SAP HANA Cloud Product Updates – July 2020

The first official update of SAP HANA Cloud is now available for all customers. Find out here the main highlights of this release.

SAP HANA Cloud Trial

You can now try SAP HANA Cloud free for 30 days! The trial was launched in late June 2020 and you can sign-up right now. Click here to get started with your trial in 3 easy steps.

Haven’t tried SAP HANA Cloud yet? Sign up here for trial.

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Here is some basic information about the trial:

• You can use your trial account to test SAP HANA Cloud for 30-days.
• You will be given a chance to renew your trial period twice before your data and account are deleted.
• The configuration of your trial instance of SAP HANA Cloud is 30GB of memory, 2vCPUs, and 120GB of storage.
• Only a limited number of trial users will be able to create a SAP HANA Cloud data lake together with their SAP HANA Cloud trial database instance. If you see the following message, it’s because the number of SAP HANA Cloud data lakes is already used by other trial users:
  “The maximum number of available SAP HANA Cloud Data Lake Trial instances has been exceeded. Please try again later.” However, as trials expire, more instances of SAP HANA Cloud data lake will become available.
• If you already use other services in SAP Cloud Platform, those will not be affected or limited in any way by your participation in the SAP HANA Cloud Trial.
• You can add SAP HANA Cloud to any existing SAP Cloud Platform trial account.

Learn more about the trial here.

Machine Learning is now available in SAP HANA Cloud

The ScriptServer is an auxiliary SAP HANA server that is required to execute Application Function Libraries (AFLs). With the ScriptServer you can use the machine learning capabilities embedded in HANA through PAL (Predictive Analytics Library) and APL (Automated Predictive Library). Both PAL and APL are included within the Application Function Library.

Before you can start working with PAL or External Machine Learning Libraries (EMLs), you will first need to activate the ScriptServer for you tenant database. You can do that by raising a service ticket here.

Improvements to Self-service in Database Management

As the Administrator of SAP HANA Cloud, you now have a few more self-service options in SAP Cloud Platform cockpit. First, you will now see the Update available button on your instance tile every time there’s a quarterly update available.

If you do not wish to immediately update, you can skip the quarterly update. However, when the next major update is then available, if you wish to update, then it will include all the features released since you last updated. It will be made as soon as you click on the Update available button, and it requires a restart of your instance.

For example, you now have the option to update to the new major version of SAP HANA Cloud. If you choose to not do this update, when the next major version is available in Q4, if you choose to update, this will include both major versions.

Another self-service available now is the ability to change your whitelist option after your instance is created. Just click on the pencil icon to edit your instance and then change your selection under Advanced Settings. Then Save.

Configuration Editor for the Buffer Cache of Native Storage Extension (NSE)

The Buffer Cache is part of the Page Management Policy and provides page memory from the dynamically managed memory pools. It will help you increase productivity by leveraging the tools instead of changing parameters in INI files. It also helps reduce errors by offering descriptions and visual indicators for valid buffer cache sizes.

You can launch this editor from the SAP HANA cockpit Memory Usage card on the home page. Just click on the 3 dots menu on the card, then select Monitor Buffer Cache.

Then you can click on Configure Buffer Cache Size to open the editor. There you can set the maximum buffer cache size as a percentage of your SAP HANA Cloud memory or a specific value in MBs. The default value is 10% of your SAP HANA Cloud memory.

Export and Import from S3/Azure Data Lake

Through the SQL interface you can now access the S3/Azure Data Lake (ADLS) to export and import data. You can either import/export catalog objects or you can import CSV files.

1. To import as catalog objects, go to the SAP HANA Database Explorer.
2. Right-click on Catalog.
3. Click on Import Catalog Objects.
4. Select the S3 bucket or ADLS from which you want to import the data. This is will import all the tables on to SAP HANA Cloud and you can now access them using the SQL console.

Similarly, you can also export data from SAP HANA Cloud to a S3 bucket or ADLS. Just right click Catalog and select Export Catalog Objects.

To import data from CSV file, first you will have to create a table using the SQL console. Once the table is created, you can simply import data using the import statement on SQL console.

Graph: Performance Improvements for Path Algorithms

Path algorithms are fundamental for network analysis. We have improved the overall performance of the following algorithms up to a factor 5000:

• shortest path
• shortest paths one to all
• top k shortest paths

You can run these algorithms on large, directed, weighted networks, optionally providing a maximum length or weight limit. This improvement in performance will help your graph and network analytics, including additional functions for optimized graph traversal and relationship analysis.

SAP HANA Database Explorer with new Trace File features

With the update to the SAP HANA Database Explorer, you now can get a simplified view of the database trace files, whether they are single files or traces that span multiple files represented as one logical file.

To use them, expand the Database Diagnostic Files folder, then the top node, then click on the folder related to the server you want to see information about. On the bottom left-side panel, you will see a list of the available trace files. The tooltip shows full file name, file size, and modified date.

Double-click to open the trace file you want to see. This will open the latest thousand lines of the file. You can use the refresh button to load more lines in the trace file viewer.

Alternatively, you can right-click on a trace file that spans multiple files, then select Show Files, list of different trace files, download or delete a trace file.

You can also view and search for trace files of all the services by right-clicking the top node and then clicking on Show files.

For a full technical description of all new features included in this release, see the Documentation page.

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