to administer, develop and secure – let‘s explore analysis.
Unlocking Hidden Insights
With robust data infrastructure in place, SAP HANA powers next-gen analytics and decisions through features like:
Predictive Modeling
- R integration allows executing R code on HANA data
- Enables statistical predictive models using R packages
- Extensible using Python, L languages
Machine Learning
- Execute Python/L code natively
- Vectorization for ML model scoring
- Client integration options
Spatial Processing
- Analyze location data using geospatial functions
- Location intelligence applications
Series Data Processing
- Ingest sensor data streams
- Analyze and correlate time series
- Monitor events and anomalies
Graph Data Analysis
- Store connected data as graphs
- Analyze relationships / patterns
- Power network/process optimization
These demonstrate a glimpse of possibilities with HANA!
Now to wrap up…
Key Takeaways
In this extensive SAP HANA tour, we went from basics to advanced concepts across administration, development, analytics and applications.
Let‘s recap major points:
- SAP HANA enables real-time intelligence on transactions via in-memory speed
- Flexible database modeling and administration options
- Feature-rich PAL stack for managing plus analyzing data
- Tight integration with predictive models and custom apps
SAP HANA frees you to experiment and build intelligent solutions rapidly by eliminating data bottlenecks.
I hope you enjoyed these actionable insights on making the most from this revolutionary platform!