LDAP-based Authentication and User Provisioning for SAP HANA – by the SAP HANA Academy

Introduction

SAP HANA 2.0 SPS 03 introduced LDAP-based user provisioning, that is, the capability to automatically create database accounts for LDAP users and map their LDAP roles. This significantly reduces both complexity and cost for maintaining users and authorizations in larger system landscapes.

To explain how you can set this up, we have created a playlist on our SAP HANA Academy YouTube channel with sample code on the associated GitHub repository with links to the documentation.

YouTube Playlist

All the video tutorials on the client-side data encryption topic are bundled in a single playlist on our channel:

• https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkzo92owKnVy851u716gxj4jRiSi7gZkY

What’s New?

In the first video, what’s new on the security topic for SAP HANA 2.0 SPS 03 concerning LDAP is discussed.

Tutorial Video

Create LDAP Provider

To configure a connection to an LDAP server in SAP HANA, you need to create an LDAP provider in the (tenant) database with the CREATE LDAP PROVIDER or ALTER LDAP PROVIDER statements.

Access to the LDAP server takes place using an LDAP server user with permission to perform searches as specified by the user look-up URL. The credential of this user is stored in the secure internal credential store.

Communication between SAP HANA and the LDAP server can be secured using the TLS/SSL protocol or Secure LDAP protocol (LDAPS).

For the code, see

• https://github.com/saphanaacademy/ldap

For the documentation, see

• Secure Communication Between SAP HANA and an LDAP Directory Server

Tutorial Video

LDAP Group Authorizations

You can use LDAP group membership to authorize existing SAP HANA database users. To implement LDAP group authorization, you need to

• Map LDAP groups to SAP HANA catalog roles using the CREATE ROLE or ALTER ROLE statements
• Configure SAP HANA users for LDAP group authorization

For the code, see

• https://github.com/saphanaacademy/ldap

For the documentation, see

• LDAP Group Authorization

Tutorial Video

LDAP User Authentication – Automatic User Provisioning

LDAP authentication can be implemented for users accessing SAP HANA directly via JDBC/ODBC database clients. Using LDAP user passwords for authentication eliminates the need to manage user passwords and password policies in the SAP HANA database.

For the code, see

• https://github.com/saphanaacademy/ldap

For the documentation, see

• LDAP User Authentication

Tutorial Video

Thank you for watching

The SAP HANA Academy provides free online video tutorials for the developers, consultants, partners and customers of SAP HANA.

Topics range from practical how-to instructions on administration, data loading and modeling, and integration with other SAP solutions, to more conceptual projects to help build out new solutions using mobile applications or predictive analysis.

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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