SAP HANA Tutorial, Material and Certification Guide

In the previous article Master guide to SAP HANA Sizing - Part 1 we learnt about:

What is the importance of HANA Sizing>
SAP HANA T-shirt Size
Key Performance Indicators for SAP HANA Sizing
How to calculate Main Memory Size
Disk Sizing
CPU Sizing

Now we will learn the different methods to calculate the correct hardware size. SAP provides 3 methods to calculate HANA size:

SAP HANA sizing using the QuickSizer tool
SAP HANA sizing using the DB specific scripts
SAP HANA sizing using the ABAP report

SAP HANA Sizing Using Quick Sizer:
Quick Sizer is a universal tool for sizing SAP systems and products. This is a web-based tool and is free of cost.
SAP HANA Database can also be sized using SAP Quick Sizer!
The Quick Sizer calculates:

CPU
Disk
Memory
I/O resource categories

It calculates these based on throughput numbers and the number of users working with the different SAP solutions in a hardware- and database-independent format.

In this chapter we will see how to use Quick Sizer to calculate HANA size.

Step 1: Create a New Project in Quick Sizer and select suitable option
1. Start the QuickSizer tool by clicking this link. Note that you need acount in SAP service market place to download this tool.
2. Give any project name and click on “Create Project”

3. In SAP Quick Sizer multiple predefined scenarios can be selected, e.g.:

Rapid Deployment Solutions

SAP NetWeaver BW powered by SAP HANA

Standalone HANA

For each of the scenarios, the expected compression of the data is different.

4. Choose Standalone HANA

Step 2: Specify source data footprint and active user details

1. HANA memory sizing is derived from the size of the tables in the source database. Note that only tables must be taken into account. Space for indexes, temporary table spaces etc. must be excluded. Run the sizing script attached to SAP note 1514966 to obtain correct size information from your source database system catalog.

The number of users is optional. If you enter a user number, Quick Sizer checks if the CPU requirements are met by certified hardware configurations.

2. Enter the Source data footprint (in GB) and number of concurrent user in the tool. In this example, we assumed that the source data footprint is 100 GB and no of user is 500.

3. Enter the compression factor, i.e. the ratio of the sizes of uncompressed data tables (without their indexes) on the source database and the memory requirements of these tables in HANA. SAP strongly recommends using the default value if you do not have reliable information justifying a different compression factor.

Step 3: Questionnaires - Specifics for SAP NetWeaver Powered by SAP HANA

In case you are doing sizing for SAP BW powered by SAP HANA, you need to provide some more information. The Quick Sizer questionnaires contain questions and algorithms specific to this particular scenario.

The Quick Sizer questionnaire enables you to specify the size of InfoCubes ?and Data Store Objects, along with average and peak load times, user groups, data upload information, and row and column footprints and compression. For example:

Enter the Avg workday & Peak Load time
Enter the user groups based on the usage, basically there are
three types of users: Information Consumer, Business Users, Expert Users
Enter the Data Upload records
Enter the Row Table Footprint, Column Tables Footprint and Column
Compression
Enter InfoCubes details
Enter DataStore Objects

Step 4: Calculate result

1. Click on “Calculate result” and Quick Sizer will determine the system resources required to support the new solution based on the entered parameters

2. Below image shows the results for the example scenario.

Step 5: Get the Right Amount of Hardware

Once you have calculated the correct values for memory, CPU, and disk space to support your implementation needs, you can check for sample configurations at www.sap.com/benchmarks.

You can also contact a trusted hardware vendor that can work with you to evaluate your sizing calculations to determine which of their offerings are suited to your configuration requirements.

Note: Before purchasing hardware, consider also evaluating a new KPI called single computing unit (SCU) performance. SCU refers to the processing power of a single computing unit within a system. Hardware that has good SCU performance helps ensure faster process response times. More information about SCU performance can be found in SAP Note 1501701.

SAP HANA Sizing Using DB Specific Scripts:

DB specific scripts and sizing information are provided by note 1637145. In this note, Database platform specific scripts have been attached which analyze the database catalog and determine the overall database table’s footprint for both row store and column store.

The note also contains an attachment “get_size.zip” which has all the DB specific shell scripts.

Few Important Points:

Unix/Linux and Windows scripts draw information from database dictionary tables to determine size of tables in database (excluding indexes, temp table spaces, etc.)
Distinction between row store tables and column store tables: different compression factors à Scripts deliver two values: row store tables footprint and col store tables footprint. These values need to be fed into sizing formula.
Scripts for DB2 family (DB2, DB4, DB6) take into account source database compression, other scripts don‘t (compression factor has to be applied manually).
To execute scripts, operating system access with DB administrator privileges is required

SAP BW on HANA Sizing Formula:

SAP BW on HANA Sizing Formula: Remarks

SAP BW on HANA Sizing Formula: Procedure and Example

Download archive “get_size.zip” from SAP note 1637145 attachments
Extract script suitable for your DB and Operating system
Extract file “load_RowStore_List.sql“ into same folder
Execute script, result will be stored in file “Extent.txt“
Read sizing figures from script output.
Feed figures into Sizing formula:

SAP HANA Sizing Using ABAP Report:

SAP recommends using the new ABAP sizing report /SDF/HANA_BW_SIZING for SAP BW instead of Quick Sizer or DB Scripts.

The ABAP report provides much better accuracy of sizing results.
Handles source DB compression ratio
Uses table type specific compression factors
Produces detailed results as compared to DB scripts or Quick Sizer tool method
ABAP report is independent of source database
Option to select the future growth calculation of memory and disk size