A

TY (CSE) SEMINAR REPORT

ON

SAP HANA

Submitted by

Yogesh Parmar

PRN : 1921321242031

Under Guidance of

Ms. Saroj S Date

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Jawaharlal Nehru Engineering College, Aurangabad
(Affiliated to Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University,
Lonere)
( Year 2021-22 )

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 Jawaharlal Nehru Engineering College, Aurangabad

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Yogesh Parmar of TY (Computer Science and Engineering), Roll
No. 1921321242031 , has successfully completed seminar on

under the guidance of Ms. Saroj S Date and submitted the same during the academic
year 2021-2022 towards the partial fulfillment of degree of BTech (Computer Science
and Engineering) from Jawaharlal Nehru Engineering College, Aurangabad (An
institute affiliated to Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University, Aurangabad,
MS, India).

Ms. Saroj S Date Dr. Vijaya B. Musande

Seminar Guide Head of CSE Department

Date:

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 Acknowledgement

Yogesh Parmar
-------------------------------------
1921321242031
-------------------------------------

( Name of the student with Roll No. and Signature )

Contents Page

1. INTRODUCTION 5
1.1 Features of SAP HANA 5
1.2 Need for SAP HANA 5
1.3 SAP HANA Vendors 6
1.4 SAP HANA Installation 6

2. SAP HANA – IN-MEMORY COMPUTING ENGINE 7

2.1 Features ofIn-Memory Database 7
2.2 Advantages ofIn-Memory Database 8

3. SAP HANA – STUDIO 8

3.1 SAP HANA Studio Perspectives/Features 8
3.2 Sap Hana Studio Administration 9
3.3 SAP HANA Studio Database Development 9
3.4 SAP HANAStudio Application Development 9

4. SAP HANA – MODELING 10

4.1 Types of Attribute 10
4.2 Types of Measure 11
4.3 Types of Modeling Objects 11
4.4 Privileges Required for Modelling 12

5. SAP HANA – REPORTING 13

5.1 Introduction to SAP HANA Reporting 13
5.2 Connecting to the Reporting Sources 13
5.3 Layers in Reporting Framework 14

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6. SAP HANA – SECURITY 16
6.1 Need for Security
16
6.2 Core Features of SAP HANA Security 16
6.3 Risks in SAP HANA 17

7. SAP HANA - USER ADMINISTRATION 18

7.1 Types of SAP HANA Users 18
7.2 Activities of User Administrator 19
7.3 User Administration Tools 19

8. SAP HANA – INFORMATION MODELER 21

8.1 Features ofInformation Modeler 21
8.2 Row vs Column Store 21
8.3 FunctionalDifference: Row vs Column Store 23
8.4 Information Modeling Views 23

9. SAP HANA – CORE ARCHITECTURE 26

9.1 Index Server 26
9.2 Index Server: Architecture 27

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1. INTRODUCTION

SAP HANA is a combination of HANA Database, Data Modeling, HANA Administration and
Data Provisioning in one single suite. In SAP HANA, HANA stands for High-Performance
Analytic Appliance. According to former SAP executive, Dr. Vishal Sikka, HANA stands for
Hasso’s New Architecture. HANA developed interest by mid-2011 and various fortune 500
companies started considering it as an option to maintain Business Warehouse needs after that.

1.1 Features of SAP HANA

The main features of SAP HANA are given below:

 SAP HANA is a combination of software and hardware innovation to process huge amount of
real time data.

 Based on multi core architecture in distributed system environment.

 Based on row and column type of data-storage in database.

 Used extensively in Memory Computing Engine (IMCE) to process and analyze massive
amount of real time data.

 It reduces cost of ownership, increases application performance, enables new applications to

run on real time environment that were not possible before.

 It is written in C++, supports and runs on only one Operating System Suse Linux Enterprise
Server 11 SP1/2.

1.2 Need for SAP HANA

Today, most successful companies respond quickly to market changes and new opportunities. A
key to this is the effective and efficient use of data and information by analyst and managers.

HANA overcomes the limitations mentioned below:

 Due to increase in “Data Volume”, it is a challenge for the companies to provide access to real
time data for analysis and business use.

 It involves high maintenance cost for IT companies to store and maintain large data volumes.

 Due to unavailability of real time data, analysis and processing results are delayed.

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1.3 SAP HANA Vendors

SAP has partnered with leading IT hardware vendors like IBM, Dell, Cisco etc. and combined it
with SAP licensed services and technology to sell SAP HANA platform.
There are, total, 11 vendors that manufacture HANA Appliances and provide onsite support for
installation and configuration of HANA system.

Top few Vendors include:

 IBM
 Dell
 HP
 Cisco
 Fujitsu
 Lenovo (China)
 NEC
 Huawei

According to statistics provided by SAP, IBM is one of major vendor of SAP HANA hardware
appliances and has a market share of 50-52% but according to another market survey conducted
by HANA clients, IBM has a market hold up to 70%.

1.4 SAP HANA Installation

HANA Hardware vendors provide preconfigured appliances for hardware, Operating System and
SAP software product.

Vendor finalizes the installation by an onsite setup and configuration of HANA components.
This onsite visit includes deployment of HANA system in Data Center, Connectivity to
Organization Network, SAP system ID adaption, updates from Solution Manager, SAP Router
Connectivity, SSL Enablement and other system configuration.

Customer/Client starts with connectivity of Data Source system and BI clients. HANA Studio
Installation is completed on local system and HANA system is added to perform Data modeling
and administration.

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2. SAP HANA – IN-MEMORY COMPUTING ENGINE

An In-Memory database means all the data from source system is stored in a RAM memory. In a
conventional Database system, all data is stored in hard disk. SAP HANA In-Memory Database
wastes no time in loading the data from hard disk to RAM. It provides faster access of data to
multicore CPUs for information processing and analysis.

2.1 Features of In-Memory Database

The main features of SAP HANA in-memory database are:

 SAP HANA is Hybrid In-memory database.

 It combines row based, column based and Object Oriented base technology.

 It uses parallel processing with multicore CPU Architecture.

 Conventional Database reads memory data in 5 milliseconds. SAP HANA In-Memory database
reads data in 5 nanoseconds.

It means, memory reads in HANA database are 1 million times faster than a conventional
database hard disk memory reads.

Figure: SAP HANA In-Memory Database

Analysts want to see current data immediately in real time and do not want to wait for data until
it is loaded to SAP BW system. SAP HANA In-Memory processing allows loading of real time
data with use of various data provisioning techniques.

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2.2 Advantages of In-Memory Database
 HANA database takes advantage of in-memory processing to deliver the fastest dataretrieval
speeds, which is enticing to companies struggling with high-scale online transactions or timely
forecasting and planning.
 Disk-based storage is still the enterprise standard and price of RAM has been declining
steadily, so memory-intensive architectures will eventually replace slow, mechanical spinning
disks and will lower the cost of data storage.
 In-Memory Column-based storage provides data compression up to 11 times, thus, reducing
the storage space of huge data.
 This speed advantages offered by RAM storage system are further enhanced by the use of
multi-core CPUs, multiple CPUs per node and multiple nodes per server in a distributed
environment.

3. SAP HANA – STUDIO

SAP HANA studio is an Eclipse-based tool. SAP HANA studio is both, the central development
environment and the main administration tool for HANA system. Additional features are:

 It is a client tool, which can be used to access local or remote HANA system.

 It provides an environment for HANA Administration, HANA Information Modeling and Data
Provisioning in HANA database.

SAP HANA Studio can be used on following platforms:

 Microsoft Windows 32 and 64 bit versions of: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7

 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server SLES11: x86 64 bit

 Mac OS, HANA studio client is not available Depending on HANA Studio installation, not all
features may be available.

At the time of Studio installation, specify the features you want to install as per the role. To work
on most recent version of HANA studio, Software Life Cycle Manager can be used for client
update.

3.1 SAP HANA Studio Perspectives/Features

SAP HANA Studio provides perspectives to work on the following HANA features. You can
choose Perspective in HANA Studio from the following option:

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HANA Studio-> Window-> Open Perspective->Other

3.2 SAP HANA Studio Administration

Toolset for various administration tasks, excluding transportable design-time repository objects.
General troubleshooting tools like tracing, the catalog browser and SQL Console are also
included.

3.3 SAP HANA Studio Database Development

It provides Toolset for content development. It addresses, in particular, the DataMarts and ABAP
on SAP HANA scenarios, which do not include SAP HANA native application development
(XS).

3.4 SAP HANAStudio Application Development

SAP HANA system contains a small Web server, which can be used to host small applications. It
provides Toolset for developing SAP HANA native applications like application code written in
Java and HTML. By default, all features are installed.

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4. SAP HANA – MODELING

Modeling in SAP HANA showcases data from the databases as a business logic or a model. We
can create a data model or a view with this business logic, which we can use in reporting and
analytical application such as SAP Lumira, Webi, SBEE, MS Excel etc. We can make this kind
of business models by processing, integrating and transforming raw data from data sources.

That is, raw data taken from data sources is converted into business utilizable data by applying
business logic on it. SAP HANA modeling is performed via the SAP HANA Studio Modeler
(which is an interface) and is applied directly on the database layer (in-memory).

Thus, readymade logics from the database layer of SAP HANA are used on the application layer
without transforming data in multiple layers or stages. This saves a lot of system’s time and
resources, as raw data is not needed to be transferred between the database and application layer
and data models, are created on the fly.

We can create modeling tools in the modeler, in which a data will process from the database
according to blueprint offered by the data model. The models create on the HANA database level
utilize the processing potentials of multi-core CPUs and parallel processing technologies, which
we can execute by the dedicated engines in SAP HANA.

We can create a SAP HANA data model in the modeler perspective of the SAP HANA Studio.
You can access the database and tables as the schemas present under the Catalog tab. Once you
have created a business model having a combination of information views in it, you can access
the entire list of views as a package in the Content tab present in the system view section of the
Studio.

These SAP HANA information model views reside under a package name as categories based on
view types. Also, within a view, the data tables are structured differently as dimension tables and
fact tables (containing primary keys).

4.1 Types of Attribute

Attributes, as the name suggests, is the descriptive or contextual data which provides information
on the data being used in tables. Thus, the attributes are the characteristics of data such as
Country, Store, Sales ID, Customer Name, etc. Attributes are the non-measurable data types and
cannot be used in calculations.

There are three types of attributes in SAP HANA Modeling.

 Simple Attributes- We can derive it from the data source.

 Calculated Attributes – It is created from existing attributes at the source. Such a full
name created from two attributes, i.e. first name and last name.

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  Local Attributes – The local or private attributes are used in modeling data in analytical
or calculation views. Such attributes can be taken as a private attribute in an analytical
view and can only be used in that view or model.

4.2 Types of Measure

Measures are the data entries, which are calculable as well as measurable. The views that use
measures can be utilized for analytical purposes. The data as a measure can be used as Sales
Amount, Product Quantity, Profit percentage, etc.

There are four types of measures in SAP HANA Modeling as explained below.

 Simple Measure- We can take these measures as it is from the source table.

 Calculated Measure- It is created from a combination of two measures taken from OLAP
cubes, arithmetic operators, constants, functions, etc. For instance, a calculated measure
would be, Profit obtained from subtracting two measures Sales price – Cost price.

 Restricted Measure- These are the filtered measure values based on a condition put on an
attribute. For instance, showing the measure values for only the gross revenue on a
particular car in USA (attribute).

 Counter- It is a type of column within an analytical or calculation view, which shows the
count or number of attribute columns.

4.3 Types of Modeling Objects

Following are the 4 types of SAP HANA Modeling Objects, let’s discuss them one by one:

 Attribute View SAP HANA

Attribute view uses attributes, or the non-measurable, non-quantifiable data to design

views and models according to the business logic. The data in attribute view also call as
‘Master data’ and we can use it as a piece of reference information in other views
(analytic and calculation). The tables in attribute view do not contain any facts or
measure.

That is entries like sales amount, transaction amount, quantity sold, profit incurred etc.
We can analyze all these measures by different characteristics such as year, quarter,
month, vendors, sales departments, product groups etc. These characteristics also call as
dimensions.

 Analytic View In the SAP HANA

Analytic view, you can create star schemas, having a central transaction or fact table and
multiple dimension tables linked to it via primary keys. We can join or group the

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 measures, which contain in only the central transaction table with multiple dimension
tables as per the logic’s requirement. An analytic view is the next layer or level of a
model after the attribute view.

 Calculation View SAP HANA

Calculation view is a more complex model using both attribute and analytic view
elements in it to make a complete business logic. Thus, it is the next level of SAP HANA
modeling for more advanced transformations and logic.

In order to perform complex operations such as combining two data sets into one, we
need to use the calculation view. As we inform about analytic view can measure only a
transaction table.

So, if we have transaction data from two tables, say, Sales and Finance, and we wish to
combine both in one data set, we can only do it in the calculation view.

 Decision Table

We can use Decision table for business planning and decision-making purposes. With the
help of these tables, we can analyze business scenarios and situations. It answers a lot of
if and else conditional queries, which helps in decision making by the enterprise. We can
use to carry out such an if-else situational analysis using a graphical interface.

4.4 Privileges Required for Modelling

We can use these 3 types of SAP HANA Modeling privileges, which are offering permission to a
user for secure access contents from the database.

 Object Privileges

Such privileges are the read/write privileges given for SQL used to access a database.
The object privileges are:

o ELECT privilege on _SYS_BI Schema.

o SELECT privilege on _SYS_BIC Schema.
o EXECUTE privilege on REPOSITORY_REST (SYS).
o SELECT privilege on Table Schema.

 Package Privileges

We can use package privileges to authorize an action to perform on packages.

It is necessary for the data modeling:

o REPO.MAINTAIN_NATIVE_PACKAGES (a privilege on Root Package).

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 o REPO.READ, REPO.EDIT_NATIVE_OBJECTS &
REPO.ACTIVATE_NATIVE_OBJECTS (on package used for Content Objects).

 Analytic Privileges

We can use analytic privilege, to access the SAP HANA information view. If you want to
get full data access to use in all the information view types, select the privilege
“_SYS_BI_CP_ALL”.

5. SAP HANA – REPORTING

5.1 Introduction to SAP HANA – REPORTING

SAP HANA is an efficient in-memory database technology which provides its users with
platforms to model and design data as per their business requirements.

As an extension to the data extraction and modeling capabilities, SAP HANA reporting tools
serve as an essential platform to present the information in proper ways.

The reports created by the reporting tools using processed data from SAP HANA are used by
business analysts, business managers, sales managers, and senior managers.

The report enables the people in authority to draw meaningful insights and identify market trends
to make strategies and bolster their business in the present as well as for the future.

SAP HANA enables different kinds of reporting tools such as SAP Lumira, Design Studio,
Analysis Office, Crystal Reports, Dashboards, Explorer, Web intelligence and even third-
party apps like MS Excel. Users can use both historical as well as real-time data to create
reports.

5.2 Connecting to the Reporting Sources

SAP HANA users or the users at the reporting end of the setup can establish a connection to the
other end in two ways:

 First is the direct way where reporting tools can connect directly to the SAP HANA
database. This direct connection is an OLAP type connection. The tools which connect
directly to the SAP HANA system are Design Studio, SAP Lumira, Business Explorer,
Analysis of MS Office, Crystal Reports, etc.

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  The second way is an indirect way of connection. It is a relational connection that
establishes by creating a universe using the Information Design Tool (IDT). The tools
using this method of connection to connect to the SAP HANA database are Web
intelligence tools, SAP Dashboards, Crystal reports for the enterprise.

5.3 Layers in Reporting Framework

The reporting framework is easy to understand when we divide it into three primary layers:

 Interaction languages
 Connecting drivers
 Reporting tools

At the base of these three layers is the core SAP HANA system database. From there, users can
fetch data to use it in the reporting tools. Let us learn about reporting architecture by
understanding each layer in detail.

 Interaction Languages

This layer consists of all the query languages which are used in querying database tables
and objects from the reporting tools during report execution. The languages used for this
purpose in SAP HANA reporting are MDX, SQL, and SQL ODBC.

o MDX: MDX language is used to access multi-dimensional data objects instead of

relational objects from the SAP HANA database. MDX stands for
MultiDimensional Expressions. This language is used to query data from MS
Excel in SAP HANA reporting. It is the only language that enables hierarchy
accessing from SAP HANA system.

o SQL: SQL is a standard database language for accessing data from all kinds of
platforms. In SAP HANA reporting, all the reporting tools, which connect data
through ODBC and JDBC connections use SQL as the query language.

o SQL ODBC: The SQL ODBC connection accesses data from the reporting tools
that connect to the SAP HANA system using a BICS connection. BICS stands for
Business Intelligence Consumer Services.

 Connecting Drivers

The connecting drivers act as a mediator between the SAP HANA database layer and the
reporting tools. The drivers transport the language queries from the reporting tool to the
database and take back the data.

Every reporting tool connects to the database through a specific connecting driver. SAP
HANA uses four main types of drivers as discussed below:

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 o ODBO (OLE DB for OLAP): The ODBO driver is a driver by Microsoft for
connecting MS Excel to the SAP HANA database. This driver is specifically for
multi-dimensional reporting (multi-dimensional data stores), and it communicates
through MDX language.

o ODBC: The ODBC driver establishes relational database connections between

reporting tools and SAP HANA database. Reporting tools like CR Report and
Universe layer (IDE) use ODBC driver that communicates via SQL. ODBC
stands for Open DataBase Connectivity.

o JDBC: JDBC stands for Java DataBase Connectivity. JDBC driver is a Java-based
connection service. We also use it for relational reporting by tools like Explorer,
UNIX using IDT, CR Report. JDBC drivers communicate with the database
through SQL queries.

o BICS: The BICS driver is SAP propriety connecting driver, which is used by
those reporting tools that use SQLDB language as the interaction language with
SAP database.

 Reporting Tools

The topmost layer is the layer of reporting tools. It is the SAP Business Objects BI
(4.0/4.2/4.3) reporting platform which serves several reporting applications. The business
users analyze data and create reports to generate meaningful insights using these
applications.

The SAP BO platform consists of reporting applications such as SAP Lumira, Web
Intelligence, SAP BO Explorer, SAP BO Dashboards, Crystal Reports, and SAP BO
Universe.

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6. SAP HANA – SECURITY

After completing the basics of SAP HANA technology to a modest extent, let us gain some
knowledge on SAP HANA security aspects. For any technology, security is the topmost concern
for all users and with this introductory tutorial on SAP HANA security, you will understand the
concept of security in SAP HANA thoroughly.

6.1 Need for Security

SAP HANA is a popular SAP tool and has a widespread user base. SAP HANA plays a vital role
in business processes of all the enterprises it is a part of and thus, is more prone to security
threats due to its widespread use and high availability to users.

The data hosted in SAP HANA systems are prone to multiple risks related to espionage and
sabotage. SAP HANA becomes a target for espionage and hacking as it holds business-critical
data.

Also, it is central to crucial business processes, making it a data sabotage target posing serious
security threats to the SAP HANA database.

Such security threat calls for a robust security system for SAP HANA. We can use SAP HANA
in different ways; as a data mart, as a standard SQL-based relational database for OLAP and
OLTP applications, as an application platform (SAP HANA extended application services/ SAP
HANA XS).

In addition to this, the SAP HANA system serves as a Multitenant Database Container (MDC) as
it provides a single SAP HANA environment and resources to multiple isolated databases.

All the isolated databases share the same HANA database system software, system
administration, and computing resources. The SAP HANA security framework makes sure to
provide the best security provisions to the SAP HANA system used in any of the above-
mentioned ways by the users.

6.2 Core Features of SAP HANA Security

 User and Role Management

 Authorization
 Authentication
 Encryption of data in Persistence Layer
 Encryption of data in Network Layer Single sign-on
 Transport/data encryption
 Audit logging
 Secure configuration and encryption
 Communication channel encryption
 Secure development

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 6.3 Risks in SAP HANA

A robust security framework protects a system from some potential threats and risks. The
same holds true for SAP HANA. These are some key risks to SAP HANA system against
which the security functionalities are implemented:

 Web Applications
In a lot of SAP HANA scenarios, users use web browsers to access applications deployed
on SAP HANA system. Thus, a lot of SAP HANA systems are easily available on the
internet which makes them prone to hacking.

Also, unauthorized access is possible through web applications where hackers can
interfere with HANA services. In addition to this, risks on SAP HANA includes several
web weaknesses such as XSS, SQL injection, ABAP code injection, etc. which makes
intruding into the system easy for the hackers.

 RAM Scraping

In RAM scraping security threat, the malware or virus runs on the in-memory along with
the normal processes of SAP HANA. This makes detecting the malware very difficult as
the malware also disappears as soon as the in-memory processes terminate and leaves no
footprint.

RAM scraping poses as the most dangerous threat to SAP HANA as it uses in-memory
virus vectors because SAP HANA is also an in-memory technology. You can also not
encrypt the HANA in-memory processes on the RAM level as it would degrade the
performance of the system.

 Basis Security

In most scenarios, SAP HANA runs parallelly to other systems in a system landscape
which increases the overall complexity.

The entire system landscape becomes more prone to security failures and glitches as
multiple security processes and functions related to SAP HANA are also involved in the
system environment.

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7. SAP HANA - USER ADMINISTRATION

In SAP HANA, user accounts are created having their unique username and password with a
specific set of privileges assigned to them in the form of roles.

One can only use SAP HANA capabilities and database if they have a user profile created in
HANA Studio. The Administrators administer these users using different kinds of tools.

7.1 Types of SAP HANA Users

Based on the difference in security policies and purpose of usage, SAP HANA users broadly
classify into two categories; Technical (DBA) user and Database user.

 Technical (DBA) User

The technical users are the ones that perform database administration tasks in SAP
HANA system. They are not the general users using HANA tools for accessing and
transforming data from the HANA database rather, they manage all the other users.

Some typical tasks performed by technical users are creating database objects, assigning
privileges to database users, assigning privileges on packages and applications.
SYSTEM, SYS, and _SYS_REPO are the names of technical users that are present in the
SAP HANA system by default.

 Database User

The database users are the actual users that interact with the SAP HANA database to
access and use data from it for several management and analytical purposes. Thus, it is
compulsory for every HANA user to have a database user profile.

You can create database users by either SAP HANA Studio GUI method or by SQL
commands. The SQL statement for creating a database user is CREATE USER (for
standard user) and CREATE RESTRICTED USER (for restricted user).

 Standard Database User

The standard users are those who can create database objects in the schemas owned by
them and have read access for system views.

The read access is granted as a part of the PUBLIC role assigned to all standard users in
SAP HANA system. The standard users are created using CREATE USER SQL
statement.

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  Restricted Database User

The restricted database user type is the user who provisions other users using SAP
HANA through client applications. Initially, restricted users are given no privileges and
have limited SQL access via SQL console.

A restricted user is assigned application-specific roles which grant it only those privileges
which are required for their work and are specific to their purpose.

Apart from this, there are some limitations on restricted database users:

o Cannot create objects in their database schema as they are not authorized.

o Cannot read or view data in the database because they are not granted PUBLIC
role.

o Can only connect to HANA database using HTTP/HTTPS.

o To connect via ODBC/JDBC client, users need predefined roles such as

RESTRICTED_USER_ODBC_ACCESS or
RESTRICTED_USER_JDBC_ACCES.

7.2 Activities of User Administrator

Using different administration tools, an administrator can perform the following activities to
manage the users in SAP HANA:
 Creating a new user
 Deleting an existing user
 Grant role to user
 Define and create a new Role
 Resetting user passwords
 Reactivating users (after failed login attempts)
 Deactivating users (when required)

7.3 User Administration Tools

Some common user administration tools available for SAP HANA user administration are:

 Developer Workbench of SAP HANA Studio: For role designing and creation,
Application development.

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 Editor tool of SAP HANA Development Workbench (web-based): For role designing
and creation, Application development.

 User section in SAP HANA Cockpit: User and system administration

 User editor of SAP HANA Studio: User and system administration

 Security tool of SAP HANA Development Workbench (web-based): User and system
administration

 SAP HANA HDBSQL: User and system administration

 Assign Roles section of SAP HANA Cockpit: User and system administration

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8. SAP HANA – INFORMATION MODELER

SAP HANA Information Modeler; also known as HANA Data Modeler is heart of HANA
System. It enables to create modeling views at the top of database tables and implement
business logic to create a meaningful report for analysis.

8.1 Features of Information Modeler

 Provides multiple views of transactional data stored in physical tables of HANA database
for analysis and business logic purpose.

 Informational modeler only works for column based storage tables.

 Information Modeling Views are consumed by Java or HTML based applications or SAP
tools like SAP Lumira or Analysis Office for reporting purpose.

 Also possible to use third party tools like MS Excel to connect to HANA and create
reports.

 SAP HANA Modeling Views exploit real power of SAP HANA.

There are three types of Information Views, defined as:

 Attribute View
 Analytic View
 Calculation View

8.2 Row vs Column Store

SAP HANA Modeler Views can only be created on the top of Column based tables. Storing
data in Column tables is not a new thing. Earlier it was assumed that storing data in
Columnar based structure takes more memory size and not performance Optimized.

With evolution of SAP HANA, HANA used column based data storage in Information views
and presented the real benefits of columnar tables over Row based tables.

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  Column Store

In a Column store table, Data is stored vertically. So, similar data types come together
as shown in the example above. It provides faster memory read and write operations
with help of In-Memory Computing Engine.

In a conventional database, data is stored in Row based structure i.e. horizontally.

SAP HANA stores data in both row and Column based structure. This provides
Performance optimization, flexibility and data compression in HANA database.
Storing Data in Columnar based table has following benefits:
 Data Compression
 Faster read and write access to tables as compared to conventional Row based storage
 Flexibility & parallel processing
 Perform Aggregations and Calculations at higher speed
There are various methods and algorithms how data can be stored in Column based structure-
Dictionary Compressed, Run Length Compressed and many more.
In Dictionary Compressed, cells are stored in form of numbers in tables and numeral cells are
always performance optimized as compared to characters.
In Run length compressed, it saves the multiplier with cell value in numerical format and
multiplier shows repetitive value in table

Column Store: Types of Column based storage

8.3 FunctionalDifference: Row vs Column Store

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It is always advisable to use Column based storage, if SQL statement has to perform
aggregate functions and calculations. Column based tables always perform better when
running aggregate functions like Sum, Count, Max, Min.

Row based storage is preferred when output has to return complete row. The example given
below makes it easy to understand.

Row vs Column Store: Functional

In the above example, while running an Aggregate function (Sum) in sales column with
Where clause, it will only use Date and Sales column while running SQL query so if it is
column based storage table then it will be performance optimized, faster as data is required
only from two columns.

While running a simple Select query, full row has to be printed in output so it is advisable to
store table as Row based in this scenario.

8.4 Information Modeling Views

 Attribute View
Attributes are non-measurable elements in a database table. They represent master data and
similar to characteristics of BW. Attribute Views are dimensions in a database or are used to
join dimensions or other attribute views in modeling.
Important features are:
 Attribute views are used in Analytic and Calculation views.
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  Attribute view represent master data.
 Used to filter size of dimension tables in Analytic and Calculation View.

 Analytic View
Analytic Views use power of SAP HANA to perform calculations and aggregation
functions on the tables in database. It has at least one fact table that has measures and
primary keys of dimension tables and surrounded by dimension tables contain master
data.
Important features are:
 Analytic views are designed to perform Star schema queries.
 Analytic views contain at least one fact table and multiple dimension tables with master data
and perform calculations and aggregations
 They are similar to Info Cubes and Info objects in SAP BW.
 Analytic views can be created on top of Attribute views and Fact tables and performs
calculations like number of unit sold, total price, etc.

 Calculation Views

Calculation Views are used on top of Analytic and Attribute views to perform complex
calculations, which are not possible with Analytic Views. Calculation view is a

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 combination of base column tables, Attribute views and Analytic views to provide
business logic.
Important features are:
 Calculation Views are defined either graphical using HANA Modeling feature or scripted in
the SQL.
 It is created to perform complex calculations, which are not possible with other views-
Attribute and Analytic views of SAP HANA modeler.
 One or more Attribute views and Analytic views are consumed with help of inbuilt functions
like Projects, Union, Join, Rank in a Calculation View.

9. SAP HANA – CORE ARCHITECTURE

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SAP HANA was initially, developed in Java and C++ and designed to run only Operating
System Suse Linux Enterprise Server 11. SAP HANA system consists of multiple components
that are responsible to emphasize computing power of HANA system.
 Most important component of SAP HANA system is Index Server, which contains SQL/MDX
processor to handle query statements for database.
 HANA system contains Name Server, Preprocessor Server, Statistics Server and XS engine,
which is used to communicate and host small web applications and various other components.

SAP HANA: Core Architecture

9.1 Index Server

Index Server is heart of SAP HANA database system. It contains actual data and engines for
processing that data. When SQL or MDX is fired for SAP HANA system, an Index Server takes
care of all these requests and processes them. All HANA processing takes place in Index Server.
Index Server contains Data engines to handle all SQL/MDX statements that come to HANA
database system. It also has Persistence Layer that is responsible for durability of HANA system
and ensures HANA system is restored to most recent state when there is restart of system failure.
Index Server also has Session and Transaction Manager, which manage transactions and keep
track of all running and closed transactions.

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9.2 Index Server: Architecture
 SQL/MDX Processor

It is responsible for processing SQL/MDX transactions with data engines responsible to

run queries. It segments all query requests and direct them to correct engine for the
performance Optimization.

It also ensures that all SQL/MDX requests are authorized and also provide error handling
for efficient processing of these statements. It contains several engines and processors for
query execution:

 MDX (Multi Dimension Expression) is query language for OLAP systems like
SQL is used for Relational database. MDX Engine is responsible to handle
queries and manipulates multidimensional data stored in OLAP cubes.

 Planning Engine is responsible to run planning operations within SAP HANA

database.

 Calculation Engine converts data into Calculation models to create logical

execution plan to support parallel processing of statements.

 Stored Procedure processor executes procedure calls for optimized processing;

it converts OLAP cubes to HANA optimized cubes.

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 Transaction and Session Management

It is responsible to coordinate all database transactions and keep track of all running and
closed transactions.

When a transaction is executed or failed, Transaction manager notifies relevant data

engine to take necessary actions.

Session management component is responsible to initialize and manage sessions and

connections for SAP HANA system using predefined session parameters.

 Persistence Layer

It is responsible for durability and atomicity of transactions in HANA system. Persistence

layer provides built in disaster recovery system for HANA database.

It ensures database is restored to most recent state and ensures that all the transactions are
completed or undone in case of a system failure or restart.

It is also responsible to manage data and transaction logs and also contain data backup,
log backup and configuration back of HANA system. Backups are stored as save points
in the Data Volumes via a Save Point coordinator, which is normally set to take back
every 5-10 minutes.

 Preprocessor Server

Preprocessor Server in SAP HANA system is used for text data analysis.

Index Server uses preprocessor server for analyzing text data and extracting the
information from text data when text search capabilities are used.

 Name Server

NAME server contains System Landscape information of HANA system. In distributed

environment, there are multiple nodes with each node has multiple CPU’s, Name server
holds topology of HANA system and has information about all the running components
and information is spread on all the components.

 Topology of SAP HANA system is recorded here.

 It decreases the time in re-indexing as it holds which data is on which server in
distributed environment.
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 Statistical Server

This server checks and analyzes the health of all components in HANA system.
Statistical Server is responsible for collecting the data related to system resources, their
allocation and consumption of the resources and overall performance of HANA system.

It also provides historical data related to system performance for analyses purpose, to
check and fix performance related issues in HANA system.

 XS Engine

XS engine helps external Java and HTML based applications to access HANA system
with help of XS client. As SAP HANA system contains a web server which can be used
to host small JAVA/HTML based applications.

SAP HANA: XS Engine

XS Engine transforms the persistence model stored in database into consumption model
for clients exposed via HTTP/HTTPS.

 SAP Host Agent

SAP Host agent should be installed on all the machines that are part of SAP HANA
system Landscape. SAP Host agent is used by Software Update Manager SUM for
installing automatic updates to all components of HANA system in distributed
environment.

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 LM Structure

LM structure of SAP HANA system contains information about current installation

details. This information is used by Software Update Manager to install automatic
updates on HANA system components.

 SAP Solution Manager (SAP SOLMAN) diagnostic Agent

This diagnostic agent provides all data to SAP Solution Manager to monitor SAP HANA
system. This agent provides all the information about HANA database, which include
database current state and general information.

It provides configuration details of HANA system when SAP SOLMAN is integrated

with SAP HANA system.

 SAP HANA Studio Repository

SAP HANA studio repository helps HANA developers to update current version of
HANA studio to latest versions. Studio Repository holds the code which does this update.

 Software Update Manager for SAP HANA

SAP Market Place is used to install updates for SAP systems. Software Update Manager for
HANA system helps is update of HANA system from SAP Market place.
It is used for software downloads, customer messages, SAP Notes and requesting license
keys for HANA system. It is also used to distribute HANA studio to end user’s systems.

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