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dvankempen
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert








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

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

For the SAP Press Certification Success Guide, see

For the blog post, see



Introduction


Studying for the SAP Certified Technology Associate - SAP HANA 2.0 certification exam?

In this blog, I will provide explanation, insights, and references for the sample questions that you can find on the SAP Training website for this exam.

For information about the exam, see

For the C_HANAIMP_13 sample questions, see

For a deep-dive on the topic areas - by the SAP HANA Academy, see

 

Question 1 - Backup & Recovery


You created data and log backups on the file system. Due to a hardware failure, you use the Recover Database app in SAP HANA cockpit 2.0 to recover the crashed SAP HANA database.

From which location does the Recover Database app read the recovery information by default?

A. $(DIR_INSTANCE)/../global/hdb/custom/config

B. $(DIR_INSTANCE)/backup/log

C. $(DIR_INSTANCE)//trace

D. $(DIR_INSTANCE)/backup/data

Answer B


What's the best approach? Typically, one answer will be unlikely. Here that would be answer C, as this points to the trace file location.

Both answer B and D point to the backup location, whereas A points to the directory for configuration files.

Let's see whether the Recover Database app from SAP HANA cockpit can provide more information.

For the system database, this appears to be $DIR_INSTANCE/backup/log/SYSTEMDB.

This, indeed, points to answer B as the best answer.

For a tenant database, Recover Database does not list the default location.



SAP HANA Cockpit > Recover Database (SYSTEMDB)



SAP HANA Cockpit > Recover Database (Tenant Database)

Next, let's see what the documentation mentions on the topic.

For file-system backups, the default location is the basepath_catalogbackup parameter which defaults to $DIR_INSTANCE/backup/log.



SAP HANA Administration Guide > Availability and Scalability > SAP HANA Backup > SAP HANA Recovery > Recovering an SAP HANA Database > Recover a Database



For more information, see

Question 2 - Database Administration and Tools


What can you do to shorten the startup time of an SAP HANA system after a reboot?

A. Set the preload column value in the Tables system table to FULL.

B. Flag all columnar tables for preload.

C. Set the savepoint interval to a lower value.

D. Partition the row store across nodes.

Answer C


Again, first, let's try to spot the unlikely ones.

Partition the row store across nodes looks to me like a very unlikely candidate as typically row store tables are small tables and hence would not impact startup time much. Additionally, the question does not make any reference to a distributed system and would thus not apply to a single-host system.

What about preloading?

It is possible to configure one or more columns of a columnar table for preloading. This, however, would have the opposite effect as this might slow down startup time. The goal here is to make certain tables and columns used by important business processes available more quickly. Table preloading occurs in the background after the database has been made available. However, forcing a large number of column tables to preload would certainly have a performance impact.

Answer A is incorrect as there is no PRELOAD column in SYS.TABLES.

Answer B is incorrect as well as flagging all columnar tables for preload would involve modifying the default setting for all columns on all columnar tables. This makes no sense.



SAP HANA Database Explorer - ALTER TABLE PRELOAD

This leaves only answer C. Why is this correct?

During a savepoint, all modified pages of row and column store are written to persistent storage (for each host and each service). At database start, the last savepoint is used by the database together with the redo log to detect which transactions need to be rolled forward and which need to be rolled back. For this reason, the more frequent the savepoint, the faster database startup as less redo logs need to be applied to make the database consistent.

However, a savepoint requires a full table lock on all tables, so you do not want this to occur too often either. By default, a savepoint is triggered every 300 seconds.

For more information, see

Question 3 - Monitoring and Troubleshooting of SAP HANA


Which of the following traces is active after the SAP HANA installation is completed?

A. SQL

B. Plan

C. Performance

D. Database

Answer D


The only active trace is the database trace after installation. All other traces need to enabled manually.

For more information, see

  • Traces - SAP HANA Administration Guide




SAP HANA Database Explorer > Trace Configuration



SAP HANA studio > Trace Configuration

Question 4 - High Availability


Which prerequisites must be met to set up high availability for a distributed SAP HANA system?

Note: There are 2 correct answers to this question.

A. The column tables were assigned to an index server manually.

B. The name server is started on all nodes.

C. The synchronized backup savepoint is set.

D. The shared storage is connected to every host.

Answer B, D


For me, this is a difficult question as the phrasing is unclear.

A distributed SAP HANA system in itself provides high availability as it supports multiple hosts to run an SAP HANA system. Should one host fail, the database remains up and running. There is no switch or action (with prerequisites) to perform to set up high availability for a distributed system

There are prerequisites for an installation of SAP HANA as a distributed system. One such system requirement is that all hosts can access shared storage (answer D).

For more information, see

What we can configure is host auto-failover for a distributed system and my guess is that this is what is meant by this question.

In such a configuration, there will be a name server running on all nodes and this makes answer B correct as well.

For more information, see

In a distributed SAP HANA system, tables and table partitions are assigned to an index server on a particular host at their time of creation. This can be changed manually or you can configure the system for automatic redistribution operations. A manual assignment is not a prerequisite, so answer A is incorrect.

For more information, see

A global savepoint is performed before a data backup is started and another one after the backup of a specific service if finished.This happens automatically and does not require any intervention, nor is it a prerequisite. This makes answer C incorrect as well.



High Availability Decision Tree

For more information, see

Question 5 - Security


Which security settings can you monitor in SAP HANA cockpit 2.0?

Note: There are 2 correct answers to this question.

A. Data Storage Security

B. Password Policy

C. Manage Database Backups

D. Manage Users

Answer A, B


On the Overview page of the SAP HANA cockpit in the security section, we can view (monitor) the status of data encryption, auditing, and authentication including the password policy (Answers A and B).

There are pages (apps) to manage database backups and users as well in the SAP HANA cockpit but there are no tiles to monitor their security settings.

For more information, see



SAP HANA cockpit > Overview > Security

Question 6 - Database Administration Tools and Tasks


You are monitoring the application server of an SAP S/4 HANA system. You need to investigate on the SAP HANA database, but someone locked your personal SAP HANA user.

Which tools can you use to execute an SQL query?

Note: There are 2 correct answers to this question.

A. SQL Command Editor of the DBA Cockpit on the application server

B. SAP HANA studio on the SAP HANA server

C. HDBSQL command line tool on the SAP HANA server

D. SAP HANA cockpit 2.0 on a central server

Answer A, D


A bit of a tricky question. In my view, all four are correct, so here we need to decide which tool allows to connect to the SAP HANA database using a pre-configured technical user.

The DBA Cockpit for SAP HANA stores connection information and would typically be setup with a technical user. This makes answer A correct.

For more information, see

SAP HANA cockpit 2.0 also makes use of a technical user to connect to the database. This makes answer D correct as well.

For more information, see

You can certainly install SAP HANA studio on the SAP HANA server and store the credentials of a technical user in studio's (Eclipse) secure storage for emergency purposes although, granted, it is unlikely.

You can also use the SAP HANA interactive terminal (hdbsql) with a secure user store key to connect to the SAP HANA database. This could also make use of a technical user but again, this would require previous preparation and for this reason (I assume) is incorrect.

For more information, see



DBA Cockpit > SQL Editor



SAP HANA Cockpit > Resource Directory

Question 7 - Multitenant Database Containers


Which tasks must you perform to convert a single database to a multi-tenant database system?

Note: There are 2 correct answers to this question.

A. Set the password for the system database user.

B. Trigger the conversion in the SAP HANA cockpit 2.0.

C. Generate the system database before the conversion.

D. Create an operating system user for the converted tenant database.

Answer A, B


When you upgrade SAP HANA to release SAP HANA 2.0 SPS 01 or greater, the conversion occurs automatically. The original database of the single-container system becomes a tenant database and a new system database is added. For this reason, you need to specify a password for the SYSTEM user of SYSTEMDB. This makes answer A correct.

For more information, see

You cannot generate a system database. This makes answer C incorrect.

If you want the tenant database to run in high isolation mode, you can create an operating system user for the converted tenant database. However, this is not a requirement and can be done later on, if needed. This makes answer D incorrect.

For more information, see

There is a Convert to multitenant database containers link on the Overview page of the SAP HANA cockpit which opens the SAP HANA Platform Lifecycle Management tool (hdblcmweb) for that database in case it is running in single-container mode. This makes answer B correct as well.

For more information, see





Question 8 - System Architecture


You implement a multi-host SAP HANA system with auto-failover capabilities.

What are the requirements for the disk storage?

Note: There are 2 correct answers to this question.

A. The slave node is set to backup standby.

B. The failed worker host gets fenced during failover.

C. The standby host has file access.

D. The master node is fully clustered.

Answer B, C


See above, question 4, about host auto-failover.

From the Administration Guide:

If a failing host is detected, the cluster manager ensures that the standby host takes over the role and the failing host is no longer allowed write access to the files (called fencing) so that they do not become corrupted. (...)  A shared storage subsystem, which is accessed using file systems such as NFS or IBM's GPFS, makes it easy to ensure that the standby host has access to all active host files in the system.

This makes answer B and C correct.

For more information, see

Backup standby is not a valid setting for the slave node. Valid settings are worker and slave. This makes answer A incorrect.

It is not clear what is meant by "the master node is fully clustered". This makes answer D incorrect.




Question 9 - Users and Authorizations


You need to enable single sign-on for SAP HANA with Microsoft Active Directory.

Which authentication method allows you to use the Active Directory groups?

A. X.509 client certificates

B. Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML)

C. SAP Logon and assertion tickets

D. Kerberos

Answer D


All four are valid user authentication methods but only Kerberos allows you to use Active Directory groups. This makes answer D correct.

For more information, see



SAP HANA cockpit > Add User > New User

Question 10 - SAP HANA Installation & Upgrade


Your customer sets up an SAP HANA system as tailored datacenter integration (TDI) deployment.

What are the enterprise network requirements?

Note: There are 2 correct answers to this question.

A. 8 GbE storage area

B. 4 GbE fiber channel

C. 15 GbE internode

D. 10 GbE backup

Answer C, D


Answering this type of question is very difficult unless you have attended the HA200 training (it is on a slide) or are very familiar with networking technology.

You might have guessed that answer A references the size of the storage area, hence this does not apply to networking requirements (there are storage requirements for TDI as well), hence answer A is incorrect.

You can use both ethernet and fiber channel but, for the last, this needs to be 8 GbE or larger and not 4GbE, hence answer B is incorrect.

For more information, see the SAP Fiber Channel Storage Connector Admin Guide attached to note

The bandwidth for both the internode (between the different SAP HANA hosts) and the backup network (SAN or otherwise), needs to be bigger than 10 GbE (Gigabit Ethernet). For this reason, answers C and D are correct.

For more information, see


References


SAP HANA Academy Playlists



SAP HANA Community Blogs



SAP White Paper



SAP Documentation



SAP Notes



Thank you for watching


The SAP HANA Academy provides technical enablement, implementation and adoption support for customers and partners with 1000’s of free tutorial videos.

For the full library, see SAP HANA Academy Library - by the SAP HANA Academy

For the full list of blogs, see Blog Posts – by the SAP HANA Academy

 



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