SAP HANA Demo

Here are some notes that I would like to share related to my experiences with setting up a SAP HANA 1 sandbox development environment.   If you are familiar with Java, Eclipse and mobile app development,  then this could be interesting for you too. It's now quite easy to get SAP HANA  1 up-and-running for your organisation. 

SAP are currently offering a demo HANA development environment that can be tested for a limited period.  It's a great way to test  the development  of  mobile apps in familiar environments such as Eclipse.  After the demo period has ended  it's possible to continue using it for a fee.   

Some definitions
SAP HANA is SAP AG’s implementation of in-memory database technology. There are four components within the software group:[1]
  • SAP HANA DB (or HANA DB) refers to the database technology itself,
  • SAP HANA Studio refers to the suite of tools provided by SAP for modeling,
  • SAP HANA Appliance refers to HANA DB as delivered on partner certified hardware (see below) as an appliance. It also includes the modeling tools from HANA Studio as well as replication and data transformation tools to move data into HANA DB,[2]
  • SAP HANA Application Cloud refers to the cloud based infrastructure for delivery of applications (typically existing SAP applications rewritten to run on HANA).
I have my HANA server hosted by Cloudshare which is installed very quickly. It is also possible to use AWS.

The HANA development Environment 


In the Demo you can a remote connection to a Windows 7.0 Pro client running on a x64 SP1. It comes pre- installed with all software you'll need for your HANA developments including pre-installed SAP HANA Studio, SAP HANA Client, Office Professioanl  Plus 2010 SP1 and even Visio 2010 Premium Edition for mapping our you business flows. 

They also provide a  "Cloud Folders", which enables you to quickly upload and download your work (code, content, software) to and from CloudShare machines and move files between machines and between environments you can access.



 





You also get a dedicated SAP HANA SPS5 server running SUSE Enterprise 11 SP1 64 bit. As it's not a shared environment the performance is therefore very good and representative of what the production performance will be like.

You can set up a SSH connection using either the provided Java SSH terminal or also a secure connection available via PuTTY. 







SAP Visual Intelligence

SAP VI is also available to test for a limited period. You'll need to logon to download the software. 
  • http://downloads.businessobjects.com/sapvisualintelligence/32BITSAPVisualintelligenceinstall.ZIP
  • http://downloads.businessobjects.com/akdlm/sapvisualintelligence/32BITSAPVisualintelligenceinstall.ZIP

Setting up Cloud Folders for sharing data from your local PC to the SAP HANA development environment
  • https://support.cloudshare.com/entries/20702242-Cloud-Folders

Setting-up up the  HANA Database (procedure for cloudshare - not aws)
  •  http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-33269
If you experience connection problems then use this to test if firewalls are blocking the connection
  • https://use.cloudshare.com/test.mvc

Stopping and starting the HANA server

  • su - hdbadm
  • /HDB stop       (Command to stop HANA DB)
  • /HDB start:            (Command to start HANA DB)

The default password of user hdbadm is HANAabcd1234 (don't forget to change it with the passwd command)

For support - > https://support.cloudshare.com/home

Development using the SAP HANA Studio

The SAP Hana Studio is runs on Eclipse, so if you're familiar with that tool then your ramp-up developing will be very quick. 


The SAP HANA Academy 


You can view a comprehensive  library of resources at the SAP HANA Academy here  -> http://www.saphana.com/community/implement/hana-academy/

The courses are aimed at developers, customers and partners who are interested in learning more about SAP HANA in a practical, hands-on manner.  You'll  find a collection of how-to videos, sample code, and a example Apple app as the starting point to building your own targeted retailing solution using SAP HANA One, predictive analysis, and the Apple Passbook feature of the iPhone.

The videos assume you are setting up on a AWS account - and doesnt apply if you are using Cloudshare demo environment as that comes pre-configured. It's nevertheless perhaps interesting to see how it's done. If you are using cloudshare then use these instruction http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-33269 for initial connection to the HANA server from Eclipse
 
Watch this introductory video to understand the opportunity the combination of this technology presents for your business and your customers.
http://www.saphana.com/docs/DOC-2897. They seem to   focus on Apple and predictive analysis library, but I'd like see more about Android apps too. 

Docs: 
Overview of presentations

  • http://www.saphana.com/docs/DOC-2899
  • http://www.saphana.com/docs/DOC-1253

This Course is about setting up a demo iPhone up.  
  • http://www.saphana.com/docs/DOC-2899
  • http://www.saphana.com/docs/DOC-2897


Setting up connection to the server
  • http://www.saphana.com/docs/DOC-2900
  • http://www.saphana.com/docs/DOC-2901
  • http://www.saphana.com/docs/DOC-2902
Connection to server using PuTTY
  • http://www.saphana.com/docs/DOC-2902

Installing JRE 1.7
  • http://www.saphana.com/docs/DOC-2903

Installing the SAP HANA Studio (not necessary if you are using cloudshare as this has been pre-installed as part of the server image )
  • http://www.saphana.com/docs/DOC-2904
  • most of this can be skipped until you want an ODBC connection.  Enter the server details and press connect to test. The default user name is system/manager.
HANA ODBC Tests

pub3-124.env.cloudshare.com:30015

The Sudio is pre-installed in cloudshare . But here are the instructions for installing the studio. A connection from the studio is then setup using JDBC. The list of schemes will be available sysbit and system database
Part2 - http://www.saphana.com/docs/DOC-2905 

JDBC connection to SAP HANA f

Resources for building the demo table can be downloaded -> here and  here