why use sap hana ?
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Why Use SAP HANA?
SAP HANA has several incredible features that set it apart from traditional databases.
Let’s delve into these and find out why SAP HANA is getting so popular:1. Columnar Data Storage:
How data is shown in traditional databases? In the form of a table showing rows and columns! But,
SAP HANA has come up with a unique feature, that is…Columnar data storage. This feature allows
linear structuring of computer memory in contrast to the two-dimensional data structure which is
organized in rows and columns. Thus, in SAP HANA, a table can be illustrated either in row-order or
in column-order. A row-order orientation stores a table as a sequence of records, whereas, a
column-order orientation stores the entries in the neighbouring memory locations.
What is so great about this approach?Columnar data storage enables run-length encoding, cluster
coding and dictionary coding which are highly competent compression techniques. This approach
also eliminates the need for additional index structures as once we store data in columns it is just
like creating a built-in index for every column. Once we eliminate additional indexes, operations
become simple and there is no need for defining and maintaining metadata. This further accelerates
the column scanning speed manifolds and allows read operations efficiently.
2. In-Memory Database System:
An in-memory database system (IMDS) stores data fully in the main memory, unlike traditional or on-
disk database management systems that store data in a disk storage mechanism. In-memory
database systems are getting a lot of popularity today because it is much faster to work with data in
memory than writing to and reading from a file system. Anin-memory system is the only way to
handle a real-time-data future that consist of new data types such as social media monitoring and
Web-automated sensors and meter readings. SAP HANA gives the programmer the creativity to
develop applications that incorporate business control logic at the database layer. It eliminates the
waiting time for data models to change or time required to load the redundant data storage required
by traditional business warehouse solutions.3. Parallel Processing:
SAP HANA allows parallel processing which is the core of efficient data analysis. This is how it
works…we know that SAP HANA facilitates Columnar Data Storage in which operations such as
searching for a specific data or aggregating the data are done in loops over an array in adjacent
memory locations. In contrast to this, in traditional row-oriented approach, such operations tend to
be very slow as data belonging to the same column is spread across the memory. Column based
storage also facilitates fast data loading into the CPU cache. As data is already vertically divided in
column based approach, parallel processing is possible using multiple processing cores. Also, if
more than one column is required to be searched or aggregated, each of these tasks can be
allocated to diverse processor core. Further, to quicken the process, operations on one column can
be parallelized by dividing the column into various parts, each of which can be processed by
different processor cores. This facilitates parallel processing!4. SAP HANA provides Real-time Analytics:
Real-time analytics means that there is no BW (business warehouse) phase required for generating
reports. It makes use of tools like Business Objects Explorer or pivot tables in excel for data
analysis. SAP HANA blends online analytical and transactional processing into a single database.
With real-time, in-memory analytics, things that were possible in days are now possible in seconds!
Decision –making becomes faster, smarter and accurate in the fast-changing market scenarios. SAP
HANA provides a 360-degree view of business operations by integrating and modelling data from
various data sources. SAP HANA is capable of aggregating as well as updating huge data sets in
near real-time! For instance, an insurance company can now find out whether south-west regions
are more lucrative for its insurance policies as compared to the central regions within a matter of a
few seconds with SAP HANA!
5. Working on Aggregates efficiently:
In order to enhance their performances, traditional databases and applications frequently use
materialized aggregates. These materialized aggregates are worked out and stored either at pre-
decided times or after every write operation on the aggregated data. These materialized aggregates
are read by read operations instead of calculating them every time they are required. In contrast to
this, SAP HANA calculates aggregates on huge amount of data on-the-fly with great efficiency due
to its scanning speed of numerous gigabytes per millisecond. This automatically eradicates the
requirements for materialized aggregates in many cases. Also, materialized aggregates used in
traditional databases are usually updated only at scheduled times but on-the-fly aggregates are
always show the latest information.
6. SAP HANA provides Integrated Development Environment (IDE):
An Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is a software application that provides wide-ranging
facilities to computer programmers for software development. An IDE usually consists of a source
code editor, build automation tools, a debugger and a graphical user interface (GUI) builder. Even
SAP HANA provides the integrated development environment (IDE) for developing and delivering
SAP HANA applications, making them simple and easy to develop. SAP HANA IDE is based on the
Eclipse-based SAP HANA studio and it facilitates several useful features like integrated and
collective development, server-side JavaScript for control, debugging, deployment of applications
that are based on native database procedures for data processing, and an HTML5 SDK for the
development of user interface. There is a SAP HANA repository taht stores and handles all the
design time objects of SAP HANA.
7. Innovations are possible With SAP HANA:
Several SAP HANA developers have
made significant innovations in IT and in business models. Because of its in-memory approach, SAP
HANA enables both hardware and software innovations which are unparalleled, replacing traditional
databases in many spheres of business world! On the hardware side, SAP HANA facilitates Multi-
Core Architecture (8×8 core CPU per blade), huge parallel scaling with several blades, 64 bit
address space – 2 TB in current servers, data throughput as high as 100 GB/s, cost effectiveness
and so on. On the software side, SAP HANA enables columnar data storage, partitioning,
compression, eliminating aggregate tables, to name a few.
The SAP NetWeaver® Business Warehouse (SAP NetWeaver BW) component, which is a known
enterprise data warehouse solution, has pioneered in migrating the existing databases into a SAP
HANA database. Also, the SAP HANA database can be connected to the SAP ERP application in
the form of a secondary database. Thus, endless innovations are possible with SAP HANA, what is
required is a deep dive into the HANA world!
8. SAP HANA Appliance Software:
SAP HANA appliance software is a very flexible, versatile, in-memory appliance that competently
blends SAP software components optimized on hardware provided and delivered by well-known
SAP technology partners, such as HP, IBM, Fujitsu, Dell and Cisco. The SAP HANA appliance
consists of several integrated SAP software components, such as the SAP HANA studio, an easy-to-
use data modeling and administration tool, the SAP HANA database, support for multiple interfaces
based on industry standards and lifecycle management applications. The beauty of SAP HANA
software appliance is that it can be connected into your landscape to speed up the data warehousing
and operational reporting without troubling the existing IT landscape. Also, SAP HANA manages
today’s ever-increasing BIG DATA, computing speed, latency in information and additional data
aggregation in data marts.
9. Improving Existing SAP Applications:
Traditional database management systems work on limited main memory to maximize performance
on hardware. They focus on optimizing disk access, where disk I/O is the main constraint in itself.
They aim at reducing the number of disk pages to be read into the main memory while processing.
In contrast to this, the main idea behind SAP HANA is to work on plenty of memory! So, instead of
optimizing I/O hard disk access, SAP HANA optimizes memory access between the CPU cache and
main memory. SAP HANA has a lot of scope in developing future in-memory analytic and
transactional applications.
With greater possibilities, existing SAP applications using Open SQL can run on SAP HANA without
alterations. This can immensely help in improving the existing SAP applications using SAP HANA.
Also, the dynamic and powerful SAP HANA applications have huge potential in improving business
performances and analytics manifolds. As these applications are developed and optimized for
parallel in-memory processing, businesses can make full use of advanced hardware technologies
and new enterprise data management.
So, whether an insurance company wants to calculate the premium amount on various
policies or a hospital requires data of all the heart surgeries taken place in the last quarter or
a Real estate wants quick access to its database to follow-up with a client, SAP HANA can do
all these with the kind of features it is blessed with! Characteristics like no aggregate tables,
strong computation power with built-in multitenancy, flexible modelling, large memory
footprint, no data duplication and fast data loads leads to immediate access to huge volume
of data, in turn leading to quick and efficient decision making.
So, enter the new era of SAP HANA and get started with unbelievable adventures!
If you are not clear what SAP HANA is all about, here is the blog post - What is SAP
HANA?