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name: sap-hana-cloud description: > SAP HANA Cloud database development and administration skill. Use when writing SQLScript procedures, creating calculation views, managing HDI containers, optimizing HANA SQL, using spatial/graph/JSON engines, or configuring data tiering (NSE). If the user mentions HANA Cloud, SQLScript, calculation view, HDI container, or HANA performance tuning, use this skill. Covers QRC 2025+. license: MIT metadata: author: SAP Skills Community version: "1.0.0" last_verified: "2026-03-23"

SAP HANA Cloud Database Development

Related Skills

• sap-rap-comprehensive — CDS views consumed by HANA models
• sap-s4hana-extensibility — Custom CDS/HANA artifacts in S/4HANA extensions
• sap-business-ai-joule — Vector engine for AI/RAG scenarios
• sap-hana-tools — hdbsql CLI, HDI management, and HANA client tooling
• sap-cap-advanced — CAP with HANA Cloud native artifacts

Quick Start

Choose your development approach:

Scenario	Tool	Artifact
BTP CAP application	SAP Business Application Studio	.hdbcds, .hdbprocedure in db/src/
Native HANA development	SAP HANA Database Explorer	HDI container objects
Data warehouse / analytics	SAP HANA Cloud Central	Calculation views, flowgraphs
Data tiering	HANA Cloud Central	Data Lake / Native Storage Extension

Minimal HDI procedure:

PROCEDURE "mySchema.myProc" (
  IN iv_customer_id NVARCHAR(10),
  OUT et_orders TABLE (order_id NVARCHAR(10), amount DECIMAL(15,2))
)
LANGUAGE SQLSCRIPT
SQL SECURITY INVOKER
READS SQL DATA
AS
BEGIN
  et_orders = SELECT order_id, amount
              FROM "ORDERS"
              WHERE customer_id = :iv_customer_id;
END;

Core Concepts

HDI Containers (HANA Deployment Infrastructure)

• Schema-less development: Objects reference each other by name, HDI assigns runtime schema
• Build plugins: Each artifact type (.hdbcds, .hdbprocedure, .hdbtable) has a build plugin
• Container groups: Isolate tenants; cross-container access via synonyms + .hdbgrants
• Undeploy whitelist: undeploy.json controls what can be removed on redeploy

Multi-Model Engines

Engine	Use Case	Key Type
Relational	Standard OLTP/OLAP	TABLE, VIEW
Document Store	Schema-flexible JSON	COLLECTION
Graph	Network/relationship analysis	GRAPH WORKSPACE
Spatial	Geospatial queries	ST_GEOMETRY, ST_POINT
Vector	AI embeddings / similarity search	REAL_VECTOR

Data Tiering

1. Hot store: In-memory, fastest, most expensive
2. HANA Native Storage Extension (NSE): Disk-based, buffer cache, warm data
3. HANA Cloud Data Lake (HDLR): Relational cold storage, SQL access
4. Data Lake Files: Object store for unstructured/semi-structured data

Common Patterns

Pattern 1: Table with NSE Page Loadable Columns

-- .hdbtable
COLUMN TABLE "SALES_HISTORY" (
  "ID"          BIGINT GENERATED ALWAYS AS IDENTITY PRIMARY KEY,
  "CUSTOMER_ID" NVARCHAR(10) NOT NULL,
  "ORDER_DATE"  DATE NOT NULL,
  "AMOUNT"      DECIMAL(15,2),
  "DETAILS"     NCLOB
) WITH PARAMETERS ('PARTITION_SPEC' = 'RANGE (ORDER_DATE)
  (PARTITION VALUE <= ''2023-12-31'' PAGE LOADABLE,
   PARTITION OTHERS COLUMN LOADABLE)');

Pattern 2: SQLScript with Error Handling

PROCEDURE "processOrders" (
  IN iv_date DATE,
  OUT ov_count INTEGER,
  OUT ov_status NVARCHAR(20)
)
LANGUAGE SQLSCRIPT
SQL SECURITY INVOKER
AS
BEGIN
  DECLARE EXIT HANDLER FOR SQLEXCEPTION
  BEGIN
    ov_status = 'ERROR';
    ov_count = 0;
  END;

  DECLARE lv_count INTEGER;

  SELECT COUNT(*) INTO lv_count
    FROM "ORDERS"
    WHERE order_date = :iv_date
      AND status = 'PENDING';

  UPDATE "ORDERS"
    SET status = 'PROCESSED', processed_at = CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
    WHERE order_date = :iv_date
      AND status = 'PENDING';

  ov_count = :lv_count;
  ov_status = 'SUCCESS';
END;

Pattern 3: Graph Workspace

-- .hdbgraphworkspace
GRAPH WORKSPACE "EMPLOYEE_ORG"
  EDGE TABLE "ORG_EDGES"
    SOURCE COLUMN "MANAGER_ID"
    TARGET COLUMN "EMPLOYEE_ID"
    KEY COLUMN "EDGE_ID"
  VERTEX TABLE "EMPLOYEES"
    KEY COLUMN "EMPLOYEE_ID";

-- Query: find all reports (direct + indirect) for a manager
SELECT * FROM "EMPLOYEES" e
WHERE e."EMPLOYEE_ID" IN (
  SELECT "EMPLOYEE_ID" FROM GRAPH_TABLE("EMPLOYEE_ORG"
    MATCH (mgr)-[EDGE * 1..10]->(emp)
    WHERE mgr."EMPLOYEE_ID" = 'MGR001'
    COLUMNS (emp."EMPLOYEE_ID")
  )
);

Pattern 4: JSON Document Store

CREATE COLLECTION "DEVICE_EVENTS";

INSERT INTO "DEVICE_EVENTS" VALUES('{"deviceId":"D001","ts":"2026-01-15T10:30:00Z","temp":22.5,"status":"OK"}');

-- Query nested JSON
SELECT "deviceId", "ts", "temp"
  FROM "DEVICE_EVENTS"
  WHERE "temp" > 30.0
  ORDER BY "ts" DESC;

Pattern 5: Vector Engine for Embeddings

CREATE TABLE "KNOWLEDGE_BASE" (
  "ID"        BIGINT PRIMARY KEY,
  "CONTENT"   NCLOB,
  "EMBEDDING" REAL_VECTOR(1536)
);

-- Similarity search (cosine)
SELECT TOP 5 "ID", "CONTENT",
       COSINE_SIMILARITY("EMBEDDING", TO_REAL_VECTOR(:iv_query_embedding)) AS score
  FROM "KNOWLEDGE_BASE"
  ORDER BY score DESC;

Pattern 6: Cross-Container Access

// .hdbgrants file
{
  "external_service": {
    "object_owner": {
      "schema_privileges": [
        { "schema_reference": "external_schema", "privileges": ["SELECT"] }
      ]
    },
    "application_user": {
      "schema_privileges": [
        { "schema_reference": "external_schema", "privileges": ["SELECT"] }
      ]
    }
  }
}

// .hdbsynonym file
{
  "EXT_CUSTOMERS": {
    "target": {
      "object": "CUSTOMERS",
      "schema.configure": "external_schema"
    }
  }
}

Pattern 7: Calculation View (Column Engine)

Calculation views are typically created in SAP Business Application Studio graphical editor. Key design principles:

• Push filters as low as possible in the view stack
• Use star joins for dimension/fact models
• Prefer calculated columns over calculated attributes for complex logic
• Set cardinality on joins to enable query optimization
• Use input parameters for mandatory runtime filters

Error Catalog

Error Code	Message	Root Cause	Fix
ERR_SQL_INV_TABLE	Invalid table name	Object not in HDI container / wrong schema	Check synonym config or .hdbgrants
258	Insufficient privilege	Missing SELECT/EXECUTE grant	Update .hdbgrants, redeploy container
429	Memory allocation failed	Query exceeds memory limit	Add filters, use NSE, check statement_memory_limit
131	Transaction rolled back: lock wait timeout	Long-running concurrent updates	Reduce transaction scope, check FOR UPDATE usage
2048	Column store error	Corrupt delta merge or index	Run ALTER TABLE ... MERGE DELTA OF ...
Build error	Plugin not found	Missing HDI build plugin in .hdiconfig	Add plugin mapping for artifact suffix

Performance Tips

1. Partition large tables — Hash for OLTP, range on date for time-series, round-robin for parallel scans
2. Use NSE for warm data — ALTER TABLE ... PAGE LOADABLE for columns accessed < daily
3. **Avoid SELECT *** — HANA is columnar; fewer columns = faster scans
4. Use HINTS sparingly — WITH HINT(NO_CS_JOIN) only after plan analysis
5. Monitor with: M_SQL_PLAN_CACHE, M_EXPENSIVE_STATEMENTS, M_SERVICE_MEMORY
6. Delta merge: Large delta stores slow reads; schedule merges for bulk-load tables
7. Parameterize queries — Prepared statements reuse execution plans
8. Data Lake for cold data — Move data older than N years to HDLR, keep hot queries fast
9. Calculation view pruning — Enable ANALYTIC_VIEW_PARAMETERS for optimizer pruning

Gotchas

• HDI deploy order: Dependencies must be resolved; circular references between .hdbsynonym and .hdbview will fail — use .hdbsynonymconfig for external schemas
• CURRENT_SCHEMA vs container schema: In HDI, never hard-code schema names; use synonyms
• Session variables: SET 'variable' = 'value' does NOT persist across connections in cloud
• Data Lake SQL subset: HDLR supports SQL but not full SQLScript — no procedures in Data Lake
• Memory limits: HANA Cloud has per-statement memory limits (default 8 GB) — monitor with M_EXPENSIVE_STATEMENTS

MCP Server Integration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hana-mcp": {
      "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "hana-mcp-server"],
      "env": { "HANA_HOST": "your-instance.hana.trial-us10.hanacloud.ondemand.com",
               "HANA_PORT": "443", "HANA_USER": "YOUR_USER", "HANA_PASSWORD": "YOUR_PASSWORD" }
    }
  }
}

• HANA MCP: Direct HANA Cloud database access for queries and administration