Hana Sps12 Red Hat Enterprise Linux RHEL 7 X Configuration Guide For SAP HANA en

PUBLIC
SAP HANA Platform SPS 12

Document Version: 1.1 – 2016-09-06
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7.x Configuration

Guide for SAP HANA
Content
1 Executive Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1 How to Use This Guide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2 Installation Overview of SAP HANA on RHEL 7.x. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2 Prerequisites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.1 Hardware. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2 Storage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.3 Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.4 Required Hosts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3 Manual Preparation of the OS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

3.1 Basic OS Installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
3.2 Install Additional Required Packages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.3 Configure the Hostname. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.4 Configure Network Time and Date. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Chrony. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
NTPD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.5 Configure Storage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
3.6 Activate SAP HANA Specific Tuned Profiles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
3.7 Disable SELinux. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.8 Disable Automatic NUMA Balancing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.9 Add Symbolic Links. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
3.10 Disable Transparent Hugepages (THP). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.11 Configure Processor C-States. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.12 Increase the Maximum Number of Processes a User is Allowed to Run. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.13 Disable ABRT, Core Dumps and kdump. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
3.14 Firewall Configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Calculation of the Ports Used. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Common Networks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Configure the Firewall. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
4 SAP HANA Installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

4.1 Preparation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
4.2 SAP HANA Installation Examples. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Interactive Command Line SAP HANA Installation Using hdblcm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Interactive Installation of SAP HANA Using hdblcmgui. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Unattended Installation Using hdblcm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Scale-Out Installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7.x Configuration Guide for SAP HANA
2 PUBLIC Content
5 Automated RHEL and SAP HANA Installation Using Kickstart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
5.1 Description of the Sample Kickstart File for Installing SAP HANA on RHEL 7.x. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
5.2 Example Kickstart Process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
6 Operating System Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

6.1 Changes to OS configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
6.2 Maintenance / Patching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
6.3 Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
7 Appendix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
7.1 Appendix A – Required Packages for SAP HANA on RHEL 7.x. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
7.2 Appendix B – SAP HANA Tuned Profiles OS Modifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
7.3 Appendix C – Sample XML Password File for Unattended SAP HANA Installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
7.4 Appendix D – Sample Kickstart File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
7.5 Appendix E – Installation in a Virtual Machine (VMware). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Content PUBLIC 3
1 Executive Summary
This guide serves as a supplement to the existing documentation from SAP and the hardware vendors to
provide specific guidance on how to configure Red Hat Enterprise Linux for SAP HANA (RHEL for SAP HANA)
to be used with SAP HANA.
SAP HANA offers two distinct deployment models, a complete pre-installed and pre-configured (so called
Appliance) model from the hardware vendors or the Tailored Datacenter Integration (TDI) model where the
customers take responsibility for the construction and validation of their SAP HANA environment but by that
providing a better integration into their IT infrastructures.
The setup described in this guide is based on the recommendations in the following SAP Notes and other SAP
documentation:
● SAP Note 2235581 - SAP HANA: Supported Operating Systems

● SAP Note 2292690 - SAP HANA DB: Recommended OS settings for RHEL 7.2
● SAP Note 2298750 - SAP HANA Platform SPS 12 Release Note
● SAP HANA Server Installation and Update Guide
● SAP HANA – Storage Requirements Guide
This guide does not describe all variants resulting in a valid deployment. It describes the base configurations
along with the minimum requirements.
This guide does not replace any existing SAP HANA documentation, including SAP Notes, and sizing guides.
Furthermore, it does not replace any SAP HANA hardware vendor documentation.
Note
SAP HANA Platform SPS 12 is the minimum version supported on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 (RHEL for
SAP HANA).
Check the matrix attached to SAP Note 2235581 - SAP HANA: Supported Operating Systems for the
certified OS release and SAP HANA SPS combinations.
1.1 How to Use This Guide
This guide is divided into four main parts:
1. Manual installation of RHEL for SAP HANA 7.2.

2. SAP HANA installation examples.
3. Automatic Installation of OS and SAP HANA with a Kickstart file.
4. Appendices as shortcuts to more detailed information.
Some steps depend highly on your environment and the devices used in your servers. Adapt the instructions
given in this guide accordingly to match your environment.
4 PUBLIC Executive Summary
In the step-by-step instructions, there is always a short description stating what has to be done. And below the
text there is a gray box with an example showing what could be executed. Only use copy-paste if you are sure
that you do not have to replace a placeholder.
1.2 Installation Overview of SAP HANA on RHEL 7.x
These are the general steps for installing SAP HANA on RHEL for SAP HANA 7.x:
● Install minimal RHEL. Use the base application profile.

● Register the host to the Red Hat Customer Portal or your local Red Hat Satellite server and subscribe it to
the required channels for RHEL for SAP HANA.
● Configure the OS according to the guidelines in SAP Note 2292690 - SAP HANA DB: Recommended OS
settings for RHEL 7.2, the SAP HANA installation guides and the recommendations in this guide.
● Update the system to the latest release within the version range used.
● Install SAP HANA.
Related Information
SAP Note 2235581 - SAP HANA: Supported Operating Systems

SAP Note 2292690 - SAP HANA DB: Recommended OS settings for RHEL 7.2
SAP Note 2298750 - SAP HANA Platform SPS 12 Release Note
SAP HANA Server Installation and Update Guide
SAP HANA – Storage Requirements Guide
Executive Summary PUBLIC 5
2 Prerequisites
Before performing the actual installation of SAP HANA, ensure that you have fulfilled the prerequisites listed in
the following sections.
2.1 Hardware
Your server hardware platform must be validated for SAP HANA independently of which delivery approach
(Appliance or TDI) you plan to use.
For a list of validated server hardware platforms, see SAP Certified and Supported SAP HANA Hardware .
For information on supported hardware for SAP HANA TDI setups, see SAP HANA TDI - Overview .
2.2 Storage
The appliance hardware vendors provide storage within their pre-build SAP HANA systems.
If you use the TDI approach, SAP HANA requires a SAP HANA TDI certified storage subsystem (see SAP
Certified and Supported SAP HANA Hardware for the list of certified storage systems). You need to apply
the file system layout / partitioning which is outlined in the SAP HANA Server Installation and Update Guide
and the SAP HANA – Storage Requirements Guide . For TDI setups also check the storage vendors' TDI
documentation for specific setup requirements for their storage systems.
Ensure to pick the right sections and clearly distinguish between shared file system based installations and
shared disc based installation.
The mount points in this guide do apply for scale-up deployments or for shared file system deployments.
Mount points for shared disc deployments can be either retrieved from the SAP HANA Server Installation and
Update Guide or to some extend from the hardware vendor’s documentation.
For more information about file system layout, the partitioning, and the sizing, see the section Recommended
File System Layout in the SAP HANA Server Installation and Update Guide and the SAP HANA – Storage
Requirements Guide .
6 PUBLIC Prerequisites
2.3 Software
You must use a combination of RHEL for SAP HANA and an SAP HANA SPS that is certified by SAP.
Check the matrix attached to SAP Note 2235581 - SAP HANA: Supported Operating Systems for the
certified OS/HANA SPS combinations.
Each host on which SAP HANA is installed needs a valid subscription for Red Hat Enterprise Linux for SAP
HANA which can be obtained via your hardware vendor or directly from Red Hat Sales.
To prepare the OS for the HANA installation the following RHEL repositories must be accessible:
● Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Server

● Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Server - Extras
● Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Server - Optional
● Red Hat Enterprise Linux for SAP HANA (RHEL 7 Server)
If you plan to set up SAP HANA with the automated HANA System Replication HA solution provided by Red
Hat the following Repository must be accessible as well:
● Red Hat Enterprise Linux High Availability (for RHEL 7 Server)
To ensure that the system stays on a certified RHEL7 release the system must be subscribed to the
corresponding Extended Update Support (EUS) repositories after installation.
2.4 Required Hosts
The following hosts need to be accessible during installation. Without them the Installation is not possible:
The following list is separated into two categories:
● Host to install: <hostname>.example.com

● When not using a Red Hat Satellite Server:
○ Web server for Kickstart files: <webserver>.example.com
○ FTP for repositories: <ftpserver>.example.com
● When using a Red Hat Satellite Server:
Satellite Server: <satellite>.example.com
● NTP server: <ntp>.example.com
● SAP Service Marketplace
The host names have to be substituted with the names of the corresponding host in your environment.
Related Information
SAP Certified and Supported SAP HANA Hardware

SAP HANA TDI - Overview
Prerequisites PUBLIC 7
SAP HANA – Storage Requirements Guide
SAP Note 2235581 - SAP HANA: Supported Operating Systems
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for SAP HANA
8 PUBLIC Prerequisites
3 Manual Preparation of the OS
The following preparations must be made.
3.1 Basic OS Installation
Perform the basic installation steps:
● Install interactively from a regular RHEL 7.x DVD (use the minimal installation option).
● Subscribe your system to Red Hat channels according to the following Red Hat knowledge base articles:
○ How to subscribe a RHEL 7 system to RHEL for SAP HANA child channel?
○ How to subscribe RHEL 7 SAP HANA system to Extended Update Support (EUS) channel?
Before proceeding with the OS configuration verify that the system has access to the required repositories:
# yum repolist
Loaded plugins: langpacks, product-id, rhnplugin, search-disabled-repos,
subscription-manager
The list could look like this:
Table 1:
repo id repo name status
rhel-7-server-rpms/7Server/x86_64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Server 11.059

(RPMs)
rhel-7-server-extras-rpms/x86_64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Server - Ex 249

tras (RPMs)
rhel-7-server-optional-rpms/7Server/ Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Server - Op 8.719

x86_64 tional (RPMs)
rhel-sap-hana-for-rhel-7-server-rpms/ Red Hat Enterprise Linux for SAP 11

7Server/x86_64 HANA (RHEL 7 Server) (RPMs)
rhel-ha-for-rhel-7-server-rpms/ Red Hat Enterprise Linux High Availa 211

7Server/x86_64 bility (for RHEL 7 Server) (RPMs)
Note
The Red Hat Enterprise Linux High Availability (for RHEL 7 Server) (RPMs) repository is only required if you
plan to set up automated SAP HANA System Replication using the RHEL HA add-on.
Manual Preparation of the OS PUBLIC 9
3.2 Install Additional Required Packages
Install the base package group and other additional required packages required for running SAP HANA on
RHEL 7 according to the list in Appendix A - Required Packages for SAP HANA on RHEL 7.x:
# yum -y groupinstall base

# yum install gtk2 libicu xulrunner sudo tcsh libssh2 expect cairo graphviz
iptraf-ng \
krb5-workstation krb5-libs libpng12 nfs-utils lm_sensors rsyslog openssl098e
openssl \
PackageKit-gtk3-module libcanberra-gtk2 libtool-ltdl xorg-x11-xauth numactl \
xfsprogs net-tools bind-utils
3.3 Configure the Hostname
Configure the hostname:
● Configure the server hostname to <hostname>.example.com:
# hostnamectl set-hostname <hostname>
● Make sure /etc/hosts contains an entry matching the hostname and IP address of the system:
<your ip> <hostname>.example.com <hostname>
● Double-check that it works:
# hostname
<hostname>
# hostname -s
<hostname>
# hostname -f
<hostname>.example.com
# hostname -d
example.com
● Check that the DNS setup is working correctly (lookup and reverse lookup):
# nslookup <hostname>
Server: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
Address: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx#53
Name: <hostname>.example.com
Address: <your.ip>
# nslookup <yourip>
Server: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
Address: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx#53
<your.ip.reverse>.in-addr.arpa name = <hostname>.example.com.
10 PUBLIC Manual Preparation of the OS
3.4 Configure Network Time and Date
Make sure you have correct network time settings.
There are many ways to keep your time in sync. The default with RHEL 7 is chrony, but most customers still
use NTP (Network Time Protocol) in their environments. For guidance on which NTP implementation to
choose see the chapter Choosing Between NTP Daemons in the RHEL7 System Administrators Guide.
3.4.1 Chrony
The following process describes the setup of chrony:
● Make sure chronyd is installed:
# yum -y install chronyd

# systemctl stop chronyd.service
● Edit /etc/chrony.conf and make sure the server lines reflect your ntp servers:
# grep ^server /etc/chrony.conf

server ntp.example.com
server ntp1.example.com
● Enable and start the chrony service:
# systemctl enable chronyd.service

# systemctl start chronyd.service
# systemctl restart systemd-timedated.service
● Double-check that the chrony service is enabled:
# systemctl list-unit-files | grep chronyd.service

chronyd.service enabled
# chronyc sources
210 Number of sources = 3
MS Name/IP address Stratum Poll Reach LastRx Last sample
=========================================================================
^* ntp.example.com 2 8 377 200 -2659ns[-3000ns] +/- 28ms
^- ntp1.example.com 2 8 377 135 -533us[ -533us] +/- 116ms
^- ntp2.example.com 2 9 377 445 +14ms[ +14ms] +/- 217ms
For more information about setting up chrony, see the chapter Using chrony in the RHEL7 System
Administrators Guide.
3.4.2 NTPD
The following process describes the setup of NTPD:
● Make sure ntp and its utilities are installed and chrony is disabled:
# yum -y install ntp ntpdate
# systemctl stop ntpd.service
# systemctl stop chronyd.service
# systemctl disable chronyd.service
● Edit /etc/ntp.conf and make sure the server lines reflect your ntp servers:
# grep ^server /etc/ntp.conf

server ntp.example.com
● Force an update to the current time:
# ntpdate ntp.example.com
● Enable and start the ntpd service:
# systemctl enable ntpd.service

# systemctl start ntpd.service
# systemctl restart systemd-timedated.service
● Double-check that the ntp service is enabled:
# systemctl list-unit-files | grep ntp

ntpd.service enabled
ntpdate.service disabled
The ntpdate service script adjusts the time according to the ntp server every time the system comes up.
This happens before the regular ntp service is started and ensures an exact system time even if the time
deviation is too large to be compensated by the ntp service.
# echo ntp.example.com >> /etc/ntp/step-tickers

# systemctl enable ntpdate.service
For more information on configuring NTPD on RHEL7 look at the chapter Configuring NTP Using ntpd in the
RHEL7 System Administrators Guide.
3.5 Configure Storage
Create a local storage for SAP HANA:
For general information on the storage requirements for SAP HANA, see the SAP HANA TDI - Storage
Requirements guide.
To be able to create the logical volumes and file systems required for running SAP HANA, the storage devices
must be partioned first and then the necessary physical volumes and volume groups must be created:
● Check for empty devices:
# lsblk -f
NAME FSTYPE LABEL UUID MOUNTPOINT
sda
├─sda1 /boot
└─sda2
sdb
● Create a disk partition:
○ Let us assume disk /dev/sdb is our free device.
○ Storage devices with less than 2 TB in size can be partitioned with fdisk:
# fdisk /dev/sdb
Command (m for help):c
○ Storage devices with more than 2 TB free in size must be partitioned with parted:
# parted /dev/sdb
● Create PV with pvcreate /dev/<disk-partition>.

● Expand VG with vgextend vg00 /dev/<disk-partition>.
● Check with pvs and vgs.
● When the volume groups have been created you can create the logical volumes for the SAP HANA
instance according to the SAP HANA Server Installation and Update Guide.
The following table shows you the storage areas you will need for installing SAP HANA. The mount points
are defaults which can be changed during installation. The names of the logical volumes are only
suggestions and could be changed without having any influence on the SAP HANA installation.
The size entries in the tables are the minimum values which have to be used for the logical volumes.
Table 2:
Logical Volume Size Mount Point
lv_hana_shared System memory /hana/shared
lv_hana_data 4 * System memory /hana/data
lv_hana_log System memory /hana/log
lv_usr_sap At least 50 GiB /usr/sap
Example calculation for a system memory of 96 GiB:

○ /hana/shared = Size of system memory = 96 GiB
○ /hana/data = 4 times the size of system memory = 276 GiB
○ /hana/log = Size of system memory = 96 GiB
○ /usr/sap = At least 50 GiB = 50 GiB
Keep in mind that the above sizes are in GiB (2^30) and not in GB (10^9). This is important because
usually the size of memory is measured with a base of two, while disk space often is calculated as a
decimal number.
For details on storage requirements for SAP HANA TDI installations also refer to the SAP HANA TDI -
Storage Requirements guide .
● Based on the example above we create logical volumes for a machine with 96 GiB of memory as follows:
# lvcreate -L96G -n lv_hana_shared vg00

# lvcreate -L276G -n lv_hana_data vg00
# lvcreate -L96G -n lv_hana_log vg00
# lvcreate -L50G -n lv_usr_sap vg00
● Create the required mount points:
# mkdir -p /hana/{shared,data,log}
# mkdir -p /usr/sap
On these logical volumes, create four file systems based on XFS. For more information about the creation
of an xfs file system and the tuning possibilities have a look at the manpage of the mkfs.xfs executable.
● In the example below the file system resides at a RAID 5 Array with 3 disks, a file system block size of 4 kb
and a chunk size of 64 kb.
# mkfs -t xfs -b size=4096 -d su=64k,sw=2 /dev/vg00/lv_hana_shared

# mkfs -t xfs -b size=4096 -d su=64k,sw=2 /dev/vg00/lv_hana_data
# mkfs -t xfs -b size=4096 -d su=64k,sw=2 /dev/vg00/lv_hana_log
# mkfs -t xfs -b size=4096 -d su=64k,sw=2 /dev/vg00/lv_usr_sap
● For optimal performance of the XFS file system refer to the following Red Hat Customer Portal article:
What are some of best practices for tuning XFS filesystems .
● Write the mount directives to /etc/fstab:
# echo “/dev/vg00/lv_hana_shared /hana/shared xfs defaults 1 3”\

>> /etc/fstab
# echo “/dev/vg00/lv_hana_data /hana/data xfs defaults 1 4”\
>> /etc/fstab
# echo “/dev/vg00/lv_hana_log /hana/log xfs defaults 1 5”\
>> /etc/fstab
# echo “/dev/vg00/lv_usr_sap /usr/sap xfs defaults 1 6”\
>> /etc/fstab
● Check if the XFS file systems from /etc/fstab can be mounted
# mount -avt xfs
3.6 Activate SAP HANA Specific Tuned Profiles

Activate SAP HANA specific tuned profiles.
The tuned tuning service can adapt the operating system to perform better under certain workloads by
setting a tuning profile. Red Hat has developed specific tuned profiles to optimize the performance of SAP
HANA on RHEL. To configure the system to use the appropriate tuned profile do the following:
● Install the package tuned-profiles-sap-hana from the RHEL for SAP HANA channel and activate tuned:
# yum -y install tuned-profiles-sap-hana

# systemctl start tuned
# systemctl enable tuned
● Configure the system to use the appropriate tuned profile:

○ For SAP HANA operating on bare metal:
# tuned-adm profile sap-hana
○ For SAP HANA operating in a virtual machine on a VMware hypervisor:
# tuned-adm profile sap-hana-vmware
For more information on recommended settings for running SAP HANA on RHEL on VMware, see
Appendix E – Installation in a Virtual Machine (VMware) [page 40].
For information about the modifications performed by the tuned profiles, see Appendix B – SAP HANA Tuned
Profiles OS Modifications [page 35].
Note
When the tuned-sap-hana package is updated on a system then all updated settings in the sap-hana profiles
are automatically applied to the system if one of the profiles is active.
3.7 Disable SELinux
Since there is no supported SELinux policy for SAP HANA, SELinux must be disabled to be able to run SAP
HANA on RHEL7.
For testing purposes SELinux can be set to permissive mode at runtime:
# setenforce 0
To ensure that SELinux is fully disabled modify the file /etc/selinux/config:
# sed -i 's/$SELINUX=enforcing\|SELINUX=permissive$/SELINUX=disabled/g' \
/etc/selinux/config
Afterwards the system needs to be rebooted for this change to take effect.
You can use the following commands to verify that SELinux is fully disabled:
# sestatus
SELinux status: disabled
# getenforce
Disabled
3.8 Disable Automatic NUMA Balancing
Since SAP HANA is aware of NUMA (non-uniform memory access) it does not rely on the Linux kernel features
to optimize NUMA usage automatically. Therefore the automatic NUMA balancing features of the Linux Kernel
should be disabled.
To do this create the file /etc/sysctl.d/sap_hana.conf and put the line kernel.numa_balancing = 0
in it:
# echo "kernel.numa_balancing = 0" > /etc/sysctl.d/sap_hana.conf
To activate the change run the following command:
# sysctl -p /etc/sysctl.d/sap_hana.conf
You can verify that the kernel parameter is set correctly using the following command:
# sysctl kernel.numa_balancing
kernel.numa_balancing = 0
RHEL7 also provides the “numad” userspace daemon that can be used to control NUMA balancing of
applications. This needs to be disabled as well:
# systemctl status numad

numad.service - numad - The NUMA daemon that manages application locality.
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/numad.service; disabled; vendor
preset: disabled)
Active: inactive (dead)
If numad is shown as active disable it with the following commands:
# systemctl stop numad

# systemctl disable numad
3.9 Add Symbolic Links

Since SAP HANA is built on a different Linux Distribution some of the library names used during the built
process do not match with the library names used on RHEL7.
Therefore the following symbolic links are required:
# ln -s /usr/lib64/libssl.so.1.0.1e /usr/lib64/libssl.so.1.0.1
# ln -s /usr/lib64/libcrypto.so.0.9.8e /usr/lib64/libcrypto.so.0.9.8
# ln -s /usr/lib64/libcrypto.so.1.0.1e /usr/lib64/libcrypto.so.1.0.1
3.10 Disable Transparent Hugepages (THP)

Disable Transparent Hugepages (THP).
SAP HANA can crash occasionally when Transparent Hugepages (THP) are enabled. Transparent
Hugepages can be switched on and off during runtime with the following commands:
# echo always > /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/enabled

# echo never > /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/enabled
The “sap-hana” tuned profile deactivates Transparent Hugepages. To ensure that THP are already deactivated
at boot-time before the tuned profile is activated add the following to the line starting with
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX in /etc/default/grub:
transparent_hugepage=never
To enable this change, the GRUB2 configuration needs to be rebuilt:
● On a machine without UEFI activate this option by issuing:
# grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg
● On a machine with UEFI activate this option by issuing:
# grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/efi/EFI/redhat/grub.cfg
Afterwards a reboot is required. In a scale-out environment, those changes have to be done on every server of
the landscape.
See Chapter 24. Working with the GRUB 2 Boot Loader in the RHEL7 Administrators Guide for more
information on how to manage GRUB2 on RHEL7.
To verify that THP have been disabled use the following command;
# cat /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/enabled
always madvise [never]
3.11 Configure Processor C-States
The Linux kernel shipped with RHEL 7.2 includes a cpuidle driver for recent Intel CPUs: intel_idle.
This driver leads to a different behavior in Processor C-states switching. The normal operating state is C0,
when the processor is put to a higher C state, it will save power. But for low latency applications, the additional
time needed to start the execution of the code again will cause performance degradations.
To see if the recommended driver is enabled, execute:
# cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpuidle/current_driver
The correct value should be acpi_idle.
If this is not the case, it is possible to fall back on the recommended driver by disabling the intel_idle driver
in the kernel command line by modifying /etc/default/grub. Append the following parameter to the line
starting with GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX:
intel_idle.max_cstate=0
If C-States are enabled in BIOS you might still see performance degradations. In this case either disable them
in the BIOS or set the following parameter in addition to the previous one in the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX line
in /etc/default/grub:
processor.max_cstate=1
To enable these changes, the GRUB2 configuration needs to be rebuilt:
● On non-UEFI systems run:
# grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg
● On UEFI systems run:
# grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/efi/EFI/redhat/grub.cfg
Afterwards a reboot is required. In a scale-out environment, those changes have to be done on every server of
the landscape.
See Chapter 24. Working with the GRUB 2 Boot Loader in the RHEL7 Administrators Guide for more
information on how to manage GRUB2 on RHEL7.
For more information on setting C-States, see the following Red Hat KnowledgeBase article: What are CPU "C-
states" and how to disable them if needed? (Red Hat Customer Portal login required).
3.12 Increase the Maximum Number of Processes a User is

Allowed to Run
Depending on the workload and the hardware, SAP HANA might need to start a large amount of processes.
In most cases the maximum number of processes for the sapsys group is not sufficient. The solution is to
create the file /etc/security/limits.d/99-sapsys.conf with the following content:
@sapsys soft nproc unlimited
By default, RHEL for SAP HANA is configured to prevent so-called fork bombs. The fact that the group sapsys
can now create an unlimited number of processes can be a potential security issue.
After making this change all processes of users belonging to the sapsys group need to be terminated and the
users must log out and back in for the new setting to take effect.
To verify that the new limits are active, log in as a user belonging to the sapsys group and run the following
command:
# ulimit -u
unlimited
3.13 Disable ABRT, Core Dumps and kdump
All crashes of SAP HANA are normally analyzed by SAP support, they do not rely on operating system
mechanisms for crash reporting.
So to avoid delays when a Linux kernel crash or a core dump occurs it is possible to disable the application
crash and core file handling of the operating system.
The ABRT service which handles application crashes can be disabled with the following commands:
# systemctl disable abrtd

# systemctl disable abrt-ccpp
# systemctl stop abrtd
# systemctl stop abrt-ccpp
Do the same with core file creation. To disable core dumps for all users, open /etc/security/
limits.conf, and add the lines
* soft core 0
* hard core 0
By default RHEL7 enables the kernel crash dump facility (kdump ), which can result in longer outages when
there is a Linux kernel crash because the system tries to a memory dump that can help do analyze what
caused the kernel to crash. If you would like to avoid these long outages it is possible to disable kdump with
the following commands:
# systemctl stop kdump.service

# systemctl disable kdump.service
If kdump should be enabled for support purposes, keep it enabled. Have a look at the following Red Hat
Customer Portal article for more information about kdump: How to troubleshoot kernel crashes, hangs, or
reboots with kdump on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (Red Hat Customer Portal login required).
3.14 Firewall Configuration
To protect your SAP HANA servers from unauthorized access it can be beneficial to configure the built in
firewall of the OS to only allow access via the ports that SAP HANA uses for communication.
To configure the firewall you can use the firewall-config tool. In this case you will need an X11 System to
display the GUI version or you can use the command line tool firewall-config-cmd.
To avoid problems with the firewall during installation it can be disabled completely with the following
commands:
# systemctl stop firewalld

# systemctl disable firewalld
3.14.1 Calculation of the Ports Used
SAP HANA uses several ports for different purposes. Most of these ports have to be calculated on the base of
the instance number.
For the following ports a database with the instance 99 is used to illustrate the calculation:
Table 3:
Schema Calculated Description
port
3xx09 39909 Administration port for SAP HANA
1128 – 1129 1128-1129 SAP HANA Studio
5xx13 - 5xx14 59913 - 59914
43xx 4399 Company Network
80xx 8099
3xx15 39915 SAP HANA Studio + Replication
3xx17 39917
Schema Calculated Description
port
3xx01 39901 Primary Site for Clustering
3xx07 39907
3.14.2 Common Networks

When you create the firewall make sure to ask the customer in which different networks he will need the
services.
As a base you can take the list of usual networks from the table below. These networks are also used in the
sample Kickstart file:
Table 4:
Network Purpose Remark
Administration Administer the SAP HANA setup Only administrators should have access
Client- Network Work with the database Normal users have access
Replication- Network Replication Services and other instances Network for instances that SAP HANA is auto
matically replicated to
Primary- Network Cluster communication between nodes Used for building clusters
Company- Network Network to access the SAP HANA database

from inside the company
3.14.3 Configure the Firewall

For every network you have to add the rules with the calculated port number. In contrast to RHEL6 do not use
iptables. The command firewall-cmd should be used instead. It controls the whole firewall infrastructure
provided by the kernel.
To determine the status use the following:
# firewall-cmd --state
If it is stopped, start and enable it with:
# systemctl enable firewalld

# systemctl start firewalld
To check out the current zone and interfaces it is working on:
# firewall-cmd --get-active-zone
List the open ports with:
# firewall-cmd –-list-ports
When using firewall-cmd, stateful firewall rules are created by default. One of the most interesting new
features in RHEL7 is the possibility to create services. So multiple ports used by SAP HANA can be grouped
together inside an appropriate service configuration file. The following configuration reflects our example used
for an instance number of 99. So we create the file /etc/firewalld/services/hana.xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<service>
<short>SAP HANA</short>
<description>Firewall rules for SAP HANA</description>
<port port="39909" protocol="tcp"/>
<destination ipv4="192.168.0.33"/>
</service>
Ensure that the permission of the file /etc/firewalld/services/hana.xml is set as 0640. The service
should be added to the respective zone and firewalld should be reloaded. Here we are using zone public.
# chmod 0640 /etc/firewalld/services/hana.xml

# firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-service=hana --permanent
# firewall-cmd --reload
See the section Using Firewalls in the RHEL7 security guide for more information.
See section Network Security in the SAP HANA Security Guide for more information on how to secure the
networks used by your SAP HANA system.
Related Information

SAP HANA TDI - Storage Requirements
SAP HANA Security Guide
4 SAP HANA Installation
The following section shows some examples of how to install SAP HANA. As long as it is not stated otherwise,
the names of the volume groups, users and paths mentioned in this section are examples only and should be
replaced to fit the needs of the OEM.
For detailed instructions, see the SAP HANA Server Installation and Update Guide.
4.1 Preparation
Before you can install SAP HANA the installation environment has to be prepared. The following tables list the
requirements to be able to perform a SAP HANA installation:
System Requirements for Installation
Table 5:
Object Task Remark
Logical volume Create 128 GiB logical volume Space to store the SAP HANA installer
temporarily
SAP HANA Requirements for Installation
Table 6:
Object Task Remark
SAP archiver Download from SAP Service Market Only use the latest version
place
SAP HANA installer Download from SAP Service Market Only use the latest version
place
Installer path Previously created logical volume Space required for installer
Data path Previously created logical volume Space to install SAP HANA
Log path Previously created logical volume Space to store log information
SAP HANA system ID ID to identify the SAP HANA database Has to be identical for all instances run
ning in a clustered environment
22 PUBLIC SAP HANA Installation
Object Task Remark
Instance number Identification number for a SAP HANA Has to be unique in a clustered environ
instance running on a host ment or if multiple instances running
on the same host
System usage Specify the application area of the in

stalled instance
SAP HANA administrator data UNIX user information for the SAP Usual information found in /etc/
HANA administration user passwd (uid, gid, home directory and
path to a shell)
Passwords Passwords for different users See Appendix C – Sample XML Pass
word File for Unattended SAP HANA In
stallation [page 36]Appendix C –
Sample XML Password File for Unat
tended SAP HANA Installation for a list
of passwords to use and their functions
Before starting the SAP HANA installation make sure that the OS itself is installed as described in the Manual
Preparation of the OS section and all preconditions from the tables above are fulfilled.
The official SAP HANA installation packages and utilities can be downloaded from the SAP Service
Marketplace . They are available in the form of a SAR-archives which can be extracted using SAPCAR.
To extract the SAP HANA installation packages create temporary space for the SAP HANA installer.
Assumed values:
● LV name: lv_install
● LV VG: vg00
● LV size: 128 GiB
● LV mount point: /install
# lvcreate -L128G -n lv_install vg00

# mkfs -t xfs /dev/vg00/lv_install
# mount /dev/vg00/lv_install /install
Note
Instead of using a local directory the SAP HANA installation files can also be mounted via NFS.
Move the SAPCAR binary downloaded from the SAP Service Marketplace to the /install directory and make
sure it is executable (SAPCAR_617-80000935.EXE is used in this example):
# mv <Path to downloaded installer>/SAPCAR_617-80000935.EXE /install/sapcar

# chmod a+x /install/sapcar
Move the SAR-Archive for the SAP HANA installation to /install as well and then extract it:
# mv <Path to downloaded installer>/<HANA_Archive>.SAR /install

# cd /install
# ./sapcar -manifest SIGNATURE.SMF -xvf <HANA_Archive>.SAR
When the archive is extracted a new directory SAP_HANA_DATABASE/ is created inside the /install
directory.
SAP HANA Installation PUBLIC 23
It is crucial for the HDB Life Cycle Manager (LCM) to check each file in this directory for correctness. So the file
SIGNATURE.SMF must be placed in the SAP_HANA_DATABASE directory as well:
# mv SIGNATURE.SMF SAP_HANA_DATABASE/
When starting the installation make sure to have the following information available:
● System ID (SID)
● Instance number
● Usage type
● Instance admin password
● Linux account data of the instance admin
○ Home directory
○ UID
○ Default shell
○ GID
● System user password
For for information about troubleshooting, see the SAP Note 2078425 - Troubleshooting note for SAP
HANA platform lifecycle management tool hdblcm.
Related Information
SAP Service Marketplace

SAP Note 2078425 - Troubleshooting note for SAP HANA platform lifecycle management tool hdblcm
4.2 SAP HANA Installation Examples
The SAP HANA database lifecycle manager (HDBLCM) tools install or update the underlying components of
the SAP HANA platform.
4.2.1 Interactive Command Line SAP HANA Installation

Using hdblcm
To start an interactive command line installation run the following commands:
# cd SAP_HANA_DATABASE
# ./hdblcm --action=install
hdblcm will ask for the required information via command line prompts. At the end of the installation hdblcm
will show the path to the log file where detailed information about the installation process can be found.
For a detailed description of how to install an SAP HANA system, see SAP HANA Server Installation and
Update Guide.
4.2.2 Interactive Installation of SAP HANA Using hdblcmgui

An alternative to the command line installation is to use of the graphical variant of the SAP HANA Lifecycle
Manager.
To be able to run it some parts of the GNOME Desktop environment must be installed on the system. Check
the list of packages in Appendix A - Required Packages for SAP HANA on RHEL7.xAppendix A – Required
Packages for SAP HANA on RHEL 7.x [page 34] to verify that all required packages are installed to be able to
run the graphical installer.
Change to the installation directory and launch the installer with:
# cd /install/SAP_HANA_DATABASE
# ./hdblcmgui
For a detailed description how to install an SAP HANA system, see SAP HANA Server Installation and Update
Guide.
Related Information
4.2.3 Unattended Installation Using hdblcm

The SAP HANA Lifecycle Manager can also be used for unattended SAP HANA installations.
The SAP HANA Server Installation and Update Guide explains the process in detail. In our case, we use the
following command line:
# cat /root/password.xml | /tmp/__installer.HDB/hdblcm \

--read_password_from_stdin=xml \
--sid=ANA --number=00 \
--sapmnt=/sapmnt/shared \
--datapath=/sapmnt/data \
--logpath=/sapmnt/log \
--shell=/bin/bash \
--hostname=$(hostname) \
-b --system_usage=test \
--autostart=1 \
--components=server \
--system_usage=test \
--timezone=CET \
--max_mem=827052 \
[--db_mode=single_container]
In this example, SAP HANA is installed the same way as the one installed using the GUI. The unattended
installation method can be used within RHEL Kickstart installations or other scripted installation methods.
SAP HANA Installation PUBLIC 25
For a complete guide to all parameters, see the SAP HANA Server Installation and Update Guide.
Related Information
4.2.4 Scale-Out Installation
To install SAP HANA in a clustered environment, follow the guidelines as you do for a single machine, except:
In the graphical installation using hdblcmgui choose Distributed system instead of Single-host
system. When prompted provide the names of the additional hosts.
When performing a command line scale-out SAP HANA installation using hdblcm use the --addhosts option
to specify the additional host of the scale-out landscape (see section addhosts in the SAP HANA Server
Installation and Update Guide for more information).
Since the standard SSH mechanism used by hdblcm for scale-out installations does not work on RHEL (refer
to Red Hat Knowledge Base article SAP HANA Multi host install fails with the message
"LIBSSH2_ERROR_KEY_EXCHANGE_FAILURE , unable to exchange encryption keys" for more information)
it is necessary to configure SAP HostAgent with SSL communication on all hosts of the scale out landscape
before starting the installation.
To use SAP HostAgent as the communication mechanism between hosts, do the following:
● Install SAP Host Agent on all hosts of the SAP HANA scale-out landscape (see SAP Note 1031096 1031096
- Installing Package SAPHOSTAGENT)
● Configure SSL communication between the SAP HostAgents as described in Configuring SSL for SAP
Host Agent on UNIX
● Run hdblcm[gui] using the option --remote_execution=saphostagent
For more information, see Using SAP Host Agent to Execute Platform LCM Tasks in the SAP HANA Server
Installation and Update Guide.
Related Information

SAP Note 1031096 - Installing Package SAPHOSTAGENT
Using SAP Host Agent to Execute Platform LCM Tasks
SAP HANA Multi host install fails with the message "LIBSSH2_ERROR_KEY_EXCHANGE_FAILURE , unable to
exchange encryption keys"
5 Automated RHEL and SAP HANA
Installation Using Kickstart
You can perform an automated RHEL and SAP HANA installation using Kickstart.
To automate the installation of RHEL for SAP HANA and SAP HANA itself the Kickstart mechanism
provided by the RHEL installer can be used. Using tools like Red Hat Satellite and PXE it is possible to fully
automate the installation process.
If you have no PXE Environment to pass the necessary network information to the kernel, it is also possible to
start an automated Kickstart installation using a RHEL7 installation media:
● Insert the boot DVD.

● When the boot menu from the DVD shows up, select Update or install ...
● Press the <TAB>-Key to get to the command prompt.
● Add the following parameters:
○ ksdevice=<Ethernet interface or link>, for example
○ ksdevice=link (for the first network device with a link)
○ ksdevice=eth3
○ ks=<method and URL to the Kickstart file>, for example
○ ks=https://192.168.0.200/kickstart.php?instance=01&sid=RHT
○ ks=http://192.168.0.200/hana.cfg
○ ip=<IP Address>, for example
ip=192.168.0.101
○ netmask=<Netmask>, for example
netmask=255.255.255.0
○ gateway=<Gateway address>, for example
Gateway=192.168.0.1
The installation of RHEL for SAP HANA and SAP HANA should execute automatically until the point where you
have to accept the SAP HANA EULA (End User License Agreement).
5.1 Description of the Sample Kickstart File for Installing

SAP HANA on RHEL 7.x
This section describes the Kickstart file provided as a sample in Appendix D - Sample Kickstart File.
For detailed information on how to set up Kickstart to automate the installation of RHEL, see the chapter
Kickstart Installations in the RHEL7 Installation Guide .
The first part of the file contains the partition scheme using XFS for the logical volumes dedicated for SAP
HANA.
Automated RHEL and SAP HANA Installation Using Kickstart PUBLIC 27
Some additional repositories and packages need to be included for the installation of SAP HANA (see
comments in the file).
● Only the base package group will be installed to keep the footprint as small as possible.
● The %pre-section comprises a small routine for presenting the EULA to the customer.
● If the customer accepts it, the OS and application are installed.
If the EULA is rejected, the installation process is aborted immediately and the machine is rebooted.
● Additional vendor specific dialogs or settings can be added via additional %pre sections. There can be as
many additional sections as you want, they are all executed serially before the installation begins.
● The second %pre-script calculates the size of the logical volumes reserved for SAP HANA according to the
requirements of SAP HANA. It writes an include file to /tmp, which in turn is included in the install section
for partitioning.
There can be more than one %post-sections present in a Kickstart file. They include the following:
● First, all necessary services are enabled, others disabled.

● New software repositories are written to enable the installation of additional products later on. The
SERVER variable needs to be modified by the OEM.
● The IPv6 protocol is disabled by executing /bin/true, whenever the kernel tries to load the appropriate
module.
● Create the file /etc/resolv.conf. The variables DOMAIN, DNS1 and DNS2 need to be modified by the
OEM.
● The network interfaces and the udev numbering are defined. If the Kickstart process uses DHCP/PXE, the
network parameters used here must be the ones used later on. All parameters must be set by the OEM.
Avoid network directive using fixed IP on the kernel command line when using DHCP/PXE.
● Set the host name. In a real environment, this could also be obtained using DNS/BIND.
The SAP HANA installer expects the short version of the hostname without the domain (no FQDN).
● Modify the file /etc/hosts. This is crucial for the SAP HANA installer to work. It is up to the OEM to set
the array index of IPADDR properly here.
● Because a proper time synchronization is crucial for SAP HANA to work, NTP is configured. The clock is
synchronized initially to avoid clock skew when the service is started. The OEM must choose the right NTP
server here.
● Set a symbolic link in /usr/lib64 from the latest version of libssl. This is a prerequisite for the version
of SAP HANA tested as by 20/03/2014.
● Install SAP HANA in the unattended mode:
○ First, a tarball and the file password.xml must be copied to the local machine. The variable SERVER
holds the ip address of the machine where these come from and must be modified by the OEM.
○ Then SAP HANA is installed in unattended mode with the following command:
# cat /root/password.xml | /tmp/SAP_HANA_DATABASE/hdblcm \

--read_password_from_stdin=xml \
--sid=ANA --number=00 \
--sapmnt=/hana/shared \
--datapath=/hana/data \
--logpath=/hana/log \
--shell=/bin/bash \
--hostname=$(hostname) \
-b --system_usage=test \
--autostart=1 \
--components=server \
--timezone=CET \
--max_mem=827052
28 PUBLIC Automated RHEL and SAP HANA Installation Using Kickstart
○ The instance (--sid option) must be changed by the OEM to meet the needs of the customer.
○ The parameter --max_mem limits the overall memory usage of SAP HANA.
○ For the explanation of all options, change to the installation directory and refer to:
# ./hdblcm --action=install --help
○ You can ignore the checks done by the SAP HANA installer (for example to install on virtual systems)
by appending ignore statements to the previous line
○ --ignore=check_hardware
○ --ignore=check_min_mem
○ As shown above, the installer can be provisioned with a password file. The file password.xml needs
the following layout and entries:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<Passwords>
<password>Passw0rd</password>
<sapadm_password>Passw0rd</sapadm_password>
<system_user_password>Passw0rd</system_user_password>
<root_password>redhat</root_password>
</Passwords>
○ In the XML file replace the values for the following tags accordingly
○ password
○ sapadm_password
○ system_user_password
○ root_password
See Appendix C – Sample XML Password File for Unattended SAP HANA Installation for an example.
○ For details on setting kernel parameters for SAP HANA, see Linux Kernel Parameters in the SAP HANA
Server Installation and Update Guide.
Always check your Kickstart file after modifying it. This can be done with
# yum -y install pykickstart

# ksvalidator </var/www/html/hana.cfg>
5.2 Example Kickstart Process
The Kickstart process can be initiated using PXE or with a physical or virtual DVD. When the system boots, the
user will see a selection of options provided in this example by the PXE server.
Leave this menu item selected and press <TAB>.
30 PUBLIC Automated RHEL and SAP HANA Installation Using Kickstart
Now, some kernel command line parameters can be appended.
ks=http://<install server>/hana.cfg
ksdevice=<HANA network interface>
ip=<HANA network address>
netmask=<HANA netmask>
gateway=<HANA gateway>
As mentioned above, these parameters must be equal to the ones defined persistently for the SAP HANA
interface defined in the Kickstart file in the postinstall section, Part 1.
6 Operating System Maintenance
Regarding the operating system maintenance several aspects have to be taken into account.
6.1 Changes to OS configuration

To guarantee optimal performance and the highest stability, SAP appliance hardware and technology partners
may deliver SAP HANA systems with operating system settings that deviate from the standard as outlined in
the SAP HANA Master Guide and SAP HANA Server Installation Guide.
Also customers may want to change the configuration of the operating system of the SAP HANA appliance, for
example, in order to apply additional customer-specific security hardening settings or to install additional
software required for the operation of SAP HANA in customer environments.
SAP permits such changes to configuration parameters of the Operating System that deviate from the
patterns described above unless these changes are listed in SAP Note 1731000 – Unrecommended
configuration changes. The changes described in this note have caused problems in customer environments or
in the laboratories of SAP or SAP HANA appliance hardware and technology partners.
Changes to operating system parameters are permitted only with the agreement of the corresponding
hardware and operating system suppliers of your SAP HANA appliance. Customers and partners are advised
to document all changes to the standard patterns so that SAP support can more efficiently identify the root
cause of problems. In case administration was outsourced to 3rd party service provider, the provider should
first consult with the hardware support provider before changing any settings in the operating system.
For the latest information, see SAP Note 1730999 - Configuration changes to SAP HANA system and the SAP
Notes referenced in it.
Related Information
SAP Note 1731000 - Unrecommended configuration changes

SAP Note 1730999 - Configuration changes to SAP HANA system
6.2 Maintenance / Patching

The customer is generally responsible for implementing operating system patches. If the customer has a
special agreement with the hardware or technology partner, support for operating system patching may be
the responsibility of the corresponding partner.
The initially delivered configuration of the appliance's operating system should persist. If configuration
settings are subsequently changed, problems may occur, for example in regards to performance. The
32 PUBLIC Operating System Maintenance
customer can request a validation of configuration changes for the operating system and for the installation of
additional operating system components by the hardware partner depending on the service contract between
the hardware partner and the customer. The hardware partner then supports these changes and additional
components in accordance with the existing service contract with the customer.
OS security patches that have been released by the OS vendor may be installed immediately after they are
available. However, the original packages of the distributors must be used, to which a customer is entitled to
within the framework of a valid support contract with the distributor or an authorized OEM.
For all other operating system patches, the customer should wait until they are released as part of RHEL minor
releases. These minor releases shall be downloaded and applied to the SAP HANA system only according to
agreements with SAP and the respective hardware partner. In particular, any updates related to kernel or
runtime libraries (glibc) need to be validated and approved by SAP beforehand. OS minor releases are certified
by SAP to check the performance and functionality. We support minor OS releases that have been certified by
SAP.
OS major releases that have been verified by SAP may be deployed at any time.
On rare occasions, SAP might require a certain operating system patch to be implemented. In this case SAP
strongly recommends to not change configuration settings unless explicitly stated in the corresponding SAP
release note. SAP will state any dependencies in the relevant SAP Note published when a revision is released
which requires such modifications.
6.3 Support
If errors occur in any software component of SAP HANA, SAP is the main point of contact.
SAP distributes all issues within the support organization by default, as is the case for other SAP applications.
To investigate SAP HANA related problems, SAP support requires a support connection to all servers in the
SAP HANA landscape. For more information about how to establish a service connection for SAP HANA, see
SAP Note 1635304 - Central note for HANA support connections.
In collaboration with the SAP LinuxLab Red Hat offers enhanced support for customers who are using “RHEL
for SAP HANA”. This support offer facilitates communication and ensures high quality.
If the customer has defined special support agreements with the hardware or technology partner (such as
special Service Level Agreements), the customer should contact the corresponding partner directly in the
case of obvious hardware or operating system issues.
Related Information
SAP Note 1635304 - Central note for HANA support connections
Operating System Maintenance PUBLIC 33
7 Appendix
The appendix provides additional information.
7.1 Appendix A – Required Packages for SAP HANA on

RHEL 7.x
The following packages have to be installed on RHEL for SAP HANA 7.x as a dependency for SAP HANA.
Without these packages, the installation is likely going to fail.
These packages are in the usual RHEL for SAP HANA 7.x channels for the base installation:
● cairo (vector graphics library, needed for supportability)

● expect
● graphviz (graph visualization tools, needed for supportability)
● iptraf-ng (TCP/IP network monitor, needed for supportability)
● krb5-workstation
● krb5-libs
● libcanberra-gtk2
● libicu
● libpng12
● libssh2
● libtool-ltdl
● lm_sensors (hardware health monitoring for Linux, needed for supportability)
● nfs-utils (support utilities for NFS, needed for supportability)
● ntp
● ntpdate
● numactl
● openssl098e
● openssl
● PackageKit-gtk3-module
● rsyslog
● sudo
● tcsh
● xorg-x11-xauth
● xulrunner
The following packages are required for SAP HANA components that are not SAP HANA server (database)
components:
● gtk2 (only required if the graphical SAP HANA installation tools hdblcmgui and hdbsetup are used)
● krb5-libs.i686 (only required if the 32-bit SAP HANA client is going to be installed; this is not necessary for
a standard SAP HANA installation)
34 PUBLIC Appendix
If you plan to use OFED (OpenFabrics Enterprise Distribution) for your SAP HANA setup the following
packages need to be installed as well:
● gcc
● glib
● glibc-devel
● glib-devel
● kernel-devel
● libstdc++-devel
● redhat-rpm-config
● rpm-build
● zlib-devel
7.2 Appendix B – SAP HANA Tuned Profiles OS

Modifications
As documented in section Activate SAP HANA Specific Tuned Profiles the appropriate tuned profile must be
activated on servers running SAP HANA to ensure that the system meets the performance requirements given
by SAP.
The following tables list the OS settings that are modified by the profiles:
Table 7: sap-hana (based on standard tuned throughput-performance profile)

Setting Description
force_latency=1 Llock the processor into C1-state for the duration the profile
is in force
governor=performance Set the CPU frequency scaling governor to performance
energy_perf_bias=performance Set a policy where performance is paramount. The pro

cessor will be unwilling to sacrifice any performance for the
sake of energy saving
min_perf_pct=100 Limit the minimum P state that will be requested by the

driver stated as a percentage of the max (non-turbo) per
formance level; 100 means that CPU will run on maximum
performance
transparent_hugepages=never Disable the usage of THP
kernel.sem=1250 256000 100 8192 Increase the default Semaphore limits of the kernel
readahead=4096 Set disk read ahead to 4096 blocks
kernel.sched_min_granularity_ns=10000000 Set minimal preemption granularity for CPU-bound tasks to

10000000 ns
kernel.sched_wakeup_granularity_ns=15000000 Set wakeup/sleep latencies to 15000000 ns
vm.dirty_ratio=40 Set percentage for start of dirty data write back to 40
vm.dirty_background_ratio=10 Start background write back at 10%
Appendix PUBLIC 35
Setting Description
vm.swappiness=10 Set tendency for swapping to 10
Table 8: sap-hana-vmware (based on standard tuned throughput-performance profile)

Setting Description
force_latency=1 Lock the processor into C1-state for the duration the profile
is in force
governor=performance Set the CPU frequency scaling governor to performance
energy_perf_bias=performance Set a policy where performance is paramount. The pro

cessor will be unwilling to sacrifice any performance for the
sake of energy saving
min_perf_pct=100 Limit the minimum P state that will be requested by the

driver stated as a percentage of the max (non-turbo) per
formance level; 100 means that CPU will run on max. per
formance
transparent_hugepages=never Disable the usage of THP
kernel.sem=1250 256000 100 8192 Increase the default Semaphore limits of the kernel
readahead=4096 Set disk read ahead to 4096 blocks
kernel.sched_min_granularity_ns=10000000 Set minimal preemption granularity for CPU-bound tasks to

10000000 ns
kernel.sched_wakeup_granularity_ns=15000000 Set wakeup/sleep latencies to 15000000 ns
vm.dirty_ratio=40 Set percentage for start of dirty data write back to 40
vm.dirty_background_ratio=10 Start background write back at 10%
vm.swappiness=30 Set tendency for swapping to 30
The sap-hana-vmware tuned profile also disables Large Receive Offload (LRO) for eth0 based on VMware
KBase Poor TCP performance might occur in Linux virtual machines with LRO enabled .
7.3 Appendix C – Sample XML Password File for

Unattended SAP HANA Installation
Below you can find an example password file for the unattended SAP HANA installation. All passwords are
written in plain text in this file.
To avoid that others are able to gain access to your freshly installed SAP HANA systems by reading the
contents of this file some precautions should be taken:
● Set the access permission of the file as restrictively as possible.

● Remove the file immediately after it is no longer used (by default this is performed automatically by
Kickstart).
● If used in a Kickstart file get that file over a secure transmission path.
36 PUBLIC Appendix
The contents of the file should look similar to the following:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<Passwords>
<password>XYZABC</password>
<sapadm_password>XYZABC</sapadm_password>
<system_user_password>XYZABC</system_user_password>
<root_password>ZYXCBA</root_password>
</Passwords>
The following explains for which user the password is set and what function the user has. Replace <sid> with
the one you choose for your SAP HANA installation.
Table 9:
Keyword User name Remark
password <sid>adm Operating system administrator of the

SAP HANA system
sapadm_password sapadm SAP host agent user
system_user_password SYSTEM Administrative user for SAP Database
root_password root Linux root user
7.4 Appendix D – Sample Kickstart File
In the box below you find a sample Kickstart file for the setup of a SAP HANA suited system.
Make sure to replace all occurrences of the host names/IP addresses in this file by the corresponding host
names/IP addresses in your network. Note that in RHEL7 the service NetworkManager can be used in place
of network and so nmcli can be used to configure the network interfaces persistently.
# Sample Kickstart file for automated RHEL nad SAP HANA installations.
install
url --url ftp://192.168.0.254/pub/rhel7/dvd
text
lang en_US.UTF-8
keyboard de-latin1-nodeadkeys
network --onboot no --device eth0 --bootproto dhcp --noipv6 --hostname
pxeclient.example.com
rootpw --iscrypted $6$2F5oFvoOo2rbhKJL
$dn2hYW3cPE6OFaxP3lLD.kkSQ1U5COINoKYUT0VuTuZpRmz.ckJfP5XcTJAc5I6OWASUxSe/
Tf2QbN6arA6m//
firewall --disabled
authconfig --enableshadow --passalgo=sha512
selinux --disabled
timezone --utc Europe/Berlin
bootloader --location=mbr --driveorder=vda --append="crashkernel=auto rhgb quiet"
# The following is the partition information you requested
# Note that any partitions you deleted are not expressed
# here so unless you clear all partitions first, this is
# not guaranteed to work
zerombr
clearpart --all
reboot
part /boot --fstype=xfs --size=1024 --ondisk=/dev/vda
part pv.00 --size=10240 --grow --ondisk=/dev/vda
part pv.01 --size=10240 --grow --ondisk=/dev/vdb
Appendix PUBLIC 37
volgroup vg00 --pesize=4096 pv.00
volgroup vg01 --pesize=4096 pv.01
logvol swap --name=lv_swap --vgname=vg00 --grow --size=1024 --maxsize=1024 --
fstype=xfs
logvol / --fstype=ext4 --name=lv_root --vgname=vg00 --grow --size=8192 --
fstype=xfs
#logvol /usr/sap --fstype=ext4 --name=lv_usr_sap --vgname=vg00 --grow --
size=51200 --fstype=xfs
logvol /hana --fstype=xfs --name=lv_hana --vgname=vg01 --grow --size=10240 --
fstype=xfs
%packages
@base
@x11
@graphical-admin-tools
@internet-browser
vsftpd
httpd
tftp-server
syslinux
gtk2
libicu
xulrunner
sudo
tcsh
libssh2
expect
cairo
graphviz
iptraf
krb5-workstation
krb5-libs
nfs-utils
lm_sensors
rsyslog
openssl098e
openssl
PackageKit-gtk3-module
libcanberra-gtk2
libtool-ltdl
xorg-x11-xauth
numactl
%end
%post --interpreter /bin/bash
# Change runlevel and disable services
systemctl set-default graphical.target
systemctl disable kdump
systemctl disable rhsmcertd
systemctl disable network
systemctl enable ntpd
# Set the repository to point to the PXE-server
cat > /etc/yum.repos.d/rhel.repo << EOF
[rhel]
name=Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server
baseurl=ftp://192.168.0.254/pub/rhel7/dvd
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-redhat-release
EOF
cat > /etc/yum.repos.d/rhel-sap.repo << EOF
[rhel-sap]
name=Red Hat Enterprise Linux for SAP HANA
baseurl=ftp://192.168.0.254/pub/rhel7/sap
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-redhat-release
EOF
# Define the network interface in DHCP mode
systemctl start NetworkManager
38 PUBLIC Appendix
systemctl enable NetworkManager
nmcli con add type ethernet con-name eth0 ifname eth0
%end
# Disable IPv6
echo >> "install ipv6 /bin/true" > /etc/modprobe.d/noipv6.conf
%end
# Configuration of the network time protocol (NTP)
NTP=192.168.0.254
cat > /etc/ntp.conf << EOF
driftfile /var/lib/ntp/drift
restrict default kod nomodify notrap nopeer noquery
restrict -6 default kod nomodify notrap nopeer noquery
restrict 127.0.0.1
restrict -6 ::1
server ${NTP}
includefile /etc/ntp/crypto/pw
keys /etc/ntp/keys
EOF
# Set the time manually
systemctl stop ntpd
ntpdate 192.168.0.254
systemctl start ntpd
%end
# Create a link because hdbnsutil crashes otherwise
ln -s /usr/lib64/libssl.so.0.9.8e /usr/lib64/libssl.so.0.9.8
ln -s /usr/lib64/libssl.so.1.0.1e /usr/lib64/libssl.so.1.0.1
ln -s /usr/lib64/libcrypto.so.0.9.8e /usr/lib64/libcrypto.so.0.9.8
ln -s /usr/lib64/libcrypto.so.1.0.1e /usr/lib64/libcrypto.so.1.0.1
%end
# Get password.xml and the database software. Extract it.
SERVER=192.168.0.1
ARCHIVE=IMDB_SERVER100_112_1-10009569.SAR
SAPCAR=SAPCAR_617-80000935.EXE
PASSWORD=/root/password.xml
wget ftp://${SERVER}/pub/hana/password.xml -O ${PASSWORD}
chmod 400 ${PASSWORD}
mkdir -p /hana/install
cd /hana/install
wget ftp://${SERVER}/pub/hana/${ARCHIVE}
wget ftp://${SERVER}/pub/hana/${SAPCAR}
chmod +x ${SAPCAR}
./${SAPCAR} -manifest SIGNATURE.SMF -xvf ${ARCHIVE}
mv SIGNATURE.SMF SAP_HANA_DATABASE
#mount -t nfs4 -o ro ${SERVER}:/install /mnt
%end
# Install the HANA database software
cat /root/password.xml | /hana/install/SAP_HANA_DATABASE/hdblcm --
read_password_from_stdin=xml --sid=ANA \
--number=00 --sapmnt=/hana/shared --datapath=/hana/data --logpath=/hana/log --
shell=/bin/bash \
--hostname=$(hostname) -b --system_usage=test --autostart=1 --components=server
--timezone=CET
%end
# Clean up
rm -f /root/password.xml
rm -fr /hana/install
%end
Appendix PUBLIC 39
7.5 Appendix E – Installation in a Virtual Machine
(VMware)
SAP HANA in combination with RHEL for SAP HANA 7.x can be installed in a virtual machine operated by a
VMware Hypervisor.
The following prerequisites must be fulfilled:
● The underlying hardware must be certified by SAP's ICC for SAP HANA.
● Do not use memory compression techniques like KSM.
● The maximum memory reserved for the virtual machines should not exceed 90% of the physical memory
of the hypervisor.
● SAP HANA needs the full instruction set of the host CPU(s). Adjust the settings for the VM accordingly.
● RHEL 7.x for SAP HANA already includes the paravirtualization drivers for VMware. For monitoring and
system management purposes, VMware Tools must be installed and running as well.
● To obtain the best manageability, use the paravirtualization drivers included in RHEL 7.x for SAP HANA
instead of PCI pass through (VT-d).
● For performance reasons, the SAP HANA file systems should reside on separate VMDK files.
Refer to the following documentation for further details:
● SAP Note 1995460 - Single SAP HANA VM on VMware vSphere in production

● SAP Note 2024433 - Multiple SAP HANA VMs on VMware vSphere in production
● VMware Best Practices on SAP HANA
40 PUBLIC Appendix
Important Disclaimers and Legal Information
Coding Samples
Any software coding and/or code lines / strings ("Code") included in this documentation are only examples and are not intended to be used in a productive system
environment. The Code is only intended to better explain and visualize the syntax and phrasing rules of certain coding. SAP does not warrant the correctness and
completeness of the Code given herein, and SAP shall not be liable for errors or damages caused by the usage of the Code, unless damages were caused by SAP
intentionally or by SAP's gross negligence.
Accessibility
The information contained in the SAP documentation represents SAP's current view of accessibility criteria as of the date of publication; it is in no way intended to be
a binding guideline on how to ensure accessibility of software products. SAP in particular disclaims any liability in relation to this document. This disclaimer, however,
does not apply in cases of wilful misconduct or gross negligence of SAP. Furthermore, this document does not result in any direct or indirect contractual obligations of
SAP.
Gender-Neutral Language
As far as possible, SAP documentation is gender neutral. Depending on the context, the reader is addressed directly with "you", or a gender-neutral noun (such as
"sales person" or "working days") is used. If when referring to members of both sexes, however, the third-person singular cannot be avoided or a gender-neutral noun
does not exist, SAP reserves the right to use the masculine form of the noun and pronoun. This is to ensure that the documentation remains comprehensible.
Internet Hyperlinks
The SAP documentation may contain hyperlinks to the Internet. These hyperlinks are intended to serve as a hint about where to find related information. SAP does
not warrant the availability and correctness of this related information or the ability of this information to serve a particular purpose. SAP shall not be liable for any
damages caused by the use of related information unless damages have been caused by SAP's gross negligence or willful misconduct. All links are categorized for
transparency (see: http://help.sap.com/disclaimer).
Important Disclaimers and Legal Information PUBLIC 41
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SAP HANA Platform SPS 12

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7.x Configuration

3 Manual Preparation of the OS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

4 SAP HANA Installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

6 Operating System Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

● SAP Note 2235581 - SAP HANA: Supported Operating Systems

1.1 How to Use This Guide

This guide is divided into four main parts:

1. Manual installation of RHEL for SAP HANA 7.2.

1.2 Installation Overview of SAP HANA on RHEL 7.x

● Install minimal RHEL. Use the base application profile.

SAP Note 2235581 - SAP HANA: Supported Operating Systems

● Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Server

● Red Hat Enterprise Linux High Availability (for RHEL 7 Server)

2.4 Required Hosts

The following list is separated into two categories:

● Host to install: <hostname>.example.com

SAP Certified and Supported SAP HANA Hardware

The following preparations must be made.

3.1 Basic OS Installation

Perform the basic installation steps:

The list could look like this:

repo id repo name status

rhel-7-server-rpms/7Server/x86_64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Server 11.059

rhel-7-server-extras-rpms/x86_64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Server - Ex­ 249

rhel-7-server-optional-rpms/7Server/ Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Server - Op­ 8.719

rhel-sap-hana-for-rhel-7-server-rpms/ Red Hat Enterprise Linux for SAP 11

rhel-ha-for-rhel-7-server-rpms/ Red Hat Enterprise Linux High Availa­ 211

# yum -y groupinstall base

3.3 Configure the Hostname

Configure the hostname:

● Configure the server hostname to <hostname>.example.com:

# hostnamectl set-hostname <hostname>

<your ip> <hostname>.example.com <hostname>

● Double-check that it works:

Make sure you have correct network time settings.

The following process describes the setup of chrony:

● Make sure chronyd is installed:

# yum -y install chronyd

# grep ^server /etc/chrony.conf

● Enable and start the chrony service:

# systemctl enable chronyd.service

● Double-check that the chrony service is enabled:

# systemctl list-unit-files | grep chronyd.service

The following process describes the setup of NTPD:

# yum -y install ntp ntpdate

# grep ^server /etc/ntp.conf

● Force an update to the current time:

● Enable and start the ntpd service:

# systemctl enable ntpd.service

● Double-check that the ntp service is enabled:

# systemctl list-unit-files | grep ntp

# echo ntp.example.com >> /etc/ntp/step-tickers

3.5 Configure Storage

Create a local storage for SAP HANA:

● Check for empty devices:

● Create PV with pvcreate /dev/<disk-partition>.

lv_hana_shared System memory /hana/shared

lv_hana_data 4 * System memory /hana/data

lv_hana_log System memory /hana/log

lv_usr_sap At least 50 GiB /usr/sap

Example calculation for a system memory of 96 GiB:

rhel-7-server-extras-rpms/x86_64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Server - Ex 249

rhel-7-server-optional-rpms/7Server/ Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Server - Op 8.719

rhel-ha-for-rhel-7-server-rpms/ Red Hat Enterprise Linux High Availa 211

System usage Specify the application area of the in