This guide describes how to install the SAP HANA server software on a VMware

virtual machine. Normally, SAP HANA will only install on certified (and very
expensive) hardware, but there is a workaround for this.
As this is my very first SCN blog post, i would welcome all of you to provide me with
feedback on it! Thanks!
When you want to have a HANA demo or sandbox environment, there are roughly
two possibilities:
- Buy a certified appliance from a hardware vendor
- Use Amazon AWS
The first one has the disadvantage that you need to invest a significant amount of
money for something that's just a demo/sandbox machine. The second option is
pretty cheap (although the costs can run up if you leave it running all the time), but
is limited in terms of memory amount. Also, it's not possible to run BW or ECC on
HANA with the AWS solution.
So, with the above in mind, I suggested within our organization that we installed
HANA on a virtual machine, so that we have our own demo environment. It turned
out that that was something a lot of colleagues had already tried before, but they
didn't succeed. They didn't succeed because the HANA installation performs a
hardware check during the install, and of course a virtual machine does not meet
the HANA hardware requirements.
Now, since I'm a little bit stubborn, this triggered me to find a way to work around
the hardware check to be able to install HANA on a VM. And there is one, it's quite
simple actually. So, here are the steps to install HANA on a VM:
DISCLAIMER:
Please use this guide only for internal, non-production HANA systems.
Otherwise I think you will have a problem with SAP

Prerequisites
A virtual machine, with at least the following specs:
o

At least 24 GB RAM memory

At least 65 GB + 5 times the amount of RAM of HDD space, for

example: 48 GB RAM and 65 + (5 * 48) = 240 GB HDD space

Quad-core processor (but: the more processing power, the better. Do

not underestimate this!)

SUSE Linux Enterprise installation ISO file

SAP HANA installation ISO (can be downloaded from SAP Marketplace). You
have to create an ISO file from the installation files manually, for example by
using ImgBurn.

VMWare vSphere or another tool to access your VM remotely

System information for your HANA server:

o

System ID (SID)

Hostname (Fully Qualified Domain Name, FQDN)

Instance number

Patience

Client PC with PuTTY and HANA Studio installed

Install OS
First of all, you need to install the Linux OS. You need the SLES (Suse Linux
Enterprise) distro to install HANA. I have tried to install HANA on Opensuse, but it
did not work.

Start the VMware virtual machine with the Suse installation ISO mounted on
the VMs disk drive.

Perform the installation of SLES as normal. There are no special things to

consider, except:

I used the default Gnome install to be able to run the HANA Studio on
the server to test. Its not really necessary to install a window
environment on the Linux server, but Im finding it helpful sometimes.

Hostname: be careful to set this correct!

IP and domain

Make sure SSH access is possible

Disable any firewalls

During the installation, or afterwards, you need to set up a few partitions

mounted on predefined mount points. The table below will display the file
system you need, and the minimal sizes of the different partitions. Ive also
included a column of the file system Ive created during my installation:

Mount Point

Minimal size

My size

10 GB

30 GB

/hana/shared

5 GB

No separate partition or mount point

/hana/shared/<SID>

1x RAM size

50 GB

/usr/sap

50 GB

50 GB

/hana/shared/data

3x RAM size

200 GB

/hana/shared/log

1x RAM size

50 GB

After installation, boot up your fresh Linux installation and use Putty to make
a SSH connection to it. Log in as root. You can also use the remote desktop
graphical environment if you want, but in this example I will use Putty.

First, check if the filesystem is set up correctly:

df h

Next, we are going to install a few software packages that are required for the
HANA installation. Please make sure that you have your SLES DVD mounted
properly, or that you have a working internet connection. Then, give the
following command:

zypper in gtk2 java-1_6_0-ibm libicu mozilla-xulrunner* ntp sudo syslog-ng

tcsh libssh2-1
expect autoyast2-installation yast2-ncurses python

Have the packages that are missing installed by confirming the installation

Next, mount the HANA installation DVD

Find the file

/<dvdlocation/DATA_UNITS/HANA_IM_LINUX__X86_64/setuphana.slmodel.tem
plate.v2 and open it with a text editor

Fill in the right parameters in the XML file. Please note how this corresponds
to your file system. Read the XML instructions carefully. Because these
settings are system specific, I cannot tell you how to fill this in or how I filled
in these parameters.

Save the file as /tmp/hana.model

Create directory /tmp/hanainstdir:

mkdir /tmp/hanainstdir

Next, we will create a system environment variable called IDSPISPOPD. This

will make sure the HANA installer bypasses the hardware check (since were
not using certified hardware). IDSPISPOPD is actually a cheat code in DOOM,
called No Clipping mode. LOL @ the HANA developers there!
export IDSPISPOPD="1"

Check if the OS variable is set correctly with python:

python
>>> import os
>>> IDSPISPOPD in os.environ.keys()

This should return True. Exit python by typing

>>> exit()

So, now we have the file system in place, we have the required packages
installed and we have set the No Clipping mode to on. Time to start the HANA
installer.

CD to /<dvd-location/DATA_UNITS/HANA_IM_LINUX__X86_64/

Start the installer script with the following command:

./setup.sh /tmp/hanainstdir /tmp/hana.model

The installer will first extract into your installation dir. After this, the installer
will prompt you for a password. This is actually the password for the DB
admin. Enter it twice.

After that, it will install SAPHostAgent. Dont worry if it says it cant connect a
few times, this happened to me too. Just wait and it will continue eventually.

After this, the installation doesnt require input anymore, so you can leave it
until it is completed. Sit back and enjoy the ride...

When the installation is complete, start the HANA Modeler on the local
machine to see if your HANA server is running. Connect to the hostname and
instance number you provided during the install. Use the username SYSTEM
and the password you entered during the installation.

So, now you have a HANA server for playing around. Have fun with it!