SAP HANA SPS12 Update / Upgrade process and what's new in this release - Part 1 covers the update procedure while Part 2 will cover the new/changed features

1. HANA SPS12 Upgrade and
Exploring New Features – Part 1
• This is collection of notes while exploring some of new features of
SPS12. Focus are applicable on a single-host HANA system.
• Steps and process were based on already publicly released documents
and blogs
• The HANA database is the DBMS for a BW 7.3 system
By OZSoft Consulting for ITConductor.com
Author: Terry Kempis
Editor: Linh Nguyen
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2. References: OSS notes and references
1. 1948334 - SAP HANA Database Update Paths for
Maintenance Revisions to ensure the ’from level’ and
intended ‘to level’ does not have any restriction and
things ’general’ things to consider.
2. 2298750 - SAP HANA Platform SPS 12 Release Note
3. SAP HANA SPS 12 Database Maintenance Revision
122.03
4. What's New in the SAP HANA Platform (Release
Notes)
5. SAP HANA Administration Guide - SAP Help Portal
6. SAP HANA Server Installation and Update Guide - SAP
Help Portal
Author: Terry Kempis
Editor: Linh Nguyen
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3. SPS12 - Preparation
• Extracting the downloaded components
o Avoid using SAPCAR to extract components since it my compromise the
SIGNATURE.SMF
o Use hdblcm if the version has the option ‘—action=extract_components’
o Another option is to download hdblcm_prepare.sh from OSS note 2078425 and run it.
This will extract all SAR files within the download folder. Each component will be
extracted into its corresponding directory, e.g.
SAP_HANA_DATABASE
SAP_HANA_CLIENT
• Stop data replication
• Stop the ABAP connected to the HANA
As <sid>adm, stopsap R3
• Create a complete backup of the database. For MDC, systemDB
and tenant DBs.
Author: Terry Kempis
Editor: Linh Nguyen
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4. SPS12 - Update
There are several ways of updating an SAP HANA System. The procedure
used in this document used the command line
As root,
./hdblcm -
component_root=/mnt/software/SAP/HANA/SPS12/extracted/SAP_HANA
_DATABASE -install_hostagent=No
(the install_hostagent=No is to bypass installation of hostagent if it
already has the latest version. Also, the SAP_HANA_DATABASE does not
contain the hostagent binaries – so it just sit on ‘Preparing package
‘saphostagent setup’ if install_hostagent=No is not specified!)
Author: Terry Kempis
Editor: Linh Nguyen
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5. SPS12 Update
Author: Terry Kempis
Editor: Linh Nguyen
ITConductor.com 5

6. SPS12 Update – some post tasks (1)
Author: Terry Kempis
Editor: Linh Nguyen
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As per OSS note 2371445, ‘ALL other HANA components must be updated
to at least minimal version of SPS12’
- HANA Client
- HANA Studio
- SAP Landscape Transformation (SLT)
- DBSL
Non-matching component will result with issue, like below, if HANA Studio
is not updated
As per OSS note 2376079, statistics server is deactivated.
Set it to ‘true’.
An error has occurred. See error log for more details.
.. while trying to invoke the method java.lang.String.length() of a null object loaded from
local variable 'string'

7. SPS Update – some post tasks(2)
After the HANA system update (and other components),
• Start the connected ABAP system
• Run transaction ST04
• Run transaction DBACOCKPIT
Author: Terry Kempis
Editor: Linh Nguyen
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8. Next: Part 2 - Exploring What’s new in SPS12
Reference:
What's New in the SAP HANA Platform (Release Notes)
Note that this is not an exhaustive list – only some ’new and
changed’ features were explored!, and more focused on
administration side:
• Security Administration
• System Administration
• Performance Monitoring
• Workload Management
• Capture and Replay
Author: Terry Kempis
Editor: Linh Nguyen
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9. • Any Questions?
• Contact Info:
Linh Nguyen linh.nguyen@itconductor.com
Terry Kempis terry.kempis@itconductor.com
Let
itconductor.com
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