SAP HANA and SAP BW Setup

Pyramid connects to SAP HANA through JDBC with SQL and to SAP BW through BAPI APIs with MDX. The 2 different data sources have different complexities in setup and security.

SAP HANA Setup

In addition to the standard connection details, as described here, the HANA connector may need these settings:

  • Server Instance Name or Number this is usually a 2 digit number like "00"
  • Portusually 39013 but can be different for tenant databases, which may be in the form 3XX15. This must be supplied if the default database is not.
  • Default Database: Provide the database that you are connecting to. If left blank, the port must be supplied
  • Client Number: This number is sometimes required. Usually a 3 digit value like "800"
  • Authentication: there are 3 choices for authentication:
    • provide the a HANA user and password.
    • use Kerberos Keytabs with a domain user account.
    • Use SAML assertions that are used for authenticating through to Pyramid to also authenticate into HANA. This option will only appear if SAML authentication has been used as the authentication provider.
  • Secure Connection: check this to use a secure TLS / SSL connection to connect to the HANA instance. (see below for more)
  • Options: there are multiple options for HANA, including how to render hierarchies, the default language / culture for the metadata and queries, and whether certain HANA data objects will be visible to the user in the system.

Secure Connections

To secure connections ensure that the check box is enabled. If the certificate should also be validated, details need to be provided on how to find the certificate store on the host servers. This applies to all runtime, task and AI servers. Select the right elements needed for the certificate store and set the values.

Java Trust Store

To use an existing SSL certificate with the Java engines add the certificate PEM file to the Java trust store on each Pyramid server. To add a certificate to the Java trust store run this command from the Java bin directory

bin\keytool.exe -importcert -alias HANAServer -file {yourDirectory}\hana.pem -keystore lib\security\cacerts

Secure Connection Options
  • Validate Certificate - Check this to validate the server certificate. If its false, the connection will simply work with an unvalidated SSL certificate.
  • Override host name in certificate - Use this if the certificate has a different host name than the server name. (The host name on the default self-signed HANA cert is typically "hxehost.localdomain")
  • Custom trust store - Use this option to specify a custom trust store for the certificate if the certificate was not imported to the Java trust store
  • Trust store password - when using a custom trust store, provide the he alternative trust store password

SAP BW Setup

In addition to the standard connection details, as described here, the BW connector uses these settings.

Connection Type

The settings are split between 2 alternative connection types: the typical "application server" connection or the "Message server" connection.

Application Server

  • Server Instance Name or Number this is usually a 2 digit number like "00"
  • Portusually 39013 but can be different for tenant databases, which may be in the form 3XX15. This must be supplied if the default database is not.

Message Server

  • Host
  • Service
  • System (R3) Name
  • Group/Server

Common Settings for BW

  • SAP Router: This is a connection option normally for older BW systems. It is in the format "/H/xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/H/" - where "xxx" is a set of 4 numbers.
  • Client Number: This number is sometimes required. Usually a 3 digit value like "800"
  • Authentication: there are 3 choices for authentication:
    • provide the an SAP user and password.
    • use SAP's SNC technology for single sign on. Click here to learn how to configure SNC security.
    • use SAP Logon Tickets together with an SAP Application Server portal setup.
  • Options: there are several options for BW:
    • Elect whether to enable the optimized execution modes. Even if enabled, the choices for execution are set in the Discover report.
    • Enable "Info Area" trees - to allow users to see the organizational data structure of BW in Pyramid. This then allows users to select if the OLE DB for OLAP components should be visible and to choose which node types to include from the Info Area list.
    • Choose the default language / culture for the metadata and queries.

Troubleshooting SAP BW connections

Connecting to SAP BW can have numerous configuration challenges - ignoring the complexities of setting up single-sign-on etc. There are a number of detailed items that need to be checked and reviewed to uncover such problems.

  • Click here to see a troubleshooting guide for SAP BW connectivity.