Introduction

• Software Update Manager (SUM)
  is the tool of choice for software maintenance of SAP NetWeaver based systems
  (see SCN blog Software Update Manager (SUM): introducing the tool for software maintenance).

• Software Update Manager for SAP HANA (SUM4HANA)
  is the tool for automated update of SAP HANA systems managed from inside your SAP HANA studio
  (see information on SAP Service Marketplace – logon required).

SAP HANA related use cases

SUM acts on application level:

• SUM updates SAP NetWeaver Application Server running on SAP HANA database
• SUM updates SAP NetWeaver-based applications running on SAP HANA, such as
  • SAP NetWeaver BW
  • SAP enhancement package 6 for SAP ERP 6.0, version for SAP HANA

SUM for SAP HANA acts on database level:

• SUM4HANA updates database server
  • HDB database software
  • SAP HANA client
  • SUM4HANA (tool updates itself)
• SUM4HANA updates database-server-based applications
  • Application Functional Libraries
  • SAP HANA content

Similarities

• Both tools consume a stack.xml file that was calculated by the Maintenance Optimizer (MOpz) as part of a Maintenance Transaction in SAP Solution Manager, and software packages downloaded from SAP Service Marketplace (see service.sap.com/mopz – login required)
• Both tools are part of the Software Logistics Toolset 1.0
  (see SCN blog The Delivery Channel for Software Logistics Tools: “Software Logistics Toolset 1.0”, and service.sap.com/sltoolset – login required)

Differences

• SUM is a tool running separate from the SAP system, updates system software including kernel
• SUM4HANA is a tool integrated in the SAP HANA studio (based on eclipse)

Please note the following update (August 2013):

As of SAP HANA SP06, the SUM4HANA tool was bundled with other offerings into “SAP HANA lifecycle manager”.

See SAP HANA Update and Configuration Guide.
So SUM4HANA is no longer part of the SL Toolset.