Non-SAP data in SAP BW (on HANA DB)

[vikram_kate]

Hello,

We have a requirement to extract data from  Non SAP System into SAP BW 7.31.

SAP BW deatils are as follows

1. Database: HDB (HANA)

2. Operating System: AIX

Non SAP System details are as follows

1. Database : MS-SQL 2005

2. Operating System: Windows 2003

We couldn't connect the system using DB connect since there are no Drivers available for MS SQL on AIX OS

Also we are unable to connect the system using UD connect (Required to install JAVA stack) since we are using HANA database with ABAP stack. (for SAP BW over HANA DB, java stack can not be installed on BW)

Anybody faced such issue, what is the solution in such a scenario.

Thanks & Regards,

Vikram Kate.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi,

May be you can use replication tools. For example SLT or BO Data Services. With these tools you can extract data from non-SAP system or a database and replicate to HANA.

[henrique_pinto · Accepted solution]

HANA Database Edition does not allow for other ways of loading data into HANA then though regular BW Extractors. For using DS/SLT, it'd be necessary to license HANA Platform or Enteprise.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Yes, it's terrible limit. Which limits using BW as EDW.

Vikram, if you have a lot of data - best way to load in BW - load from file (with parallel option).

[rama_shankar3]

The best way to do this is to use BODS (data services). If this is a one time effort, you can dump HANA data into Access DB and then upload to your SQL DB.

Hope this helps.

RAma

[Former Member]

Do you have other JAVA stack in your landscape such as SAP Portal or PI? If you do, you can create UDConnect in the other JAVA stack and in BW create RFC connection to that system. We have BW over hana, and we use Portal (JAVA stack) to connect to a sql database.

[rama_shankar3]

Vikram:

If you do not have time, given the limitations in your environment I suggest that you use flat files to load data into BW.

Too hard to believe that BW AIX does not support DBconnect.  I  remember using DBconnect with BW on AIX. The setup might be complex.  Please read OSS note # mentioned below and review with your basis team. I will try to look for some additional info from my project about 3 years ago.

SAP Note 512739 - BW external DB Connect for MS SQLServer

Good luck!

Rama

[Former Member]

This is not a BW restriction but AIX + SQL Server limitation as there is no SQL Server client on AIX and hence cannot use DBConnect

[former_member184768]

Hi Vikram,

If the data size is not huge, I'd like to suggest you using flat file upload method. You can generate flat files from SQL server using Data Services, dump to the BW server and load in BW.

You can also use tools like SLT / BODS, but it will incur additional cost.

Alternatively you can use Oracle DB (if already available in your landscape and if you have licences for the same) as intermediate DB, by connecting SQL server to Oracle and BW to Oracle.

Regards,

Ravi

[former_member197527]

Hi,

Am a part of a project which actually validates if the BW tool will help meet the client's requirements related to royalty business.

At a high level, seems like they have cross functional reporting requirement namely the data needs to come from third party sources like record maestro, imaestro, and also SAP BOFC and DB2 i guess. For these, should I go for DBconnect or BODS? Am confused...Also, they have legacy data of 10 years which is of financial department.

Haven't worked on a third party source as such and also on FI till date...can you please throw some light of what might be the complexity and the BW implementation challenges so that it helps me to dig in better.

[rama_shankar3]

DB connect is supported for Oracle and SQL Server database. You do not need to use BODS and BW together unless you have an unsupported external DB or data source for BW. BODS is an ETL tool like BW. You do not need both unless there is a complex business requirement. DB connect should be sufficient in your scenario.

Hope this helps!

Rama

[former_member197527]

Thank you Rama Shankar.

How about the DB2 connectivity? Can BW talk to DB2 via DBconnect as well?

So as I understand there is no other need of having exclusive ETL tools unless there is an unsupported DB at source

[rama_shankar3]

Aditya,

To the best of my knowledge DB2 is supported for DB connect.

Yes, you are correct if you just want to load data from another DB to BW, then DB connect is a good way to do it. If you model it right, you can use Pseudo delta extraction to only load changed data from source database.

Regards,

Rama