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Why need a NLS for Hana?

Former Member
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Just a thought to ponder on:

Why do we need IQ or any other system as a NLS for Hana?

Would it not be more efficient to increase disk capacity by adding a SAN to Hana and storing cold data as columnar tables with a never load into memory option?

Does this not make for a simpler architecture and lower TCO?

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lbreddemann
Active Contributor
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Hi Michael

Ok, let's assume we have this "never load into memory" flag.

Then what?

If we cannot load the data into memory, there is no way to work with it - the data would practically be gone.

Also, the NLS option of SAP BW on HANA allows for archiving old data, regardless of the table partitioning in SAP HANA. And, even more important, the archiving is performed along application objects, not database objects (tables).

So, yes, while the architecture would be simpler, the functionality would be too.

Also, storing data in an NLS like IQ should be cheaper as slower disks can be used - there goes the TCO advantage.

- Lars

Former Member
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Hi Lars

The "never load into memory" was just a way of separating the warm HANA in-memory data from the disk based cold data. HANA should be given the IQ type functionality to manage disk based columnar tables on a SAN and then you would be able to have the best of both worlds and not have to purchase additional infrastructure and licensing to get NLS capability.

Purchasing some extra disks for your SAN is much cheaper than buying servers and licensing for IQ.

Former Member
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Michael - the HANA design doesn't allow for this. It was designed for data to be in-memory resident and doesn't have a cache architecture.

However it would be nice if HANA also had a warm store with a cache which could be used for very occasionally used data and data that can be slow, to reduce TCO. SAP could call it something like Dynamic Data Tiering. Let's see what SPS09 brings us!

Former Member
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Hi John

True, it would be nice if SAP could combine the in-memory capability of
Hana with the disk based column store capability of IQ.

 

Getting clients to commit to buying HANA is tough enough in South
Africa, but to get them to commit to spending extra for IQ is almost impossible.

Former Member
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Should look into the TCO Model. If you buy the BW SAV license then IQ is included in the bundle, so there's no additional license cost.

And then if you have say a 12TB MSSQL system then it would be either 2TB HANA DB + 2TB calculation = 4TB HANA - or 1TB HANA DB + 1TB calculation = 2TB HANA, plus 1TB of IQ.

Given the going price of around $150k/TB for HANA hardware, the TCO case for IQ is quite compelling if you have Dev/QA and HA/DR, that's 6TB of hardware ($900k) or 3TB of hardware ($450k).

Plus with IQ you only backup one every archive period (monthly or yearly). That's another $500k over 5 years saved in storage and offsite costs.

More than makes up for the complexity.

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Hi Michael,

But this is already possible in at least one way: Using IQ as the database for NLS to BW on HANA.

And, furthermore, it will soon also be possible in another way: By storing non-hot HANA data in Extended Storage, which is based on IQ, too. 🙂

BR

Tommy Baunwall


Former Member
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Hi Tommy

Thanks for your reply.

I think that you might have misread the question I posed.

I asked: Why do I need to use IQ as a NLS for HANA?

It would be far more beneficial if HANA could have the column based disk storage capability of IQ so that only HOT data is stored in memory and other data is "archived" to HANA's disk (not IQ). This would mean that your landscape would be simpler and running costs cheaper.

I know that this is currently not possible, but would be nice to see that on HANA's roadmap as it would further decrease the TCO of HANA solutions and increase your ROI to make adoption much more lucrative.

*SAP is on a path to bring everything to run on HANA, except that it is moving cold data off HANA.

Former Member
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Michael, this is what I was referring to before: http://scn.sap.com/community/bw-hana/blog/2014/09/29/bwonhana-extended-storage-and-dynamic-tiering

With SPS09 of HANA and BW 7.4 SPS08, it is now possible to have a disk store on HANA.

Former Member
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Hello John,

This is a very interesting discussion.

My question is : What would be the Licensing agreements if an embedded NLS storage is provided. Will SAP charge separeately for licenses for NLS ?

Former Member
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Caveat: when it comes to licensing, you need to talk to a sales team.

However customers who I have seen buy BWoH as a Runtime license from SAP, have the IQ NLS included as part of the bundle.

If you buy it as a standalone license by the unit then the IQ NLS is charged per core.

I believe that the store for dynamic tiering of PSA data is included in either license.

Remember that the TCO for NLS/Dynamic Tiering really only kicks in when you pass 2TB of DRAM (1TB HANA DB), which is equivalent to around 5TB of AnyDB.

We worked on a customer recently who had 14TB of MSSQL down to 1.3TB of HANA DB (2TB DRAM) and 1TB of IQ NLS. At this size, there is a clear TCO to use a NLS.

John

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I would assume the 14 TB of SQL was not compressed.  Because compression rates for MSSQL are much higher it would also take 14TB down to 2TB or less depending upon the data objects involved.