Day: December 22, 2017

Some things are vintage and some things are just old. While we were digging through the archives, we found one of our older videos and decided to dust it off and give it an update. Who says something old can’t be new again? And speaking of new, if you’re starting to learn about streaming analytics and trying to figure out how to create, run, or test a project in studio, this is the perfect video for you.

Ready for more good news? Silly question, I know. That’s like asking if you want the last slice of pizza. Anyways, the good news is that this video is part of a tutorial series. So, after you’ve learned the basics of creating and working with projects in studio, you can then learn how to use cockpit to monitor those projects. The bad news? You’ll have to wait for the end of November for the second video to come out. You know the saying: good things come to those who wait!

On the bright side, this blog does offer a sneak-peek of the second video. Here are the highlights of each video. Happy reading!

Part 1: Studio – Creating, Running, and Testing a Project

In part 1, we:

* create a project that filters data and writes it to HANA,
* compile and execute the project, and
* test the project by manually loading data to the input stream and checking the results.

Here’s a screengrab from the video demo showing us setting a filter:

Only values greater than 20 in the input stream will show in SAP HANA. After setting the filter, we add an SAP HANA Output adapter. Here we are configuring the adapter to write to SAP HANA:

We’re using the ‘hanadb’ service, connecting to the ‘SYSTEM’ schema, and writing to the target table in SAP HANA, ‘TABLE_TEST’.

After running the project, we test it by manually loading two rows into the input stream: the first with a value below 20 (9), and the second with a value above 20 (21):

Because of the filter, only the second row we added shows in SAP HANA:

That’s the gist of the first video tutorial. Check it out for yourself here. Once you’ve completed the studio tutorial, you’re ready to start monitoring streaming in cockpit! (or you will be once we post the video later this month. Stay tuned!)

Part 2: Cockpit – Monitoring Streaming Analytics

In part 2, we monitor:

* streaming analytics and general system behavior, using the Monitoring and Administration section, and
* the streaming project we created in part 1, via the Streaming Analytics

Here’s a screengrab from the video showing the Monitoring and Administration section:

It shows the behavior of the resource you’re connected to, including:

* overall database status,
* number of alerts, and
* memory, CPU, and disk usage.

If you select Show all in the Alerts tile, you can view and configure alerts. In the video, we look at the Inactive Streaming applications alert:

We show you how to:

* set thresholds for prioritized alerting,
* add email recipients, and
* trigger alert checkers.

After monitoring system behavior, next, we monitor the project we created in the previous video, ‘testproject’. We look at the System, Network, Streams, and Adapters tabs. In the Streams tab, you can view QueueDepth and RowsInStore. Here’s a screengrab from the video:

PriceFeed and VWAP have 99 and 26 records in their log store, respectively. If you select a stream, you can see more detailed info, including rows/transaction throughput history.

Finally, in the Adapters tab, you can view the adapters in the project and their status:

And that’s all she wrote!

So, whether you’re a newbie looking to get your feet wet or a wily veteran just looking for a refresher, be sure to check out our video tutorial series on studio and cockpit. Part 1 is already available, and part 2 will be out very soon. Also, if you have any ideas for more videos we could make, let us know in the comments below!

For more on managing projects in studio and monitoring streaming in cockpit, check out:

* the Working with Projects in the Streaming Plugin for SAP HANA Studio section of the Steaming Analytics Developer Guide, and
* the Managing Streaming Analytics with SAP HANA Cockpit section of the Streaming Analytics Configuration and Administration Guide, as well as the SAP HANA Cockpit Administration Guide. http://bit.ly/2CYHv78 #SAP #SAPCloud #AI

Some of you might think this is the battle cry for @darrenroos (President of SAP S/4HANA Cloud) / @SDenecken (Senior Vice President of SAP S/4HANA Cloud Product Management & Co-Innovation)…..and it probably is…..however I also think it is true, and when it becomes true for you is just a matter of time (so time is the question).

To prove this, let’s try a little mind game – Cast yourself into future and imagine having an On Premise SAP ERP or S/4HANA system in 2025 (even if it is on HEC), you meet up with friends from other companies that have S/4HANA Public Cloud – how does your TCO compare ? how many more skills does your IT department need than theirs ? how much more will they focus on innovation ?

What were your answers ? more, more and more ? If so keep reading as you need to start planning your journey to S/4HANA (Public) Cloud now.

“The journey, Not the destination matters…” – T.S Eliot

Your first task is to make sure you really understand what you get with S/4HANA (Public) Cloud.

I hear a lot of people saying that they can’t use S/4HANA (Public) Cloud because of scope issues – but this is often based on older versions of S/4HANA (Public) Cloud or a lack of knowledge of the actual scope.

One thing to get used to is how quickly things do move with S/4HANA (Public) Cloud – every 3 months we get a whole load of new stuff to digest (1711, 1802, 1805 …..). Below is the summary of the new things from 1711.

This is the link to the “summary” 77 page PPT – “SAP S/4HANA Cloud 1711 – Product Scope”

And for those with a need for more information you can get right into the details via the Best Practice Explorer.

Finally, you need to keep an eye on the S/4HANA (Public) Cloud Roadmap which you can access here, which will show you plans for the next 4 quarters (only 32 pages) – if stuff you need isn’t in this roadmap, engage with SAP and let them know what you need.

So hopefully now you have the tools to start to judge when S/4HANA (Public) Cloud will be ready for you, and you are engaged with SAP on the things that you need to be there to make the move.

You also need to map your existing On Premise scope for SAP ERP to the newer portfolio of SAP Cloud Apps (including S/4HANA (Public) Cloud). For this you can use the SAP Transformation Navigator to start to plan that journey.

So what can you do ? I see 5 typical approaches

Do nothing – This is the path to choose if you believe your current SAP ERP solutions meets your businesses demands now, for the foreseeable future and doesn’t need any hardware / software upgrading for 8 years.

Start tidying up – This is the path to choose if you have analysed the scope provided by S/4HANA (Public) Cloud, have decided it doesn’t currently support your scope (and SAP have confirmed this) and don’t want to learn any new skills to prepare you for S/4HANA (Public) Cloud. In this option, you would work through your existing on premise scope removing / cleaning data and reviewing / removing custom code. The more of this you can do the easier the final move will be

Get some HANA / SCP Expertise – This is the path to choose if you want to tidy your system and get used to what SAP HANA can provide to you. This will smooth the eventual journey to S/4HANA (Public) Cloud and if you get some of your HANA experience in SCP you can start to understand the difference between running ERP on HANA (Suite on HANA) and using the power of  all the engines that are available in native/full-use HANA plus the SCP capabilities aka Leonardo.

Get to S/4HANA Enterprise Management On Premise – This is the path to choose if you see features in the on premise S/4HANA system that are not yet available via S/4HANA (Public) Cloud. To best prepare for the eventual move to S/4HANA (Public) Cloud you might want to consider starting on premise with a new S/4HANA system and trying to stay within the Best Practice Scope Items where you can. Make sure SAP know where you can’t fit into the S/4HANA (Public) Cloud Scope so they can feed this into their planning.

Get to S/4HANA Cloud – This is the path to choose if your research shows you that S/4HANA (Public) Cloud has the scope you need now. For this you will need to migrate the data from your on premise system(s), so the cleaner/smaller this is before you start the better.

I hope you enjoy your journey – which paths are you choosing ? http://bit.ly/2BRYNn7 #SAP #SAPCloud #AI

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With SAP Vora and Hadoop connected to my SAP Data Hub, I am ready to build and execute my first Task Workflow:

For this, I leverage the HDFS test.cvs file from Validate the SAP Vora Installation and copy it to simulate a backup scenario:

To start with, I grant my user the authorization to execute my Task Workflow:

Next, I create a Project including my HDSF Connection:

Within my Project I then create a Source:

And Target Data Set:

As the Task, I chose the File Operation Copy Data from Source to Target in Overwrite Mode:

And put this into my Backup Task Workflow:

An overview of my Modeling is also shown in the SAP Data Hub Cockpit:

Finally, I execute my Task Workflow and see it Running both in the SAP Data Hub Modeling tool:

As well as in the SAP Data Hub Cockpit:

Since the file is small, my Task Workflow processes through its Tasks quickly:

And finishes successfully:

Which is also reflected in the SAP Data Hub Cockpit:

Of course, this is only a tiny sort of Hello World example, but I hope it gives you a glimpse of the potential for big data processing that resides within the SAP Data Hub. http://bit.ly/2BRPiEm #SAP #SAPCloud #AI