How to Install HANA Studio on MAC OS X Yosemite

SAP HANA Studio for MAC = eclipse + SAP plugins

You have probably landed here because you could not find the HANA Studio installation files for the OS X platform which has mysteriously disappeared from the SAP HANA download website. Surprise, surprise…

Until it gets listed again, another way to run HANA Studio on Mac is to install SAP HANA Tools. I tried it out myself and found some minor issues that I will highlight here. Installation should be a quick and simple experience. After all, HANA Studio is basically eclipse + some plugins (i.e. SAP HANA Tools).

Below, I have listed the steps to follow in order to get HANA Studio up and running on Mac running Yosemite (OS X 10.10.1).

Step 1: Prerequisites

The JAVA runtime environment is required to run eclipse so you will have to install it first. The question is which one? On the SAP HANA Tools website, it is recommended to use JRE version 1.6+.  For Mac users, Apple supplies their own version of Java for Java versions 6 and below. If prompted by the OS, do not install JAVA for OS X (http://support.apple.com/kb/dl1572) as it is not compatible with eclipse Luna. Personally, I have a preference for using the latest version of JAVA (security) and so I will be installing JAVA SE 8u25 (I am going with the JDK since I need it for other software development purposes as well).

• Download the JDK from the following link: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk8-downloads-2133151.html (MAC OS X x64)
• Install it using the installer

Step 2: Installing eclipse

The next step is to install the eclipse IDE.

• Download eclipse standard 4.4 version for MAC OS X (Cocoa) 64-bit version using the following link: http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/packages/release/Luna/R
• Simply unpack it to your hard drive
• Once unzipped, copy (or drag n drop) the eclipse folder into your Applications folder

Step 3: Installing SAP HANA Tools

Third and final step, you will need to install SAP HANA Tools in eclipse. This is where I encountered minor issues that were not expected…

• Open Eclipse IDE
• Select a workspace at the prompt
• Click on Help > Install New Software

• At this point, I got a Missing requirement AFL connector error while trying to install the HANA Tools. To resolve this,  I had to install the Eclipse SDK plugin.
• In the dropdown menu, select “The Eclipse Project Updates” or add it if you do not see it “http://download.eclipse.org/eclipse/updates/4.4“
• Make sure the checkbox is checked for “Contact all update sites…“
• Select Eclipse SDK.
• Click Next, agree to the license agreement then Finish

• SAP Network users: you might encounter a Repository not found error like I did if you are on the SAP-Corporate network as access to the repository is blocked. Therefore you will have to switch to another network (i.e. SAP-Internet) and repeat the previous steps if needed.
• If successful, you will be prompt to restart eclipse
• Open eclipse again
• Select a workspace at the prompt
• Click on Help> Install New Software
• Add the following repository: https://tools.hana.ondemand.com/luna
• Make sure the checkbox is checked for “Contact all update sites…“
• Select SAP HANA Tools. If you did not install the eclipse SDK plugin in the previous step, you might encounter Missing requirement AFL connector error here like I did.
• Click Next, agree to the license agreement then Finish

You will be prompted to re-start eclipse which means that the installation process is successfully completed.

Now, you can simply connect to a HANA system and get started with the fun part of development.