Install the SAP HANA Client

The SAP HANA client provides a set of utilities and drivers to connect to and query a SAP HANA database from multiple programming APIs, such as Node.js, Python or Java as shown below.

For a complete list, see SAP HANA Client Interface Programming Reference.

For a list of newly added features, see New and Changed Features in the SAP HANA Client or the release notes.

The SAP HANA client can be used to connect to different versions of SAP HANA. For example, a 2.28.x client can connect to SAP HANA Cloud or SAP HANA 2.0. For more information, see SAP HANA Client and SAP HANA Cloud Compatibility and SAP HANA client and server cross-version compatibility.

1. Download the client installer for your platform (Microsoft Windows, Linux, or Mac) from the SAP Development Tools website under the HANA tab and the SAP HANA Client 2.0 section.

   An alternate location to download the client installer (SAP Software Center) is described in step 3 which includes the SAP Common Crypto library and additional platforms such as Windows 32-bit and AIX. SAP Software Center also may contain newer versions and patches before they are available on the SAP Development Tools site.

   

2. On Microsoft Windows, unzip the downloaded file in a temporary location.

   On Linux, use the following:

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   tar -zxvf hanaclient*.tar.gz

   On Mac, use the following:

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   hdiutil attach hanaclient-*.dmg
   cd "/Volumes/SAP HANA Client"

3. Start the graphical installer hdbsetup or use the command line installer hdbinst.

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   hdbsetup.exe

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   ./hdbsetup

   Set the install directory to C:\SAP\hdbclient on Microsoft Windows or to users/your_user/sap/hdbclient on Linux or macOS and complete the installation.

   

   If the install fails, try running the installer with administrator privilege (i.e. On Microsoft Windows, right-click on hdbsetup.exe and choose Run as an administrator).

   If an older version is already installed, it can be upgraded or it can be uninstalled by running hdbuninst from the folder where the client is installed. For example, c:\sap\hdbclient\install\hdbuninst

4. After the installation process is completed, identify the environment variables that were set by the install. On Microsoft Windows, click the Start icon and search for environment variables. Press the OK button to ensure the changes made by the installer are now active in newly opened command prompts.

   

   These variables can be seen in a command prompt using the set command as shown below.

   

   For details on how to configure your path on a Mac see this blog post and proceed to sub-step 5.

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   To configure your path on Linux:

   Open an editor to edit the file .bash_profile, .profile, or .zshrc.

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   pico ~/.bash_profile

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   This tutorial uses notepad and pico as default text editors, but any text editor will do. Pico can be installed on SUSE Linux with

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   sudo zypper install pico

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   Add the following line to the .bash_profile after adjusting the path to match the location of where the SAP HANA client was installed.

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   export PATH=$PATH:/home/dan/sap/hdbclient

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   Run the source command to immediately apply all the changes made to the .bash_profile file

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   source ~/.bash_profile

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5. In the hdbclient folder, notice that files such as hdbsql and the client database drivers are available.

   

6. Run the following command in a newly opened shell to verify the installation succeeded and the path is correct.

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   hdbsql -v

   

The install from SAP Development Tools does not contain the SAP Cryptographic Library. This can be seen by examining the C:\SAP\hdbclient\manifest file.

The SAP Cryptographic Library is only required when client-side data encryption is used, for LDAP Authentication, or for cases where a preference is to use the SAP Common Crypto Library over the libraries provided by the OS. For more information, see the following:

• Client-Side Data Encryption in the Security Guide

• Client-Side Data Encryption Guide

• Download and Install SAP Common Crypto Library in the SAP HANA Client Installation and Update Guide

Another download location is the SAP Software Center, which requires signing in before downloading. SAP Software Center provides the very latest version of the SAP HANA client as well as additional platforms such as 32-bit Windows and AIX. Versions of the SAP HANA client downloaded from here include the SAP Common Crypto Library.

For additional details on supported platforms, see SAP Note 3165810 - SAP HANA Client Supported Platforms and SAP Note 2938939 - SAP HANA Client Legacy Platforms.

1. Select Support Packages & Patches, By Alphabetical Index, and H.

   

   Then choose either HANA Cloud Clients, HANA Cloud Clients 1.0, SAP HANA Client 2.0 or SAP HANA Platform Edition, SAP HANA Platform Edition 2.0, SAP HANA Client 2.0. Download the software.

   If you have a license for SAP HANA Cloud, follow the instructions at Download and Install the SAP HANA Client.

   If you have a license for an on-premise version of SAP HANA, follow the instructions provided at Install the SAP HANA Client on Microsoft Windows.

   The downloaded software is the same regardless of which one is used.

   

2. Extract the software using SAPCAR.

   The downloaded file is a .sar file and the utility SAPCAR is needed to extract it. SAPCAR can also be downloaded from SAP Software Center. Select the latest available version such as SAPCAR 7.54.

   The command to extract a .sar file is shown below. The command options are extract, verbose and file. Make sure the .sar file you want to extract is in the same directory as the SAPCAR executable.

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   SAPCAR_600-70009506.EXE -xvf IMDB_CLIENT*.SAR

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   chmod u+x SAPCAR
   ./SAPCAR -xvf IMDB_CLIENT*.SAR

3. Install the software as shown in sub-step 3 of Install from SAP Development Tools.

   For further information on SAPCAR or if you are having troubles using it, see SAP HANA, SAPCAR, and macOS.

Congratulations! You now have the SAP HANA client installed.