HANA Demystified by DataMagnum

SAP and other SAP Products mentioned here as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and other countries

SAP HANA – Demystified Run Smarter! Run Faster! Run Simpler!

For starters, SAP HANA is short for High-Performance ANalytic Appliance (or HAsso's New Architecture per Vishal). SAP HANA has created a revolution in how database and the applications perform. SAP HANA is a platform with an in-memory database that was envisioned for simplicity in Data Footprint, Data Processing & Operations, and Landscape. SAP HANA has given rise to Simpler Setup, Simpler Code and Application Development, and wonderfully Simpler User Experience.

Keep It Simple Stup*d !!! – KISS remembers anyone?!

SAP has been doing its best to explain the architecture and the benefits of SAP HANA, and we will try to simplify its concepts as much as we further can. This paper is an attempt to simplify the message and help propagate the advantages of SAP HANA implementation. We would like to cover the most frequently bothering questions in customers’ minds. The objective of this paper is to provide precise information about the product SAP HANA, and to highlight more of the returns on investments (RoI) of SAP HANA to justify its implementation. Readers who are interested in learning more about HANA in detail are advised to reach out to the SAP HANA website and other SAP resources.

What is IMDBMS and what is SAP HANA? What is the difference between a traditional database and an in-memory database? Traditional on-disk database system is hugely burdened by the performance of its file I/O. Hence in order to improve on its I/O performance, a traditional on-disk database system tries to trade off memory consumption and CPU cycles. This is the result of using more memory - caching, and using more CPU cycles to maintain the cache. Besides,


traditional disk-based DBMS usually keeps a lot of redundant data in the forms of indexing etc. thus needing more storage space. Being diametrically opposite to on-disk DBMS, in-memory DBMS aims to eliminate I/O burden and reduce storage requirements. The goal of in-memory DBMS is to optimize the reduction in memory consumption, reduction in CPU cycles and hence making it simpler, faster and efficient.

SAP has stated its vision for HANA in simple straight forward language as following:

Combine OLTP and OLAP data using modern hardware and database systems to create a single source of truth, enable real-time analytics and simplify applications and database structures.

Now consider an RDBMS where you: Eliminate costly Disk I/O operations Access data as almost 1,000 -10,000 +

times faster Be real-time for transactions and

reports Eliminate creation and storage of

indexes Eliminate creation and storage of

aggregates Achieve fewer objects and fewer

operations giving rise to simpler design

Have choice of efficient and less storage consuming Columnar Database in addition to Row-based Database

Let us touch upon briefly to keep the paper simple, the

benefits of SAP HANA resulting from its features of HANA.

Readers needing more explanation are encouraged to contact

the author directly.

Columnar RDBMS: Columnar table storage allows high data compression rates, since ordered table columns containing the same value in many rows can be ideally compressed, maximizing the spatial locality of table

columns.

Persistency: With the persistent store of data and log information HANA can overcome a system restart or failure without data loss without compromising system performance.

Partitioning: Partitioning supports the creation of very large tables (billions of rows) by breaking them into smaller chunks that can be placed on different machines, if required. This is achieved without any adverse impact on SQL queries and data manipulations.

ACID Compliant: SAP HANA is a full transactional, ACID compliant and relational database.

Massive Parallel Processing (MPP): SAP HANA was designed to perform calculations in parallel (shared-nothing MPP). Often it uses hundreds of cores at the same time, fully utilizing the available computing resources of distributed systems.

Highly Optimized Compression: Uses Dictionary compression, Advanced compression(using different compression methods, namely prefix encoding, run length encoding (RLE), cluster encoding, sparse encoding, and indirect encoding) and Operates efficiently on Compressed Data.


Optimize the DBMS performance with many algorithms Reduce coding and administration ( reduced

complexity of the infrastructure) Reduce power consumption due fewer moving

parts and components Achieve lesser TCO due to the above synergies

The above, undoubtedly, is the sweetest music for an application designer’s ears and great news for the finance controller who pays the bills. All the above features and many more are the highlights of SAP HANA which is the leading In-Memory RDBMS in the market clearly leaving the rest of the pack far behind.

SAP has launched its flagship product HANA to foster simplified and inexpensive IT architectures enabling unprecedented speeds of data operations in real-time. Architects of SAP HANA product have realized that there is very little difference between OLAP and OLTP in terms of their operation cycles of data. Hence SAP HANA has been optimized for both transactional and reporting purposes. In addition, SAP HANA is also capable of processing massive amounts of data in real time to support to help Big Data applications as well. With SAP HANA, customers can simplify the technology stack, dramatically reducing multiple layers of hardware & software complexity and making user experience simpler.

Do I need Big Data applications to implement SAP HANA?

(Implementation of SAP HANA – Scenarios)

You DO NOT need Big Data applications to implement SAP HANA!!

SAP HANA can be implemented in two scenarios – Full / Enterprise License and Run-Time

License. Replacing just the database layer with HANA of any SAP application like ECC, BW,

CRM etc. would just need a Run Time license. With Run-Time License, customers can use

HANA database strictly to run SAP Applications and cannot build any new and independent


data schemas for a data mart in the HANA database directly. Full license of SAP HANA gives

the customers to run all kinds of database applications that involve SAP and non-SAP

sources. The pictures shown here would depict the scenarios very well.

Full / Enterprise License is sold by HANA database size (by Giga Bytes) units and Run-Time

license is sold on SAP

application value

(usually a % of the

current SAP foot

print).


Currently, SAP is

recommending

customers to move to the

HANA database and take

advantage of new HANA

based tools and

applications like HANA-

Live, Simple Finance etc.

that will bring in a lot of

efficiencies.

What more do I get with SAP HANA?

A lot has been covered about the speed and other efficiencies that are achieved by

implementing SAP HANA as database. Let us quickly look at some more tools / applications

that could improve the productivity and simplify the business operations. In addition, SAP’s

partner community is coming up with a lot of productivity applications based on HANA that

should immensely help the customers. It is very difficult to list out all these solutions /

products but would like to touch briefly upon a few important ones of them.


SAP HANA Live:

SAP HANA Live is a bolt on a SAP Suite on HANA to deliver real-time operational reporting. SAP HANA live is possible in a ‘side-car scenario’ without having SAP Suite on HANA, by installing Live on a HANA database on its own. SAP HANA Live is complementary to SAP BW is with prebuilt content (similar to SAP BW business content) delivered by SAP, in form of SAP HANA calculation views for real-time operational reporting. The content contains virtual data models (schemas) based on the transactional and master data tables of the SAP Business Suite. These data models can be customized to cater to individual customer needs to enhance their reporting.

The biggest return on investment (RoI) of SAP HANA Live is its ability to facilitate Real-Time

reporting without any

adverse effect on the

performance of SAP Business

Suite. Besides, the speed and

efficiency, SAP HANA saves

customers from

redevelopment of data

models and reports by

bringing forth a lot of prebuilt

data content that is really

optimized.

(The above schematic is cited from SAP publications regarding SAP HANA Live)

SAP HANA dynamic tier-ing

SAP HANA’s Dynamic Tier-ing promises to be a great solution to manage very large data

from various sources (SAP & non-SAP) to render near-real-time reporting. This can lead to

a very cost-effective way to achieve ‘hot’ data archiving solution and consolidated

reporting layer catering to all the performance demands. Although this is projected as a big

data solution by some of the experts, but I strongly recommend customers take advantage

of SAP HANA to build smarter data archival solutions.


Big Data and Predictive Analytics:

Current information world is growing exponentially and the demand to keep up has never

been more for enterprises. To keep competitive advantage, enterprises need to be very

agile with the data not only in the current but also to be able to see into the future smartly.

SAP HANA is a real blessing at the right time for customers as there is a strong need for

real-time need for current information and predictive data handling large amounts of data

quickly. SAP has partnered with major big data product suppliers and solution providers to

integrate into SAP HANA to take advantage of it’s’ ‘powerhouse’ features. Customers can

take advantage of SAP HANA to build descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics

solutions to gain better profits, productivity, and competitive advantage over their peers.

S4HANA newer components like Simple Finance and Simple Manufacturing:

SAP has come up with an end to end simplified solution for accounting and finance called ‘Simple Finance’ which works with its ECC on HANA. This solution can deliver end to end process solution for accounting and finance delivering strategic value with instant insight all through end-to-end processes across any industry. This solution also drives value with instant prediction, analysis, and planning capabilities. This solution makes it simpler to facilitate collaboration with business partners and stake holders. Simple Finance includes simplified GRC templates, and controls across currencies, languages, and industries. In addition this solution provides real-time reporting and analytic solutions which could easily be integrated with Fiori for the best user experience.

Are you at the ‘Cloud-roads’? How to reduce CAPEX with SAP HANA

implementation?

There is a perfect storm brewing out there for reducing costs of IT operations and capital

commitments for services. When implementing SAP HANA database customers may want

to weigh the options of ‘cloudifying’ their operations at the juncture. Moving the systems

to cloud would simplify the operations and eliminate some of the in-house infrastructure,

application maintenance costs. Customers are rapidly moving towards private cloud


hosting and exploring SAP HANA implementations as OPEX (vs. CAPEX) from suitable

solution providers.

Message from a leading solution provider and system integrator

DATA MAGNUM

Data Magnum has teamed up with hardware vendors and cloud providers to offer a very

attractive proposition for the customers with an end to end solution – Project Financing,

Software, Cloud Hosting / In-House Hardware, Migration, and Support. This brings

synergies of all the agencies involved under one roof to translate savings and convenience

to the customers. This consortium has started offering an OPEX model to implement SAP

HANA

The above consortium is serving both in-house and cloud hosting of SAP HANA and other

SAP installations.

Current Challenges for SAP HANA implementation:

Although there are many system

integrators and solution providers

working on increase the number of

SAP HANA implementations, the

above consortium feels that there is

still ample room for improvement in

the following aspects.


Financing: HANA is a pricy product and

needs financing help to boost sales.

HANA Cloud Services:

Very few “one-stop-shop” (some or

other service is missing) reliable

service providers

Limited standardization in Hardware

and cloud hosting

Cloud Security and scalability issues

Not many providers have standard

offerings (everything is customized)

Many times implementations are so

costly due to paucity of skilled

manpower

On-shore / Offshore models are not

translating to price reduction

Support: Reliable Support services are

not widely available at affordable prices

Big Data Readiness: Not many solution

providers are not ‘Big Data Ready’

No standardized predictive and

prescriptive analytics

The consortium presents its services as shown in the following picture.

About the author:

Prasad Mavuduri has around 18 years of SAP experience who specializes in SAP HANA and Big Data

solutions. He serves the board of American Institute of Big Data Professionals. Prasad earned an MBA degree

from Kellogg School of Management. He could be reached at [email protected]

Documents

HANA Demystified by DataMagnum