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Install the SAP HANA Client

Learn about the multiple ways to install the SAP HANA client.
You will learn
  • How to install the SAP HANA client
  • The two locations where SAP HANA client installs can be downloaded from

Prerequisites

  • A Microsoft Windows, Mac, or Linux machine

This tutorial will demonstrate how to install the SAP HANA client. The next tutorial in this mission will demonstrate how to use HDBSQL, which is a command line utility included with the client’s installation, to connect to SAP HANA. The tutorials cover Microsoft Windows, Linux and Mac. If there are commands that are different depending on the platform, multiple sets of commands will be provided, and the title will say Shell (Microsoft Windows) or Shell (Linux or Mac). On Microsoft Windows, in this tutorial, the shell used is the Command Prompt.

  • Step 1

    The SAP HANA client provides a set of utilities and drivers to connect to and query a SAP HANA database from multiple programming APIs, such as Node.js, Python or Java as shown below.

    drivers

    For a complete list, see SAP HANA Client Interface Programming Reference.

    For a list of newly added features, see New and Changed Features in the SAP HANA Client or the release notes.

    The SAP HANA client can be used to connect to different versions of SAP HANA. For example, a 2.20.x client can connect to SAP HANA Cloud or SAP HANA 2.0. For more information, see SAP HANA client and server cross-version compatibility.

  • Step 2
    1. Download the client installer for your platform (Microsoft Windows, Linux, or Mac) from the SAP Development Tools website under the HANA tab and the SAP HANA Client 2.0 section.

      An alternate location to download the client installer (SAP Software Center) is described in step 3 which includes the SAP Common Crypto library and additional platforms such as Windows 32-bit and AIX. SAP Software Center also may contain newer versions and patches before they are available on the SAP Development Tools site.

      Client Download
    2. On Microsoft Windows, unzip the downloaded file in a temporary location.

      On Linux or a Mac, use the following:

      Shell (Linux or Mac)
      Copy
      tar -zxvf hanaclient*.tar.gz
      
    3. Start the graphical installer hdbsetup or use the command line installer hdbinst.

      Shell (Microsoft Windows)
      Copy
      hdbsetup.exe
      
      Shell (Linux or Mac)
      Copy
      ./hdbsetup
      

      Set the install directory to C:\SAP\hdbclient on Microsoft Windows or to users/your_user/sap/hdbclient on Linux or macOS and complete the installation.

      Client-install

      If the install fails, try running the installer with administrator privilege (i.e. On Microsoft Windows, right-click on hdbsetup.exe and choose Run as an administrator).

      If an older version is already installed, it can be upgraded or it can be uninstalled by running hdbuninst from the folder where the client is installed. For example, c:\sap\hdbclient\install\hdbuninst

    4. After the installation process is completed, identify the environment variables that were set by the install. On Microsoft Windows, click the Start icon and search for environment variables. Press the OK button to ensure the changes made by the installer are now active in newly opened command prompts.

      Environment variable

      These variables can be seen in a command prompt using the set command as shown below.

      using set to view environment variables

      For details on how to configure your path on a Mac see this blog post.


      To configure your path on Linux:

      Open an editor to edit the file .bash_profile, .profile, or .zshrc (macOS with zsh).

      Shell (Linux or Mac)
      Copy
      pico ~/.bash_profile
      

      This tutorial uses notepad and pico as default text editors, but any text editor will do.
      Pico can be installed on SUSE Linux with

      Shell (Linux SUSE)
      Copy
      sudo zypper install pico
      

      Add the following line to the .bash_profile after adjusting the path to match the location of where the SAP HANA client was installed.

      Shell (Linux or Mac)
      Copy
      export PATH=$PATH:/home/dan/sap/hdbclient
      

      Run the source command to immediately apply all the changes made to the .bash_profile file

      Shell (Linux or Mac)
      Copy
      source ~/.bash_profile
      
    5. In the hdbclient folder, notice that files such as hdbsql and the client database drivers are available.

      Clients Post Installation
    6. Run the following command in a newly opened shell to verify the installation succeeded and the path is correct.

      Shell
      Copy
      hdbsql -v
      
      Version of HDBSQL

    The install from SAP Development Tools does not contain the SAP Cryptographic Library. This can be seen by examining the C:\SAP\hdbclient\manifest file.

    The SAP Cryptographic Library is only required when client-side data encryption is used, for LDAP Authentication, or for cases where a preference is to use the SAP Common Crypto Library over the libraries provided by the OS. For more information, see the following:

  • Step 3

    Another download location is the SAP Software Center, which requires signing in before downloading. SAP Software Center provides the very latest version of the SAP HANA client as well as additional platforms such as 32-bit Windows and AIX. Versions of the SAP HANA client downloaded from here include the SAP Common Crypto Library.

    For additional details on supported platforms, see SAP Note 3165810 - SAP HANA Client Supported Platforms and SAP Note 2938939 - SAP HANA Client Legacy Platforms.

    1. Select Support Packages & Patches, By Alphabetical Index, and H.

      SAP for Me Download Software

      Then choose either HANA Cloud Clients, HANA Cloud Clients 1.0, SAP HANA Client 2.0 or SAP HANA Platform Edition, SAP HANA Platform Edition 2.0, SAP HANA Client 2.0. Download the software.

      If you have a license for SAP HANA Cloud, follow the instructions at Download and Install the SAP HANA Client.

      If you have a license for an on-premise version of SAP HANA, follow the instructions provided at Install the SAP HANA Client on Microsoft Windows.

      The downloaded software is the same regardless of which one is used.

      SAP Software Downloads
    2. Extract the software using SAPCAR.

      The downloaded file is a .sar file and the utility SAPCAR is needed to extract it. SAPCAR can also be downloaded from SAP Software Center.

      The command to extract a .sar file is shown below. The command options are extract, verbose and file.

      Shell (Microsoft Windows Command Prompt)
      Copy
      SAPCAR_1010-70006231.EXE -xvf IMDB_CLIENT*.SAR
      
      Shell (Linux or Mac)
      Copy
      chmod u+x SAPCAR
      ./SAPCAR_1010-70006178.EXE -xvf IMDB_CLIENT*.SAR
      
    3. Install the software as shown in the previous step.

      For further information on SAPCAR or if you are having troubles using it, see SAP HANA, SAPCAR, and macOS.

  • Step 4

    Congratulations! You now have the SAP HANA client installed.


    Which of the following statements are true?

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