Do we need to have a separate Licensing Required for HANA System

Replication?

We are all aware that the HANA database’s license works based on the memory utilization and there
are different types as explained below:

The SAP HANA database supports two kinds of license keys: temporary license keys and permanent
license keys: SAP HANA licenses can be installed for the system database (global) or for a single
tenant database (local). Global licenses are for the system database and all the tenant databases,
but a license installed in a tenant database governs only that tenant database. If you remove a
tenant-specific license key, that tenant database reverts to the global license key installed in the
system database.

Different Types of SAP HANA License Keys

Temporary License Keys

A temporary license key is automatically installed with a new SAP HANA system. A temporary license
key is valid for 90 days. During this period, you should request and install a permanent license key.

Permanent License Keys

Permanent License Keys: Expiration

Before a permanent license key expires, you should request and apply a new permanent license key.
If a permanent license key expires, a (second) temporary license key is automatically installed. This
temporary license key is valid for 28 days. During this time, you can request and install a new
permanent license key.

You can request a permanent license key on SAP Support Portal (http://support.sap.com )
under Request Keys. Permanent license keys are valid until the predefined expiration date.
Furthermore, they specify the amount of memory licensed to an SAP HANA installation.

Permanent License Keys: Types

There are two types of permanent license key for SAP HANA: unenforced and enforced.

If an unenforced license key is installed, the operation of SAP HANA is not affected if its memory
consumption exceeds the licensed amount of memory. However, if an enforced license is installed,
the system is locked down when the current memory consumption of SAP HANA exceeds the
licensed amount of memory plus some tolerance. If this happens, either SAP HANA needs to be
restarted, or a new license key that covers the amount of memory in use needs to be installed.
The two types of permanent license key differ from each other in the following line in the license key
file:

License Key Type License Key File Entry

Unenforced SWPRODUCTNAME=SAP-HANA

Enforced SWPRODUCTNAME=SAP-HANA-ENF

SWPRODUCTNAME=SAP-HANA-DEV

SWPRODUCTNAME=SAP-HANA-DIGITAL

Note: It is technically possible to install an enforced license in an SAP HANA instance with a regular,
unenforced permanent license. In this case, the unenforced license key has priority. That is, if a valid
unenforced license key is found, excessive memory consumption will not result in a system
lockdown. However, if one license key expires and becomes invalid, the other license, if valid,
becomes the valid license key of the instance. If the latter is an enforced license key, then the
memory consumption is checked.

License Keys for Tenant Databases

You can install permanent license keys in individual tenant databases. The license key installed in a
tenant database is valid for that database only and takes precedence over the license key installed in
the system database. If a tenant-specific license key is not installed, the system database license key
is effective in the tenant database.

Note: The system view SYS.M_LICENSE provides tenant administrators with information on the
license key effective in their tenant database, as well as where the license key is installed: in the
tenant database itself or in the system database. System administrators can use the view
SYS_DATABASES.M_LICENSE to see the same information for all tenant databases.

System Lockdown

The system goes into lockdown mode in the following situations:

• The permanent license key has expired and either:

o You did not renew the subsequently installed temporary license key within 28 days,
or

o You did renew the subsequently installed temporary license key but the hardware
key has changed

• The installed license key is an enforced license key and the current memory consumption
exceeds the licensed amount plus the tolerance.

• You deleted all license keys installed in your database.

In lockdown mode, it is not possible to query the database. Only a user with the system privilege
LICENSE ADMIN can connect to the database and execute license-related queries, such as, obtain
previous license data, install a new license key, and delete installed license keys.

In addition, the database cannot be backed up in lockdown mode.

Additional SAP HANA Licenses

Additional licenses are required for certain applications running on the SAP HANA database, as well
as certain SAP HANA options and capabilities. For more information, see SAP Note 1644792 (License
key/installation of SAP HANA).

General Prerequisites for Configuring SAP HANA System Replication

System replication enables recovery from a data centre outage by switching to a secondary site.

The following prerequisites need to be considered:

• The primary and secondary system are both installed and configured. You have verified that
both are independently up and running.

• The configuration of hosts in the primary and secondary systems must be the same, that is,
the number of hosts must be the same but also the names of the host roles, failover groups
and worker groups must be identical in both systems. This implies that if there is a standby
host on the primary system it need not be available on the secondary system.

• All configuration steps have to be executed on the master name server node only.

• During an upgrade of the system replication landscape, the software version of the current
secondary system has to be equal or newer to the version of the current primary system.

Note During a failback, the roles of your system switch. Make sure in this case that your primary
system doesn’t have a newer software version than the secondary system. Note For active/active
(read enabled) setups the SAP HANA versions must be the same on the primary and the secondary
system. Use this setup mainly during the upgrade process of the system replication landscape.

• The secondary system must have the same SAP system ID (<SID>) and instance number as
the primary system.

Note: The primary replicates all relevant license information to the secondary. An additional license
is not required. See SAP Note 2211663.

• System replication between two systems on the same host is not supported.

• The .ini file configuration must be similar for both systems. Any changes made manually, or
by SQL commands on one system should be manually duplicated on the other system.

Automatic configuration parameter checks will alert you to configuration differences between the
two systems.
Note To keep the ini file configuration similar on both systems, the INI parameter checker is per
default configured to check for differences. Additionally, it can be configured to replicate parameter
changes from the primary system to the secondary system.

• To secure the system replication communication channel between the primary and the
secondary system configure the ini parameters [system_replication_communication] /
listeninterface and allowed_sender as described in Host Name Resolution for System
Replication.

• If the host names of the primary and the secondary system are the same (for example,
because two systems are used that have identical host names) change the host names used
on the secondary system. For more information, see Rename an SAP HANA System Host.

• Check that the hostnames in the primary system are different to the hostnames used in the
secondary system.

You can see this in the SAP HANA studio, at the end of the environment variable
SAP_RETRIEVAL_PATH and with the python script landscapeHostConfiguration.py

For more information, see Host Name Resolution for System Replication

• Ensure that log_mode is set to "normal" in the persistence section of the global.ini file. Log
mode normal means that log segments are backed up.

• You are logged on to both systems as the operating system user (user <sid>adm) or you have
provided its credentials when prompted.

• You have performed a data backup or storage snapshot on the primary system. In multiple-
container systems, the system database and all tenant databases must be backed up. This is
necessary to start creating log backups. Activated log backup is a prerequisite to get a
common sync point for log shipping between the primary and secondary system.

• Both systems should run on the same endianness platform.

• You must prepare the secondary system for authentication while it is still shut down. To do
this, copy the system PKI SSFS .key and the .dat file from the primary system to the
secondary system. For more information, see SAP Note 2369981.NoteTo setup system
replication with XS Advanced, copy the following XS advanced secure store files from your
primary system to the same location on the secondary system (if already existing, overwrite
the corresponding files in the target location):

/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/xsa/security/ssfs/data/SSFS_<SID>.DAT

/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/xsa/security/ssfs/key/SSFS_<SID>.KEY

For more information about XS Advanced and system replication, see SAP Note 2300936.

After performing these steps, register the secondary system as secondary and start it.

• Besides updating the XS Advanced keys, you must update also the engine keys:

/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/security/rsecssfs/data/SSFS_<SID>.DAT

/usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/security/rsecssfs/key/SSFS_<SID>.KEY
 • SAP HANA dynamic tiering is not supported with multi-target system replication. For more
information about SAP HANA system replication with SAP HANA dynamic tiering, see SAP
Note 2447994.

Active/Active (Read Enabled)

Active/Active (read enabled) reduces the load on the primary system but does not double the
capacity; it simply extends read capabilities. In an Active/Active (read enabled) system replication
configuration, the SQL ports on the secondary system are open for read access. This makes it
possible to use the secondary system for read-intense tasks and to have a better balance of
workloads improving the overall performance of the SAP HANA database.

Active/Active (read enabled) is integrated into the System Replication solution and gets activated
with the operation mode logreplay_readaccess. This operation mode provides fast takeovers,
reduced need for bandwidth in continuous operation, and support for replication modes such as
SYNC (with or without the full sync option), SYNCMEM, and ASYNC. The redo log replay runs
asynchronously to the primary operations.

Operation Mode logreplay_readaccess

Using this operation mode while configuring your system replication, read access becomes possible
on the secondary system by establishing a direct connection to the secondary system or by providing
a SELECT statement from the primary system with a HINT. For more information, see also Client
Support for Active/Active (Read Enabled) and SAP HANA SQL Reference Guide.

To use this operation mode, the primary and the secondary systems must have the same SAP
HANA version. For this reason, read-only access to the secondary system is not possible during a
rolling upgrade until both versions are the same again.

In a multitier setup, read access on the secondary is only supported for tier 2. In a 3-tier system
using Active/Active (read enabled), the logreplay_readaccess mode is required between the primary
and the active secondary systems, while the logreplay mode is required between the other (tier 2
and tier 3) secondary systems. In a multitarget setup, multiple secondary systems
with logreplay_readaccess are supported.

Note: With the operation mode logreplay_readaccess, the secondary system allows read-only access
on column tables via SQL providing a delayed view on the data compared to the primary system.
There is no minimum delay guarantee. The read access on system and monitoring views is supported
as well.
SAP Reference Notes:

2211663 - The license changes in an SAP HANA database after the deregistration of the secondary
site from a system replication setting

2685661 - Licensing Required for HANA System Replication.

• Actually, in a system replication configuration, the whole system, i.e. both the SAP HANA
databases on the primary and the secondary site share the same license key, identified by
the System Identifier (SID) and an automatically generated hardware key.

• As soon as a secondary database is registered, the permanent license key currently installed
on the primary database will be transferred to the secondary database. Furthermore, the
secondary database is modified in a way that it will generate the same hardware key as the
primary database, so that the license key is valid and usable on the secondary database.

• When the secondary database is deregistered from the system replication, this license
modification is reverted so that the secondary database re-uses its original hardware key,
which is the hardware key that was generated during the installation of the database.

• When the secondary database, now becoming a new, independent database, is restarted
after de-registration, the change in the hardware key is detected. As the database was
previously running on a valid permanent license, a temporary license key with validity of 90
days will be automatically installed. This gives the administrator of the database a grace
period to request and install a new valid license key to the new database.

• So Truth: The primary replicates all relevant license information to the secondary. An
additional license is not required. In an Active/Active (read enabled) configuration, the
secondary system is operated automatically with the license key of the primary system.
Changes of the license key are done on the primary system and replicated to the secondary
system. For more information, see Managing SAP HANA Licenses.