SAP Certified Technology Specialist: SAP HANA Inst...

dvankempen · ‎06-30-2014

LATEST UPDATE: December, 2020 =========================================

The SAP Certified Technology Specialist: SAP HANA Installation certification is no longer valid.

For the latest information, visit our blog post series about SAP HANA certification:

SAP Certified Technology Associate - SAP HANA 2.0 SPS05

For the SAP Press Certification Success Guide, see

www.sap-press.com/5078

For the blog post, see

100% Free Blogpost about SAP HANA, C_HANATEC (Braindumps and Cheat Sheets)

Update August 17, 2016

For the latest blog on this topic, see SAP Certified Technology Associate: C_HANATEC - by the SAP HANA Academy. C_HANATEC_11 replaces all the SAP HANA installation Technology Specialist exams.

Update June 20, 2016

As you may have read on the blog by haythem.oueslati on SCN: SAP HANA Education - Course & Certification Program 2015, the E_HANAINS exam will be retired by the end of 2016.

The current recommendation is

for those new to the program, to take the C_HANATEC_11 exam

for anyone already C_HANATECxx (141, 142, 151) certified to
- either upgrade it to version C_HANATEC_11
- or, until the end of this year, pass any of the three E_HANAINSxx certifications (141, 142, 151)

For those interested in the C_HANATEC exam, I wrote a blog about it some time ago (September 14, 2014 for the 141 edition (SPS 07):

SAP Certified Technology Associate: SAP HANA - by the SAP HANA Academy

Update February 3, 2016

Just posted an update to this blog for E_HANAINS142 and E_HANAINS151:

SAP Certified Technology Specialist: SAP HANA Installation (Edition 2015) - by the SAP HANA Academy

=====

Introduction

SAP HANA SPS 06 introduced the tailored data center integration (TDI) delivery model as an alternative to the initial appliance model. TDI enables SAP customers to perform HANA installations by certified engineers on certified hardware (TDI FAQ).

In this blog, I will explain how you can become such a certified engineer by passing the SAP Certified Technology Specialist - SAP HANA Installation exam.

For the SAP HANA Academy, I have performed countless installations of SAP HANA as of SPS 02 (GA) and upgraded many revisions. However, I found that experience alone is not enough. You do need to do some studying. But with some effort, anyone can do it. The exam is quit reasonable: it is not a Herculean task. :wink:

This blog is part of a series.

SAP Certified Technology Associate - SAP HANA

SAP Certified Technology Specialist - SAP HANA Installation

SAP Certified Support Associate - SAP HANA

About the Certification

At the time of writing there are 2 editions of the SAP Certified Technology Specialist - SAP HANA Installation certification

Edition 2013 (SPS 06) - E_HANAINS131

Edition 2014 (SPS 07) - E_HANAINS141

Typically you would go for the most recent exam: 141, i.e. 1st edition 2014. There is not a lot of difference between both exams, the distinction concerns mainly the questions about the installer. With SPS 06, SAP HANA installations were performed with the unified installer - a grandiose name for a basic shell script - whereas with SPS 07, this script has been replaced with the SAP HANA Lifecycle Management tool hdblcm(gui), cf.Installation in SAP HANA SPS 07 - welcoming hdblcm(gui) to the family.

For the latest information, see the blog bytim.breitwieser on SCN: SAP HANA Education: Course & Certification Program 2014. The SPS 08 edition can be expected at the end of this year.

Prerequisite: SAP Certified Technology Associate - SAP HANA (E_HANATEC131 or E_HANATEC141).

Topic Areas

There are 40 questions divided over 6 topic areas. When I did 131 and 141, most questions were about the installation and uninstall procedures (± 8). Below the list ordered by number of questions as I experienced it. The last two topics only had 3 questions each.

Installation and uninstall procedures: prepare installer configuration file, implement prerequisites; execute and troubleshoot the installation and un-installation processes, including the removal of SAP Host and SMD Agent.

Hardware and operating system verification: review network setup, storage design, prepare hardware and OS; identify relevant related SAP Notes.

System landscape planning; implementation approach and installation requirements, plans for landscape evolution; development, QA, and productive system setup, and disaster recovery strategies.

Post-installation: verify installation, initial system backup procedures; setup connection with SAP Solution Manager andapply encryption.

Scale out scenarios (multiple databases): scaling techniques and using lifecycle manager (LM) for scale out.

HANA studio: install studio on client computer.

Resources

As main resource training HA200 - SAP HANA - Installation & Operations is listed. This 5-day training covers not only installation but also administration tasks like backup and recovery, operations, etc. As mentioned, the prerequisite for the installation certification is the Technology Associate certification, which has the same training as resource, so it probably is a good investment of your time. However, it is not a requirement.

Additional resources mentioned as preparation for the exam:

SAP HANA Product Availability Matrix (PAM)

SAP HANA Server Installation and Update Guide

SAP HANA Update and Configuration Guide (as of SPS 08, this guide is merged with Installation Guide)

SAP HANA Studio Installation and Update Guide

SAP HANA Administration Guide

The SAP Help Portal on http://help.sap.com/hana_platform only shows the latest documentation, SPS 08 at the time of writing. For SPS 06 and SPS 07, you need to go to the SAP Service Marketplace on http://service.sap.com/hana.

SAP note 1905389 - Additional Material for HA200 and HA200R. This note contains additional information and documents. Most of the SAP Notes mentioned are also listed in the Server Installation and Update Guide under Important SAP Notes.

SAP HANA Academy

To help you prepare for the exam, I have recorded some tutorial videos on SAP HANA installations. The playlist SAP HANA Installations SPS 07 discusses concepts and shows how to install the SAP HANA server, studio and client. Upgrading studio using an update site and upgrading the server using Lifecycle Management (LM) is also included to help you prepare for the exam.

Sample questions

On the certification page, a link to a PDF with sample questions is included. The questions are the same for both editions. Let's get warmed up a bit and go through them; I marked the answers in bold and included a reference to the source with some tips and todos.

1. Which of the following Linux distributions is supported by SAP HANA?

a. CentOS

b. Fedora

c. SLES

d. Ubuntu

Source: This information can be found in the PAM and installation guides. Note that for SPS 08, Red Hat Enterprise Linux is also supported but not the open source Fedora equivalent. No support either for the popular Ubuntu and CentOS (popularised by Amazon Web Services cloud computing). The HANA client works fine on these distributions and you will find references on SCN but they are not supported. Always check the PAM.

To do: You need to be familiar with the product availability matrix for SAP HANA. What operating system is supported for the server and what operating systems for the client? Any prerequisites, like Java runtime?

==

2. Who is responsible for the setup of the custom storage connector in a shared storage environment?

a. The storage vendor

b. The storage connector implementation partner

c. The server hardware vendor

d. The SAP storage team

Source: Mentioned in the FAQ for SAP HANA Tailored Data Center Integration.

To do: read the FAQ. Additional information about this topic can be found in note 1900823, which addresses the Storage Connector API. The note contains two additional documents: Storage Whitepaper and the Fiber Channel Storage Connector Admin Guide. Get familiar SAN, NAS, LUN, global.ini, Split Brain and STONITH (“shoot the other node in the head”). What purpose does the storage connector serve?

==

3. Which of the following file systems must exist before you start the installation of a stand-alone SAP HANA system? ( 2 correct answers)

a. Log volumes (example: /hana/log/<SID>)

b. SAP mount directory (example: /hana/shared)

c. Data volumes (example: /hana/data/<SID>)

d. Local SAP system instance (example: /usr/sap)

Source: Server Installation Guide. The other ones will be created if they don't exist. Question is a bit awkwardly phrased as the directory must exist and not the "file system".

To do: familiarise yourself with the recommended file system lay out. What is running locally, what centrally? Host Agent, SMD, LM? Where are backups stored? Why?

==

4. You have to verify the hardware and operating systems for an SAP HANA system stand-alone installation. Which of the following SAP Notes should you consider?

a. Note 1577128 - Supported clients for SAP HANA 1.0

b. Note 1730999 - Configuration changes in HANA appliance

c. Note 1755396 - Released DT solutions for SAP HANA with disk replication

d. Note 1824819 - Optimal settings for SLES 11 SP2 and SLES 11 for SAP SP2

Source: Server Installation Guide, section 1.3 Important SAP Notes. Note a and b are listed in the guide.

Todo: You need to be familiar with SAP Notes, e.g. 1514967 SAP HANA: Central Note and 1848976 - SAP HANA Platform SPS 06 Release Note. I recommend to read the notes mentioned in the section Important SAP Notes in the SAP HANA Server Installation Guide.

==

5. When you are installing a new SAP HANA system the installer aborts with an error message. Which of the following actions do you do first? ( 2 correct answers)

a. Analyze the installation log file.

b. Restart the host and start the SAP HANA installation again.

c. Check the hardware against the Product Availability Matrix

d. Check the troubleshooting section in the SAP HANA Server Installation Guide.

Source: common sense and the troubleshooting section in the SAP HANA Server Installation Guide. You check the PAM before an installation, not after when things go wrong. Starting all over may work - or not - but is not the most professional approach.

Todo: read the troubleshooting section in the SAP HANA Server Installation Guide. What's the name of the log file(s)? What do you do if you need to restart the installation from scratch?

==

6. Why should you perform an initial data backup? ( 2 correct answers)

a. To enable log backups

b. To turn on overwrite mode for logs

c. To enable the backup editor

d. To turn off overwrite mode for logs

Source: Administration Guide. Tricky question. The installation guide mentions: We strongly recommend that you execute an initial system back up for later recovery of the initial system state. The WHY - recover initial state - is however not listed as a correct answer. The Administration Guide mentions: Until an initial data backup or storage snapshot has been completed, the log mode OVERWRITE is active. In log mode OVERWRITE, no log backups are made.

Todo: Topics belongs to the post installation tasks. Make sure you are familiar with these tasks. How do you enable automatic start (parameter, flle)? How do you stop/start the HANA database? How can see what processes are up? What processes are there? How do enable persistence encryption? What gets encrypted?

If you are not familiar with backups for SAP HANA, watch the SAP HANA Academy playlist on this topic of Backup and Recovery.

==

7. Which of the following actions does SAP recommend that you perform once the installation is finished? ( 2 correct answers)

a. Perform a reboot of the SAP HANA database.

b. Perform an initial data backup.

c. Activate the debug mode in the SAP HANA studio.

d. Check the Alerts tab in the SAP HANA studio.

Source: again tricky question. Performing an Initial backup is documented in the Installation guide as recommendation. There are quite some additional recommendations in that guide (you can do a search on this word) but none is mentioned here. There is no need to reboot HANA after install and you would use the debug mode in studio when you are developing, so only answer d is left as an option. As an administrator you would check the alerts tab in studio regularly and after installation is a good place to start doing this but this is not explicitly documented. Not the best question, in my view.

Todo: familiarise yourself with the SAP HANA studio Administration Console. What tabs are there? Where are they used for?

==

8. Using the SAP HANA unified installer, which of the following roles can you assign to a new node? ( 2 correct answers)

a. Standby

b. Worker

c. Slave

d. Master

Source: documented in the SAP HANA Update and Configuration Guide, section Adding Hosts to and Removing Hosts from an Existing SAP HANA System and the Administration Guide, Scaling SAP HANA.

Note that questions about the unified installer are for the E_HANAINS131 exam only.

Todo: read this guide and get familiar with HANA Lifecycle Manager. What are the three modes? What port for the browser? How to setup HANA studio for HLM? Where can you use the rename feature for?

Also read section Performing a Distributed System Installation in the Installation Guide. What are the advantages of a distributed system? What roles are there? What are the prerequisites? What purpose does the NTP service serve? What is unique in a landscape: SID? Instance number? When are multiple database on a single appliance supported (as of SPS 06)?

Introduction to High Availability for SAP HANA | SAP HANA.

==

9. Which of the following are prerequisites for adding a new host to an SAP HANA SPS 06 distributed system? (2 correct answers)

a. User <SID>adm has the same password on all nodes.

b. The SMD agent is installed on all nodes.

c. User group sapsys has the same group ID (GID) on all hosts.

d. 'hdbnsutil –reconfig –hostnameResolution=global' has been executed

Source: same as for question 8, documented in the SAP HANA Update and Configuration Guide, section Adding Hosts to and Removing Hosts from an Existing SAP HANA System. The Solution Manager Diagnostic (SMD) Agent is an optional component in the landscape and only relevant when using SAP Solution Manager. The <SID>adm user can have a different password on each node. Inter-node communication is typically done with SSH and keys.

==

10. You are preparing an SAP HANA installation. What are the requirements for the host name? (3 correct answers)

a. Must start with a letter or an underscore.

b. The case must match the registered name in the DNS or /etc/hosts file.

c. Must be less than 8 characters

d. Must start with a letter.

e. Must be less than 13 characters

Source: Documented in the Server Installation Guide, section Installation Parameters with reference to Note 611361.

More Questions?

Unfortunately, but very reasonably, those that have passed the exam are not allowed to share the questions with anyone else, so I can't share any particular question with you here. However, a close study of the mentioned resources should provide you with enough knowledge to successfully pass the exam.

For edition 2013 (SPS 06) - E_HANAINS131 best to study the SPS 06 version of the guides.

For edition 2014 (SPS 07) - E_HANAINS141 best to study the SPS 07 version of the guides.

SAP HANA Server Installation Guide

SPS 07 - 87 pages

1. Installation overview - make sure you understand what role the components play and what editions there are, where to download SAP HANA, and familiarise yourself with the important SAP notes.

2. - Before installing an SAP HANA system - understand concepts: host, system, instance. What needs to be unique? Differences and similarities single and distributed host, consult the PAM for SAP HANA on software requirements and validated hardware configurations. Familiarise yourself with the Hardware check tool and how to run it.

3. Installing a SAP HANA system - familiarise yourself with the different modes, the available parameters, how to pass them on the command line and how to implement a parameter file, order of precedence, installation account and tool location, prerequisites and procedure

4. Advanced installation - difference lifecycle management tool (hdblcm) and lifecycle manager (HLM), host types, storage options

5. Installation management - how to enable auto-start, persistence encryption procedure, uninstall SAP HANA. Expect questions about these topics.

6. Appendix - study troubleshooting and checking the log files.

SPS 06 - 32 pages

1. Installation overview - make sure you understand what role the components play and what editions there are, where to download SAP HANA, and familiarise yourself with the important SAP notes.

2. Running the SAP HANA unified installer - documents prerequisites like file system layout with recommendation about initial backups, installation parameters like storageConfigPath with the location where a global.ini file is defined; required and optional parameters for distributed systems; required and optional parameters for the configuration file, password requirements; distributed system installation prerequisites. Support status for MCOS, MCOD. Make sure you are familiar with all of these settings and concepts. Running the installer documents how to perform this task with new requirements about the working directory and execution account. Familiarise yourself with these requirements and with the syntax of install and uninstall; what gets installed and what remains after uninstall. Study troubleshooting.

3 - Post Installation - how to enable auto-start, persistence encryption procedure. Expect questions about these topics.

Essential knowledge and preparation tutorial video.

Installing SAP HANA using Lifecycle Manager (SPS 07)

SAP HANA Update and Configuration Guide

2 - Preparing SAP HANA Lifecycle Manager (HLM) documents the different modes, requirements and parameters like HTTP port for the URL.

3 - Managing the Lifecycle of SAP HANA documents how you can rename a system, configure SLT, how to setup a connection to the SLD, how to add or remove a SMD agent, and how to add or remove additional systems (notice again the same requirements as mentioned in the Installation Guide), and how to perform an automated update. Execute all of these tasks on a training system; look into how Solution Manager is setup.

4 - Managing SAP HANA Components and Application Content documents how to add AFL, LCA and SDA.

5 - Troubleshooting

Installing SAP HANA: Lifecycle Manager - Update SAP HANA (SPS 07)

SPS 06 What's New : Lifecycle Management by emil.simeonov/profile

SAP HANA Administration Guide

10 Scaling SAP HANA documents scale up and out; study how to configure the network for multiple hosts, adding or removing hosts (10-2 - 10-4)

11 Managing Encryption of Data Volumes in the SAP HANA Database: understand the concepts.

13 Backing Up and Recovering the SAP HANA Database: understand concepts.

14 High Availability for SAP HANA: understand concepts, levels of disaster recovery support.

19 SAP Solution Manager for SAP HANA references document HANA Supportability and Monitoring read section 1 Remote Access.

SAP HANA Database - Studio Installation and Update Guide

Expect questions about supported platforms, prerequisites, update site configuration.