In only a few short support stack (SPS) releases, the SAP HANA lifecycle management tool set has drastically grown to encompass a plethora of tools and features, including: installation, configuration, and update. Prior to the most recent SPS 07 release of SAP HANA, the unified installer was the tool available to streamline server and component installation, all at one fell swoop. For a straight-forward installation, the unified installer was a worthy installation tool, however when the need to customize individual components arose, the unified installer offered less than optimal flexibility.

Enter hdblcm(gui). The successor to the unified installer doesn’t have a snazzy name, but what it lacks in pomp and circumstance, it more than makes up for in functionality. The new SPS 07 installation tool is actually a pair of installation tools – hdblcm for CLI and hdblcmgui for GUI – which provides a unified interface to reduce installation complexity, but offers the flexibility to mix and match components and versions. They are positioned as part of the SAP HANA lifecycle management tools family, which includes seasoned favorites such as the SAP HANA lifecycle manager (HLM), hdbinst, and hdbsetup.

The introduction of hdblcm(gui) offers several advantages:

• Component-wise installation – Individual components (SAP HANA: studio, DB, client, HLM, host agent, AFL, LCApps) can be installed or updated in combination with the server from a single interface. Likewise, all components can be installed at one time.
• Improved configuration file – A plain text configuration file template with parameters set to their defaults can be generated and edited to be called
  during installation or update.
• Improved interactive installation – Both as a graphical interface, by calling hdblcmgui from the command line, or as command line installation, with iteratively requested parameter entry.
• Improved batch processing – Installation and update tasks can be called using command line options or the configuration file, without any additional input required.
• Multi-host system installation from the graphical interface – It is now possible to install a multi-host SAP HANA system from the graphical interface. Multi-host storage and grouping options can also be configured.

Both the hdblcm and hdblcmgui SAP HANA lifecycle management tools can be used to install an SAP HANA system in one of the installer modes, and with a combination of parameter specification methods.

Installer modes

Installation can be performed in one of the following modes:

• Interactive mode (default) – Available for hdblcm or hdblcmgui. The person installing the system must enter parameter specifications iteratively until the installation process finishes.
• Batch mode – Available for hdblcm. The installation accepts the default values for all unspecified parameters, and runs to completion without any additional input required.

Parameter specification methods

Installation parameter values can be entered in one or more of the following methods:

• Interactively (default) – Using either command line interaction (hdblcm) or graphical interaction (hdblcmgui), most parameters are requested interactively.
• Command line options – Installation parameters are given in their accepted syntax as a space delimited list after the program name (hdblcm or hdblcmgui).
• Configuration file – The configuration file is a plain text file, of parameters set to their default values, that can be generated, edited, and saved to be called during installation with either the hdblcm or hdblcmgui tool.

More information

SAP HANA server installation

• SAP HANA Server Installation Guide – This guide is new document for SAP HANA SPS 07 and describes the new SAP HANA lifecycle management tool hdblcm(gui).
• SAP HANA Server Installation Guide (Unified Installer) – This guide describes the former SAP HANA installer. This tool is marked as deprecated, and will no longer be available in the SAP HANA SPS 08 release.

SAP HANA configuration

• SAP HANA Update and Configuration Guide – Post-installation configuration tasks should be performed with the SAP HANA lifecycle manager (HLM).

SAP HANA update

• SAP HANA Server Installation Guide – For information about updating an SAP HANA system using hdblcm(gui), refer to Chapter 3.4, Updating the SAP HANA System in the SAP HANA Server Installation Guide.
• SAP HANA Update and Configuration Guide – SAP HANA can be also be updated using the SAP HANA lifecycle manager (HLM).