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What are the options as SAP HANA 1.0 support in the Neo environment sunsets?

With support for SAP HANA 1.0 in the SAP BTP, Neo environment ending soon, users will face a choice between the Neo environment and Cloud Foundry for SAP HANA 2.0.

By
  • Tim KorbaGuest Contributor
Published: 03 Nov 2023

Neo users are facing a choice that will have an important impact on their development environment.

That’s because SAP recently announced that HANA 1.0 will reach the end of mainstream maintenance on 30 June, effectively sunsetting it in the SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP), Neo environment. When that happens, SAP will stop issuing security updates, support packages and bug fixes, making it risky to continue developing HTML5, Java and SAP HANA apps with extended application services (XS) for deployment on this environment.

Fortunately, you have a couple of options to retain the ability to develop and run the apps you need.

Option 1: Upgrade from SAP HANA 1.0 to 2.0 in the SAP BTP, Neo environment

SAP has released SAP HANA 2.0 on the environment to minimise the impact on its 1.0 users. Migrating is the quickest fix, and the option that requires the lowest Capex. Users will also see improved performance with version 2.0.

To migrate from version 1.0 to 2.0:

  • The current SAP HANA database system must be at least 1.00.122.29 or higher – preferably the latest version.
  • SAP HANA 1.0 systems should be running on OS SLES12 SP5 or higher to upgrade to HANA 2.0.

Migrating does have some downsides. HANA 1.0 and 2.0 have feature differences that could affect applications or projects, depending on which HANA functionalities an organisation uses.

IT teams that choose this path should go in with their eyes open to the fact that it’s only a short-term solution. HANA 2.0 in the SAP BTP, Neo environment will only support HANA Extended Application Services, Classic (XSC); SAP HANA Extended Application Services, Advanced (XSA) won’t be available. XSC is older technology, and a secondary migration will be required in the future.

Option 2: Adopt SAP BTP, Cloud Foundry environment for XSA Advanced

Making the Cloud Foundry choice closely aligns with SAP’s strategic roadmap to move towards XSA. SAP BTP, Cloud Foundry environment is open source and supports many development languages, including NodeJS, PHP, Java, Ruby, Go and Python – and you can also bring your own language.

Unlike the SAP BTP, Neo environment, the SAP BTP, Cloud Foundry environment supports deployment on third-party hyperscalers, including Amazon Web Services, Azure and GCP, rather than only on an SAP datacentre. Additionally, it has both on-premise and cloud development components, so organisations can progress their cloud migrations at their own pace or support hybrid environments.

The Cloud Foundry choice has some downsides. These include the following:

  • Cloud Foundry is a completely different development framework, so IT teams will experience a learning curve.
  • Objects that live in XSC won’t carry over into XSA – they will need to be recreated.
  • Security components change from 1.0 to Cloud Foundry.

The smart move

The best course of action is to migrate to SAP HANA 2.0 in the SAP BTP, Neo environment as soon as possible and then to the SAP BTP, Cloud Foundry environment in about a year, when automation tools for the migration are available.

Keep in mind that SAP BTP, Cloud Foundry environment is the ultimate goal – XSA’s features, flexibility and functionality are the key to advancing your digital transformation journey.

Tim Korba is a director of delivery for business intelligence services at Dickinson + Associates, a Navisite company, which is an SAP systems integrator. He is an experienced consultant with over 18 years of SAP experience with multiple full-cycle go-lives.

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