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Author's profile photo Jose Ramos

What’s New in SAP HANA 2.0 SPS 07 in Administration and Monitoring

The newest version of the SAP HANA cockpit, SP 16, is delivered as part of the SAP HANA 2.0 SPS 07 release and introduces new functionality in the areas of administration & monitoring, user management & security administration, and backup & recovery.  The complete list of SAP HANA cockpit SP 16 features is available in the What’s New in the SAP HANA Cockpit 2.0 section of the SAP Help Portal.

Recall that last November we also released SAP HANA cockpit SP 15 (see this blog entry) and all those features are also included in SAP HANA cockpit SP 16.  This blog entry focuses and demonstrates the key new functionality delivered in SAP HANA cockpit SP 16.  Please note that unless specified, SAP HANA 2.0 SPS 07 is required in all these features.

I’d like to acknowledge my colleague Amy Hwang who produced the demo video at the end of this post.

SAP HANA Administration and Monitoring

Enhanced Alert Filtering in the Database Directory

In previous versions of the SAP HANA cockpit, the Database Directory application displayed high and medium priority alerts.  With SAP HANA cockpit SP 16, alert monitoring in the Database Directory is enhanced by also displaying low and information alerts, allowing administrators to quickly view all available alerts for monitored databases at a single glance and without needing to navigate to the Alerts application for each database.  This enhancement improves the user experience by accelerating the monitoring workflow.Filtering%20alerts%20in%20the%20Database%20Directory

Memory Manager Details When Creating SAP HANA Full System Information Dumps

When collecting diagnostic information from the runtime environment in the form of SAP HANA Full System Information Dump (FSID) files, you now have the option to obtain specifics about the memory manager.  The resulting trace file includes those details under the section [MEMORY_MANAGER], such as values for the allocation limits, memory pools, inter process memory, and much more.  This new feature provides the equivalent functionality to collecting FSID details via the ‘hdbcons’ command line interface or the ‘ALTER SYSTEM CREATE RUNTIMEDUMP’ SQL command.Collect%20memory%20manager%20in%20FSIDs

Workload Class Mapping Improvements

The new session variable “application source” is introduced to map workload classes more effectively.  In certain scenarios, using existing variables such as “application name” and “application component” may not be accurate enough to differentiate between different workloads or between different applications.  Using the statement-wise application source variable yields more granular workload mappings.  SAP HANA cockpit SP 16 enables database administrators to create a workload class mapping using the session variable “application source”.Application%20Source%20session%20variable

Another improvement is the ability to invalidate a workload class mapping when a base object is removed, as opposed to deleting the workload class mapping.  If the base object is re-created, then the workload class mapping is re-validated and can be used again.  Previously, the mapping was deleted and you had to re-create it.  This improvement is useful in certain situations, such as when you create workload class mappings on SAP HANA Deployment Infrastructure (HDI) procedures and then you re-deploy HDI containers (the procedures are dropped and re-created) – you don’t want the mappings to disappear.  In the SAP HANA cockpit SP 16 Workload Classes app, a new column “Is Valid” displays the status of the mapping based on the availability of the base object.Is%20Valid%20column%20in%20workload%20class%20mappings%20table

Monitor Buffer Cache I/O Volume for SAP HANA Native Storage Extension

To assist in identifying the amount of I/O spent by the SAP HANA Native Storage Extension (NSE) buffer cache, a new metric “I/O Read Size” is displayed in the Buffer Cache Monitor application, in both the Buffer Cache Size view and Buffer Cache History graph.  This new feature increases the accuracy of the reported buffer cache size, helps in measuring the buffer cache I/O impact on the SAP HANA system, and can be used to troubleshoot problematic NSE objects.IO%20read%20size%20in%20Buffer%20Cache%20Monitor

User Management & Security Administration

Edit Comments in Certificates and Public Keys

Starting with SAP HANA 2.0 SPS 07, security administrators can edit the comments associated with certificates and public keys, thus improving the management of those assets.

In the SAP HANA cockpit’s Certificate Store application, the certificate comment is now displayed in the header section for better visibility, and a new option to edit the comment is available.Edit%20comments%20in%20Certificate%20Store

Similarly, in the SAP HANA cockpit’s Public Key Store, a new button “Change” is available in the “Comment” column.Edit%20comments%20in%20Public%20Key%20Store

Auditing Enhancements

When creating a new audit policy, it is now possible to select one or more user groups in the list of users to be audited by the policy.  You can include or exclude specific users in the user group for the audit policy, providing greater control of the users you want to audit when these users are part of a user group.  Note that you can select both users and user groups simultaneously for inclusion or exclusion in an audit policy, but you cannot select one type (e.g. users) for inclusion and the other type (user groups) for exclusion at the same time.  The Create Audit Policy Wizard and Auditing (edit policy) app are enhanced to allow the selection of user groups.

Create Audit Policy Wizard   Auditing (Edit Policy) Application
Create%20audit%20policy%20wizard Edit%20audit%20policy

The list of audit policies is also updated with a new column “Audited User Groups” and helpful tooltips displaying the users and user groups that are excluded in the policy.Audit%20policy%20list

Another auditing enhancement is that you can now configure the audit log table to use pages/columns as loadable units, effectively leveraging SAP HANA Native Storage Extension (NSE) in the auditing functionality.  Utilizing NSE loadable units is a cost-effective method to save memory space because older audit log entries can be kept on disk, as opposed to having them loaded into memory.  Administrators will be able to make this configuration change right from the Auditing application using the new button “Edit Load Unit”.Edit%20load%20unit%20for%20audit%20log%20table

Examine Passport Information in Insufficient Privilege Details Application

In scenarios when you encounter an authorization error while analyzing call sequences within distributed landscapes (e.g. in an SAP S/4HANA deployment), it can be useful to see the passport information when examining the authorization error in the Insufficient Privileges Application.  A new section “Passport Information” displays the root context ID, transaction ID, connection ID, connection counter, component name, and action.  If those details are not available, you will instead see the message “There is no passport information available.”

Passport%20info%20in%20Insufficient%20Privileges%20Details%20app

Backup & Recovery

Retain Complete Data Backups

When generating a complete data backup, administrators can set the new option “Retained” to ensure that the backup cannot be deleted by the BACKUP CATALOG DELETE command or by the scheduled housekeeping tasks such as backup retention.  This feature enhances the data recovery process by allowing SAP HANA operators to preserve a data backup as a ‘snapshot’ of a particular point in time, without running the risk of that backup being deleted accidentally or by configured housekeeping actions.  You can select the option to retain the complete backup in the Create Backup dialog.  Note that you can only select to retain data complete backups, not differential or incremental.Create%20Backup%20Wizard

In the Backup Catalog app, you’ll see a new column “Retained” displaying whether a complete data backup was generated with that option.  If you try to delete such a backup, you’ll see a message stating that you cannot perform that operation.Backup%20Catalog

You can also enable/disable the current retainment setting, provided that the database user for the monitored database has the appropriate system privileges:

  • For your own database, you need BACKUP ADMIN
  • For a tenant backup performed via SYSTEMDB, you need DATABASE ADMIN or DATABASE BACKUP ADMIN

When looking at the details of a complete data backup, the new action button “Set to Retained” or “Set to Not Retained” is available to enable/disable this setting.

Details – Retained Complete Data Backup   Details – Not Retained Complete Data Backup
Backup%20Catalog%20-%20Retain%20data%20backup Backup%20Catalog%20-%20Do%20not%20retain%20data%20backup

Video Demonstration

The following video demonstrates selected new functionality in the SAP HANA cockpit SP 16.

Conclusion

SAP HANA cockpit SP 16, included with SAP HANA 2.0 SPS 07, continues to deliver new features for SAP HANA database administrators.  We hope that this blog entry offers you a good understand of those new features and that you can leverage them in your day-to-day operational activities.  Please visit the SAP Help Portal for more information about the SAP HANA cockpit.

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      10 Comments
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      Author's profile photo Robert Miskiewicz
      Robert Miskiewicz

      Hi Jose,

      thanks for an interesting article.
      I think that the retaining option for complete backups will be useful, at least for me.
      Do you know by the chance if it will be possible to also set older backups that were created in older SPS to “Retained”? In that scenario I would manage backups in HANA 2.0 SPS07, but I'm curious if some older backups from lowers SPS can be still retained and skipped by cleanup of backup catalog.

      I mean, on the first sight it looks like an extra property that can be added to existing complete database backups listed in backup catalog and therefore I think this should be possible.

      But I’d like to ask if there are maybe some limitations for this option though that you could be aware of.

      Thanks & best regards

      Robert

      Author's profile photo Eric Bickers
      Eric Bickers

      Retained backups require SPS 07. Also, it's a manual process. You have to mark them individually and then unmark them from being retained after a certain time period so that your retention policy will clean them up or you can clean them up manually.

      For us this will be a much more useful feature once SAP automates the process. The idea is for more long term retention of data backups without also having to store incrementals and logs. After 2 or 3 weeks go by PITR becomes a pointless exercise. Improvement Request Details - Customer Influence (sap.com)

      Just my 2 cents.

      Eric

      Author's profile photo Jose Ramos
      Jose Ramos
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Robert,

      No, you need SAP HANA 2.0 SPS 07 or later databases for retained complete data backups.

      Best regards,

      José

       

      Author's profile photo Koalala Sheeple
      Koalala Sheeple

      The thumb alludes to the moving piece of the scrollbar, which ordinarily drifts on top of the track.

       

       

       

       

      Direct 2 HR
      Author's profile photo Stefan Jung
      Stefan Jung

      Hi Jose,

      thank you for writing this helpful blog post.

      I have a question regarding the retain option for complete backups:
      Will the housekeeping for log backups take retained backups into account?

      Let's say, my oldest backup is 4 weeks old and marked as retained. Then there is another backup, which is 2 weeks old and not retained.
      How many log backups will be kept by HANA: only the 2 weeks of the not retained backups or the full 4 weeks?

      Thanks & best Regards,
      Stefan

      Author's profile photo Jose Ramos
      Jose Ramos
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Stefan,

      The housekeeping for complete data backups take retained backups into account.  If you've set up a complete data backup as retained, the housekeeping process will not delete it.  I hope this helps!

      BR,
      José

       

      Author's profile photo Stefan Jung
      Stefan Jung

      Hi José,

      thanks for your reply.

      What I would like to know is wether HANA will take retained full backups into account when the housekeeping for log backups is executed.

      Prior to SP7 it works this way: HANA looks for the oldest full backup and only deletes log backups which are older than this backup. Which means: if I am keeping a backup for 4 weeks, I have to keep the log backups as well, which is not always the desired way.

      My hope is, that with SP7 and the retain function I can keep a backup for 4 weeks and the log backup housekeeping will not take it into account when deciding which log backups will be deleted (please see my example in the original comment).

       

      Thanks & best Regards,
      Stefan

      Author's profile photo Eric Bickers
      Eric Bickers

      Hi Stefan,

      I've been testing this out some in our PoC. So far so good for us. Logs and any incrementals for that matter are purged depending on your defined retention policy. It does seem to hold on to everything that comprises a backup generation which is actually a good thing. The last thing I would want is a bunch of orphaned files that I cannot use. Not showing our logs in this screenshot but I can assure you they are cleaned up. As you can see, we do a weekly full and daily incremental every other day of the week.

      Hope this helps.

      Author's profile photo Eric Bickers
      Eric Bickers

      This screenshot probably better depicts what you're asking to see.

      Author's profile photo Stefan Jung
      Stefan Jung

      Hi Eric,

       

      that's great news! Thank you!

       

      Kind Regards,

      Stefan