SAP Certified Technology Associate: C_HANATEC_11 – by the SAP HANA Academy

Introduction

Are you interested in getting certified as SAP HANA database administrator? In this blog, I will explain how you can prepare for the SAP Certified Technology Associate – SAP HANA certification exam. This exam covers the traditional DBA topics like monitoring, operations, security, backups, etc..

 

As all E_HANAINS exams will be retired by the end of 2016, C_HANATEC_11 also serves as the certification required for supported installations ( SAP HANA TDI – Overview). For more information, see Recent changes in the SAP HANA Technology certification program 2016.

 

This blog is part of a series:

• SAP Certified Technology Associate: C_HANATEC_11 – by the SAP HANA Academy  (this blog)
• SAP Certified Technology Associate: SAP HANA (Edition 2013 / 2014) (previous version)
• SAP Certified Technology Specialist: SAP HANA Installation (Edition 2015) (due to retire end of 2016)
• SAP Certified Technology Specialist: SAP HANA Installation (Edition 2013 / 2014) (due to retire end of 2016)

 

About the Certification

 

At the time of writing there are four editions of the SAP Certified Technology Associate – SAP HANA certification:

• Edition 2016 (SPS 11) – C_HANATEC_11
• Edition 2015 Delta (SPS 10) – D_HANATEC_10
• Edition 2015 (SPS 10) – C_HANATEC_10
• Edition 2015 (SPS 09) – C_HANATEC151
• Edition 2014 (SPS 08) – C_HANATEC142

 

If you are already certified for a previous edition of the exam, you might want to consider the SPS 10 delta certification, otherwise it is best to take the latest version.

 

Initially, the exam was numbered by year and version, so 151 would be for edition 2015 version 1, without any clear reference to the SAP HANA SPS release. This now has changed and we have HANATEC 11 for SPS 11 and HANATEC 10 for SPS 10.

 

For SPS 10, a delta exam is available with only half the number of questions (for half the price).

 

For the latest information for SAP Education, check the certification page on the SAP Training& Certification shop or see the blog by Haythem OUESLATI on SCN: SAP HANA SPS11 courses and certification program 2016. See also Frequently Asked Questions about SAP Certification for the FAQ (validity, etc.)

 

Topic Areas

 

There are 80 questions divided over 10 topic areas. Cut score = 64% for TEC 11 (56% for TEC151), which means that you need to answer at least 51 questions correct; a bit higher than usual.

 

There are 10 topics and as of TEC 11 they have the same relative weight (8-12%, or 5 – 10 questions):

 

• System architecture
• High Availability and Disaster Tolerance
• Backup and Recovery
• Troubleshooting
• Monitoring
• Operations
• Installation and Upgrade
• Security
• Users and Authorization
• Database Migration

 

In earlier editions the topics ‘Security’ and ‘Users and Authorization’ were grouped together and the topic ‘Data Provisioning‘ was also included. For TEC 11 there are no questions about provisioning topics like SLT, Data Services, BusinessObjects, etc. (at least, not in my exam).

 

Resources

 

There are three SAP Education training resources:

• HA200 SAP HANA – Operations & Administration – 5 days, most topics
• HA240 Authorization, Security and Scenarios – 2 days, for topics ‘Users and Authorization’ and ‘Security’
• HA250 Migration to SAP HANA using DMO – 2 days, for the topic ‘Database Migration’

 

Training participation is not a requirement, however, because of the direct relation of the exam with the trainings, participation is certainly recommended. If you can only attend one training, make it HA200.

 

Additional resources as preparation for the exam are publicly available on the SAP Help Portal (help.sap.com):

• SAP HANA Administration Guide (1326 pages)
• SAP HANA Security Guide (270 p.)
• SAP HANA Troubleshooting and Performance Analysis Guide (212 p.)
• SAP HANA Master Guide (100 p.)
• SAP HANA Server Installation and Update Guide (224 p.)

 

Note that the SAP Help Portal on http://help.sap.com/hana_platform only shows the latest documentation, SPS 12 at the time of writing. For SPS 11 and older you need to go to the SAP Service Marketplace on http://service.sap.com/hana.

 

The Database Migration Option (DMO) of the Software Update Manager (SUM) tool is not included in the SAP HANA documentation set but part of the System Landscape Toolset on the SAP Service Market Place (requires login). A good start is the SCN document Database Migration Option (DMO) of SUM – Introduction.

 

You also may want to take a look at 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, there are several playlists with dozens of tutorial videos on the SAP HANA Academy channel on YouTube, free of charge.

• SAP HANA Installation and Update
• SAP HANA Administration
• SAP HANA Security
• SAP HANA System Replication
• Backup and Recovery
• Multitenant Database Containers
• Monitoring SAP HANA
• Sizing SAP HANA

 

Sample questions

 

On the certification page, a link to a PDF with sample questions is included. Below I marked the answers in bold and included a reference to the source with some tips and to do’s.

 

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1. Your customer is performing a full data backup every week and a delta backup daily. You need to implement the shortest recovery method for an SAP HANA database.

 

a) 1. Full data backup; 2. Log backup; 3. Incremental backup

b) 1. Full data backup; 2. Incremental backup; 3. Log backup

c) 1. Full data backup; 2. Differential backup; 3. Log backup

d) 1. Full data backup; 2. Log backup; 3. Differential backup

 

This should be an easy question to answer.

 

Source: The difference between incremental and differential backup, and between data and log backups are explained in HA200 (Unit 8 Lesson 2), in the SAP HANA Administration Guide (SAP HANA Database Backup and Recovery – SAP HANA Administration Guide – SAP Library). See also SAP HANA SPS 10 What’s New: Database Backup and Recovery – by the SAP HANA Academy

 

Both incremental and differential only apply to data backups and the restore sequence is always: first data, then log. This rules out options d and a.

Incremental data backups provide short backup time but longer restore time, compared to differential. Hence, only answer c is correct.

 

To do: Study the backup and recover section of either HA200 or the Administration Guide and perform all tasks described. It is much easier to remember the different concepts and tasks if you have hand-on experience.

 

There is a complete playlist on the SAP HANA Academy channel: Database Backup and Recovery – YouTube

 

Tutorial video:

 

 

==

 

2. You plan to migrate a non-SAP database to SAP HANA using the Database Migration Option of the Software Update Manager SP16.

 

Which URL should you use?

a) http://<host>:<port>/lmsl/sumabap/<SID>/doc/sluigui

b) http://<host>:<port>/lmsl/HDBLCM/<SID>/index.html

c) http://<host>:<port>/lmsl/upgrade/<SID>/doc/gui

d) http://<host>:<port>/lmsl/sumabap/<SID>/doc/gui

 

Tricky question, all URL’s are valid.

 

Source: The URL is mentioned in HA250 Unit 3, Configuration of DMO Procedure and is also used in exercise 5. Other sources are, on SCN, Database Migration Option (DMO) of SUM – Introduction and  SAP First Guidance – Using the DMO Option to Mi… | SCN

 

The URL of b) is valid but returns the web user interface of the SAP HANA database lifecycle manager (HDBLCM), as documented in Use the Web User Interface to Perform Platform LCM Tasks – SAP HANA Administration Guide – SAP Library

 

The URL of c) and d) are valid for older SUM versions but not for SUM SP 16.

 

To do: As with question 1, do not only study the material but perform hands-on the exercises or tasks described. Focus on URLs, tabs, screens, etc., as questions can be very detailed.

 

 

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3. You are setting up a disaster recovery system using system replication. You want the transaction processing of the primary system to be suspended if the network to the secondary system fails. What log replication mode must you use?

 

a) async

b) syncmem

c) sync

d) full sync

 

This should be an easy question to answer. All the answers are valid replication modes but only one forces a suspension.

 

Source: The different log replication modes are explained in HA200 (Unit 11 Lesson13) and also in the Administration Guide (SAP HANA Disaster Recovery Support – SAP HANA Administration Guide – SAP Library).

 

 

To do: As with the previous questions; read the concepts but above all perform the activities. Experience counts here.

 

There is a complete playlist on the SAP HANA Academy channel: SAP HANA System Replication – YouTube

 

 

Tutorial video:

 

 

==

 

4. Which role do you need to have assigned to configure the kernel profiler?

 

a) MONITORING

b) SAP_INTERNAL_HANA_SUPPORT

c) sap.hana.xs.lm.roles::Administrator

d) sap.hana.admin.roles::Monitoring

 

This should be an easy question to answer.

 

Source: Configuring traces is discussed in HA200 (Unit 7, Lesson 5) and the SAP HANA Administration Guide (Getting Support – SAP HANA Administration Guide – SAP Library).

 

To do: Try out the different traces available, check the output and requirements.

 

Tutorial video:

 

 

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5. What is the correct hierarchy of the SAP HANA component model?

 

a) Product > Package > Delivery Unit > Object

b) Package > Product > Delivery Unit > Object

c) Delivery Unit > Product > Package > Object

d) Product > Delivery Unit > Package > Object

 

Again, this should be an easy question to answer.

 

Source: Application Lifecycle Management is discussed in HA200 (Unit 7, Lesson 8) and the SAP HANA Administration Guide (SAP HANA Application Lifecycle Management – SAP HANA Administration Guide – SAP Library).

 

 

 

To do: Read about the concepts and practice with exporting and importing delivery units (DU) using the different interfaces for ALM (HANA studio, HALM web UI, command line).

 

Tutorial video:

 

 

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6. You are planning a batch installation for a scale-out system. Which settings do you need to make in the configuration file? 2 correct answers.

 

a) The instances on all hosts must use an identical instance number.

b) The user ID of the <sid>adm user must be identical on all hosts.

c) The max_mem parameter must be specified for the sum of all hosts

d) The hostname specified must be identical on all hosts

 

Again, again, this should be an easy question to answer. Unfortunately most questions in the exam are not this easy!

 

When the hostname is the same on all hosts there is not way to tell them apart, so option d makes no sense. Option c seems to suggest that you need to sum up the memory of all hosts and set this on each host with the max_mem parameter. Makes no sense either. See max_mem – SAP HANA Server Installation and Update Guide – SAP Library

 

A distributed system has the same system identifier (SID), hence the same <sid>adm user, and the same instance number.

 

Source: How to install an SAP HANA scale out system is an exercise in HA200 (Unit 11, Lesson 2 and Exercise 23) and the SAP HANA Server Installation Guide (Installing a Multiple-Host System – SAP HANA Server Installation and Update Guide – SAP Library).

 

To do: As above, read the instructions and perform an installation. Getting your hands on a cluster might be a bit of a challenge of course, but at least go through the screens step by step.

 

There is a complete playlist on this topic on the SAP HANA Academy channel: SAP HANA Installation and Update – YouTube

 

Tutorial video:

 

 

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7. What privileges can you manage with the SAP HANA Live authorization assistant? 2 correct answers.

 

a) Analytical

b) Application

c) System

d) Object

 

Tricky question as the authorization assistent is outside of the scope of the SAP HANA documentation. Unless you attended the training or have any experience with SAP HANA Live you might never have heard about it.

 

Source: The SAP HANA Live authorization assistent is discussed in HA200 (Unit 10, Lesson 6).

 

 

See also SAP HANA Live Authorization Assistant – SAP Library and Installing SAP HANA Live Authorization Assistant – SAP HANA Live Tools 1.0 – SAP Library

 

To do: No recommendation here except to attend the training for the off scope topics.

 

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8. You have to load data in real time from external systems into SAP HANA. Which Data Provisioning tools can you use? 3 correct answers.

 

a) SAP LT Replication Server (SLT)

b) Smart Data Access (SDA)

c) SAP Replication Server (SRS)

d) SAP Data Services (SDS)

e) Smart Data Integration (SDI)

 

Questions about data provisioning are only relevant for SPS 10 and older exams, as the topic is no longer included in TEC 11.

 

Source: Data Provisioning is discussed in HA100 (Unit 4) and in the new HA 350 – SAP HANA Data Provisioning training. The topic is also explained in the SAP HANA Master Guide (SAP HANA Data Provisioning – SAP HANA Master Guide – SAP Library).

 

To do: You can ignore data provisioning for TEC 11. For the older exams, make sure you are familiar with what purpose each of the products (SLT, SRS, DXC, DS) or options (SDA, SDI, SDS) serves and how it works, e.g. how SLT connects to a non-SAP source.

 

There are multiple playlists about provisioning (SDI, SDQ, SDA, DWF, SDS, DT, DS) on the SAP HANA Academy:   SAP HANA Academy – Provisioning

 

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9. You are using SAP Solution Manager to troubleshoot your SAP HANA database. What can you analyze? 3 correct answers.

 

a) Memory usage

b) Linux system logs

c) Locked users

d) Alert status

e) Services availability

 

You can expect a few questions about SAP Solution Manager, which might be challenging if you are not familiar with the product.

 

Source: Monitoring with SAP Solution Manager is discussed in HA200 (Unit 13 Lesson 1) and the SAP HANA Administration Guide (SAP Solution Manager for SAP HANA – SAP HANA Administration Guide – SAP Library). See also, SAP HANA Operations with SAP Solution Manager – Technical Operations – SCN Wiki

 

To do: Read up about how to configure SAP Solution Manager for SAP HANA and how to use it for monitoring. Ideally, create a sandbox environment and setup SAP Solution Manager monitoring for SAP HANA yourself.

 

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10. Which of the following tools can you use to create and manage SAP HANA database users? 2 correct answers.

 

a) SAP Solution Manager

b) SAP Identity Management

c) SAP Web IDE

d) Microsoft Active Directory

 

This question should not be to hard to answer. You can create users in Microsoft AD of course and you can use Kerberos authentication to map AD users to HANA users, but you cannot use AD to create HANA users so this option can be discarded. Same for option a) as SAP Solution Manager is a systems management tool for SAP systems, not to create users. For this purpose, SAP offers its Identity Management solution. Native SAP HANA tools to create users are hdbsql (using SQL), HANA studio (using the User Editior or SQL) and the Web IDE.

 

Source: Monitoring with SAP Solution Manager is discussed in HA200 (Unit 10 Lesson 1) and the SAP HANA Administration Guide (Managing SAP HANA Users – SAP HANA Administration Guide – SAP Library)

 

To Do: familiarise yourself with creating and managing users and roles using the different tools available. See also SAP HANA User Management – SAP HANA Security Guide – SAP Library, SAP HANA Authentication and Single Sign-On – SAP HANA Security Guide – SAP Library and SAP HANA Authentication and Single Sign-On – SAP HANA Security Guide – SAP Library

 

There are several videos about authorisation and user management in the security playlist: SAP HANA Security – YouTube

For Web IDE, see SAP Web IDE – YouTube

 

 

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.

 

Additional Resources

 

• SAP HANA – a guide to Documentation and Education
• Blog: SAP HANA for Beginners | SAP HANA
• Want to learn SAP HANA? Where to Start? Certification?
• The SAP Hana Reference for SAP Basis Administrators
• SAP HANA Administration. of Richard Bremer, Lars Breddemann – by SAP PRESS

 

Did you succeed?

 

Feel free to post a comment about how the exam went. If there is any information missing, please let me know.

 

Success!