Connect to SAP HANA, express edition using Python

Follow the instructions from the following SAP HANA, express edition clients group to complete your SAP HANA client installation.

Once the SAP HANA Client Software Packages installation is completed, you can now proceed with the Python driver setup.

The driver is a Python package that needs to be installed using Python utility program (either pip or easy_install). The driver package will be available at:

Depending on your target platform and the Python utility program available on your system, choose one of the following command:

• pip install

pip install "<hdbcli-N.N.N.zip path>"

• easy_install

easy_install "<hdbcli-N.N.N.zip path>"

When the process completes, you should get the following messages (or similar) in your console:

Processing hdbcli-2.2.26.tar.gz
Writing /tmp/easy_install-5nJURq/hdbcli-2.2.26/setup.cfg
Running hdbcli-2.2.26/setup.py -q bdist_egg --dist-dir /tmp/easy_install-5nJURq/hdbcli-2.2.26/egg-dist-tmp-0VMt7k
zip_safe flag not set; analyzing archive contents...
Adding hdbcli 2.2.26 to easy-install.pth file

Installed /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/hdbcli-2.2.26-py2.7-linux-x86_64.egg
Processing dependencies for hdbcli==2.2.26
Finished processing dependencies for hdbcli==2.2.26

Create a new Python file named hxe-connect.py, Then past the following content:

import sys

from hdbcli import dbapi

connection = dbapi.connect('<server-host>', <port>, '<username>', '<password>')

#This statement prints true if the connection is successfully established
print connection.isconnected()

Before saving, adjust the values of :

• the Connection String with the &
• the credentials with the &

For more details about the Connection String, please check the last few steps.

Execute the code using the following command:

python hxe-connect.py

You should see the following output:

True

Congratulations: You have just connected to HANA using Python!

You can use the IP address, the host name or the fully qualified name as long as the server host is reachable using a ping command from the machine that will run your program.

The port number to be used in the connection string include the instance number which is assigned when a new instance is created.

Note: The default value changed between version 1.0 & 2.0 of SAP HANA, express edition, so here is a quick recap:

• SAP HANA 1.0, express edition, the default the instance number is 00
• SAP HANA 2.0, express edition, the default the instance number is 90

Prior to SAP HANA 1.0, express edition SPS12, there was no concept of Multi Database Container (MDC). It was still possible to create multiple database in a single instance, but not using container isolation.

With this mode, the port number will use the following pattern: 3<instance number>15, and with the default instance number 00, the port will be 30015. To access a specific database, you will use the databasename in the option parameter.

Since SAP HANA 1.0, express edition SPS12 & SAP HANA 2.0, express edition, the Multi Database Container is the default mode.

This means that any created instance will have a System Database and potentially a series of Tenant Databases.

The System Database (also called SYSTEMDB) can be accessed via the following port: 3<instance number>15.

However, with your Tenant Databases, the SQL port is assigned dynamically at the creation time and follows a different pattern: 3<instance number><SQL port>.

You can determine the SQL port to use for a particular tenant database using the M_SERVICES system view, either from the tenant database itself or from the system database, using the following SQL.

• From the system database:

SELECT
	  DATABASE_NAME
	, SERVICE_NAME
	, PORT
	, SQL_PORT
	, (PORT + 2) HTTP_PORT
FROM
	SYS_DATABASES.M_SERVICES
WHERE
  (
        SERVICE_NAME      = 'indexserver'
    and COORDINATOR_TYPE  = 'MASTER'
  )
  or SERVICE_NAME = 'xsengine'
;

• From a particular tenant database:

SELECT
	  SERVICE_NAME
	, PORT
	, SQL_PORT
	, (PORT + 2) HTTP_PORT
FROM
	SYS.M_SERVICES
WHERE
  (
        SERVICE_NAME      = 'indexserver'
    and COORDINATOR_TYPE  = 'MASTER'
  )
  or SERVICE_NAME = 'xsengine'
;