Denys van Kempen

October 27, 2017 5 minute read

XS Exam Quiz: Question 2 – by the SAP HANA Academy

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Spoiler Alert!

In this blog, you can find the answers to question 2 of the SAP HANA Academy XS Exam Quiz.

If you want to try and test your XS knowledge and know-how first, see

XS Exam Quiz – by the SAP HANA Academy

Up and Running

Answers

Tricky question! Sorry about that.

What XS are we looking for? Advanced or classic model?

Your developer informs you that she cannot connect to the web IDE but does she mean the SAP Web IDE for SAP HANA or the SAP HANA Web-based Development Workbench?

This is not always clear, unfortunately.

The URL to access the development workbench is http(s)://<host>:<port>/sap/hana/xs/ide/ which sounds more like IDE then workbench.

Also, the role required to access the development workbench is sap.hana.xs.ide.roles::Developer which could also easily confuse the non-initiated.

In case you wonder how this came to be, it all started with IDE lite, back in 2013 (SPS 06)

SAP HANA IDE lite Introduction

So, let’s be generous, both XS classic and advanced model are correct and will get you points but as classic has been deprecated, XSA will get you more points. C’est la vie (such is life).

Answer 1

Correct!

This URL displays an XSA status page with message XSA is up and running and lists the registered service URLs.

Points: 4

Only 4 points? Wait, why? Read on.

Note that some of the URLs listed are web applications (xsa-admin, webide, web) while others are backend microservices (deploy service) that do not display a web page.

Select the webide URL and the SAP Web IDE for SAP HANA will open (after log on).

Or not?

There is a caveat, though. The default 3<instance number>30 port only applies if XSA has been configured for public endpoints with port routing.

With hostname routing, the URL would be

https://api.<default-domain>:3<instance_no>33

For more information, see

Public Endpoints – SAP HANA Security Guide

So, with port routing, it woud be the perfect answer. With hostname routing, it would be off the mark.

Answer 2

Tricky question. Tricky answer. Let me explain.

Below a screen capture of the offline cockpit. We can clearly see the different XS services running, XS advanced model that is: controller, execution agent and UAA server. So correct answer, right?

Well, what about the XS classic model process? Is it up? We don’t now for sure.

Point: 1

SAP HANA Cockpit for Offline Administration

In a multi-tenant database container system (MDC), it runs embedded but is it available?

And if so, where? In the system database (HDB Nameserver)? Or in the tenant database (HDB Indexserver-HXE)?

Confusing topic, see

Exposing HTTP access to multitenant database containers in SAP HANA SPS09 (orginal title Hide and Seek in XSEngine – see URL – was quite appropriate as well)
Server Architecture of Multiple-Container Systems – SAP HANA Administration Guide

Another argument against this answer is that the SAP HANA cockpit for offline administration was flagged for deletion in the latest SP 03 cockpit release, see

SAP HANA 2.0 SPS 02 What’s New: SAP HANA Cockpit

This is, by the way, not related to the deprecation notice of XS classic. The offline cockpit is hosted by the host agent not by the XSEngine.

So, not wrong, but certainly not the best answer.

Answer 3

Correct.

Right again! Amazing. Multiple choice.

Points: 2

The XS (classic) engine process displays a page with message XSEngine is up and running. The URL https://<host>:43<instance number> would have worked as well for secure HTTP.

With the XSEngine up and running your developer could just go ahead and open URL http(s)://<host>:<port>/sap/hana/xs/ide/ to the SAP HANA web-based development workbench!

However, if your developer wanted to develop applications for XSA, this would not have solved her issue.

So, correct but as this points to the deprecated version, only two points.

XSEngine is up and running

SAP HABA Web-based Development Workbench

Answer 4

Not correct. There is no such thing as an xs ping command.

Points: 0

Please review the XS command line reference.

The XS Command-Line Interface Reference – SAP HANA Developer Guide

Command xs help (or help -all) is also a good starting point.

xs help command

Command xs system-info gets closed to a ping but informs us about a whole lot more.

xs system-info command

Bonus – Do You Want All 5 Points?

Make sure that you know if your developer is trying to connect to the XS classic or advanced environment and in the latter case, if host-based or port-based routing is being used.

To verify the status of XSA applications, start a terminal session to the HANA server and run the command (first connect)

xs l
xs apps

In the output, we can see that webide is STARTED with URL.

If you need more information, try

xs logs --recent webide

Documentation

For more information, see:

Blogs

SAP Help Portal

SAP HANA Developer Guide for XS Advanced Model
Public Endpoints – SAP HANA Security Guide
Server Architecture of Multiple-Container Systems – SAP HANA Administration Guide
The XS Command-Line Interface Reference – SAP HANA Developer Guide

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