Top 10 Frequently Asked Questions about ABAP for SAP HANA

TOP 10 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT ABAP FOR SAP HANA

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GENERAL

1. Which releases of the SAP NetWeaver Application Server ABAP (AS ABAP) can leverage SAP

HANA?

All SAP NetWeaver AS ABAP releases 7.0 and higher can access SAP HANA as secondary database allowing accelerating selected business processes with SAP HANA as a side-car. In a second step, the SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse 7.3 was optimized for using SAP HANA as primary database. Now, with the SAP NetWeaver Application Server ABAP 7.4, the SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA has been released. ABAP 7.4 is the “to-go” release for all SAP HANA based ABAP applications.

2. When the Application Server ABAP is using SAP HANA as primary database, what changes and

what doesn’t?

The main server architecture, operations concepts and development infrastructure of the AS ABAP remain the same when using SAP HANA as primary database. In particular, SAP HANA is used as a full-fletched relational database which is optimized for transactional (OLTP) and analytical (OLAP) processing. Even though the used data (tables/columns) is loaded into main memory, the data is also available on disk allowing e.g. full backup and recovery. On the other hand, SAP HANA offers unprecedented opportunities for extension and innovation such using integrated data mining and predictive analysis for gaining new business insights. These can be used based on existing and new data models (like provided via SAP HANA Live ) e.g. for operational reporting scenarios and smart business applications.

3. Is it required to rewrite existing custom ABAP developments on SAP HANA?

No, existing ABAP code using standard database access via Open SQL runs on SAP HANA without modifications. However, there are some considerations for custom ABAP developments which are recommended to be taken into account during a transition to SAP HANA. Please see this document for a summary of the available tools, services and best practices. In addition, there are opportunities for accelerating and extending existing developments with SAP HANA.

DEVELOPER

4. I am an ABAP developer. Can I still use my ABAP programming skills on SAP HANA?

ABAP remains a key language as many SAP business applications and custom developments are written in ABAP. Specifically, with ABAP 7.4 there are numerous improvements to the ABAP language, which allow writing streamlined ABAP code and benefitting from SAP HANA. In addition, SQL and SQLScript play an important role for expressing data intensive logic and fully leveraging the

SAP HANA platform from ABAP.

5. The SAP HANA In-Memory technology uses a columnar based storage with an insert-only

approach. Do I have to adapt existing ABAP developments for this?

No, this works under the hood with immediate performance and data compression benefits. In particular, there is no need to classify ABAP data so that it is stored In-Memory, and the ABAP statements INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE should still be used based on the desired business semantics. But it is also possible to exploit the SAP HANA architecture in new application designs e.g. when scanning through large data sets on the fly.

TOP 10 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT ABAP FOR SAP HANA

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6. What is the recommended development environment for ABAP on SAP HANA?

The ABAP workbench (SE80) is still supported for standard ABAP development. However for ABAP on SAP HANA optimization, you need to use ABAP Development Tools for SAP NetWeaver (a.k.a. ABAP in Eclipse) along with the HANA Studio since the new tooling capabilities are exclusive to ABAP in Eclipse. This provides an integrated development experience across ABAP and native HANA development and also gives you a boost in developer productivity.

7. Does ABAP code written on SAP HANA also run on other databases?

Yes, standard ABAP code on SAP HANA is still fully portable and continues to run on all supported database platform unless SAP HANA specific features are used.

PERFORMANCE 8. Does existing ABAP code immediately run faster on SAP HANA?

Not all ABAP code will immediately run faster. Some ABAP programs will run faster without any changes, others will only benefit from SAP HANA after adapting the code. Already today you should stick to existing performance recommendations for Open SQL, because a badly written ABAP program will still be a badly written ABAP program on SAP HANA and hence not run at optimal speed. The existing performance guidelines are still valid for SAP HANA. However, the priorities of some recommendations are changing, i.e. some aspects are less important due to the nature of the In-Memory Column Store (such as secondary indices) but there are also certain anti-patterns with higher impact on SAP HANA (e.g. single SELECTs in nested loops).

HOW TO GET STARTED

9. How can I get started with ABAP on SAP HANA?

You can find expert articles, blogs, and discussions on how ABAP-based applications can leverage SAP HANA on the ABAP for SAP HANA SCN space. In addition, SAP offers a Trial version for ABAP 7.4 on SAP HANA to get a hands-on experience with the latest release of the SAP NetWeaver Application Server ABAP including ABAP development tools in Eclipse. Furthermore, there is a new ABAP Programming for SAP HANA classroom training available.

UPGRADE / HOW TO GET THERE 10. Where can I find installation/upgrade information for ABAP 7.4 for SAP HANA?

There is a concise summary of the installation and upgrade procedures available in the End-to-End implementation roadmap for ABAP 7.4. In addition, we highly recommend considering the available SAP service and support offerings for an upgrade project.

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