SAP HANA Cloud Central Gets Renovated!

When SAP HANA Cloud was firstly released in 2020, operators used the SAP HANA cockpit (the cockpit) and SAP HANA database explorer (DBX) tools to manage their individual database instances.  Then later that year, the SAP HANA Cloud Central tool was delivered to manage multiple SAP HANA Cloud instances.  In essence, we provided SAP HANA Cloud operators with a set of tools to perform end-to-end administration and monitoring for their entire landscape of SAP HANA Cloud, SAP HANA databases and SAP HANA Cloud, data lake instances.

While we continue to deliver new features to improve the management of SAP HANA Cloud instances, we also strive to improve our tools to enhance the overall user experience and introduce benefits that our users can take advantage of.  To that end, we are pleased to announce that our SAP HANA Cloud administration and monitoring offerings are evolving to become a unified tool.  In other words, the functionality of the cockpit and DBX is being integrated into SAP HANA Cloud Central so that SAP HANA Cloud operators can perform administrative tasks from a single tool.  We plan on delivering the initial version of this renovated SAP HANA Cloud Central very soon.  This initial delivery will integrate selected functionality of the SAP HANA cockpit into SAP HANA Cloud Central, with subsequent versions incorporating more and more features from the cockpit and from DBX.

It is important to understand that we are not releasing a new database management tool for SAP HANA Cloud.  Rather, we are renovating SAP HANA Cloud Central with enhanced user interface components to add the existing capabilities of SAP HANA cockpit and SAP HANA database explorer that you are already familiar with.  This evolution of our tools will allow you to benefit from the following:

• Simplicity.  Instead of navigating to different tools, you will now be presented with a single interface where you can perform all your database administration and monitoring tasks.
• Improved user experience. The renovated SAP HANA Cloud Central provides a more intuitive approach to managing SAP HANA Cloud landscapes, particularly if you have a large number of instances.
• Performance.  Launching the administration and monitoring tasks for individual SAP HANA Cloud instances is significantly faster.  In some cases, we have seen a 10x improvement factor, resulting in greater productivity.
• Leverage your knowledge. There is no need to learn new concepts or a new way to manage your SAP HANA Cloud instances.  What you have learned is very much applicable in the renovated SAP HANA Cloud Central and much of the cockpit and DBX user interface remains the same – it is simply moved to SAP HANA Cloud Central.

Another key point to recognize is that when the renovated SAP HANA Cloud Central is delivered, you will still be able to launch the existing SAP HANA cockpit and SAP HANA database explorer tools in their own web browser tabs.  This means that the current (and soon to be old) behaviour will remain in SAP HANA Cloud Central.  However, you will also be able to experience the new behaviour within the tool, thus enabling you to easily transition from the “old” behaviour to the “new” one.  This transition is necessary because not all the existing functionality from the cockpit and DBX will be made available (at least not yet) in the renovated SAP HANA Cloud Central.  As previously stated, we expect to move all of those features into SAP HANA Cloud Central in future releases.

We will be publishing additional blog posts with much more information when the renovated SAP HANA Cloud Central tool is generally available in SAP HANA Cloud.  In the meantime, here is a short teaser video demonstrating some of its capabilities.  Please feel free to post your comments below on what you think of the renovated SAP HANA Cloud Central!