HANA SQL Analyzer Unavailable in HANA Cockpit/Database Explorer

[bmcdonn2]

Hello Everyone,

In the past couple of weeks, we've found a reduction in access to the HANA SQL Analyzer (aka Plan Visualizer, aka PlanViz) to a point where we no longer have access and I wanted to gauge whether it is something only we are experiencing or if others have experienced the same.

We use the HANA Service (Image Version 5.1.0) on Cloud Foundry in the AWS Environment and provisioned the service after June 4, 2018. This precludes us from making use of the HANA Studio* as it is not supported for our environment, see Note 2693731. Given that HANA Studio is not an option, we are limited to interacting with the SQL Analyzer through the steps outlined here: Analyzing Statement Performance.

With that context in mind, we cannot access the analyzer through any of the steps in the above link. At first, we had all options. We could run the analyzer in the HANA Cockpit through the SQL Statements & Manage SQL Performance Cards as well as in the Web IDE through the Database Explorer.

Then, about a month ago, we no longer had these options in the HANA Cockpit:

Then, last week, we lost our access in the Web IDE:

My question for the community is: Has anyone else had this issue and if so, how did you resolve it? If nobody else has had this issue, can anyone offer any suggestions on why we might not have access? My first thought would be something authorization/configuration related but from what I know we have not made any changes to this in the past couple of weeks when the problem first started occurring.

I appreciate any responses on this issue.

Thanks,

Brian

* This limitation on the HANA Studio is actually not 100% true. As you may have noticed in the screenshots, we've had the option to save the analysis to a file. We have had some success in then taking the downloaded file and loading it into HANA Studio for analysis. The problem here of course is that the process of downloading a file to then analyze in a separate, not officially supported program is not an optimal way for handling this when we previously had an integrated tool.

[Taesuk · Accepted solution]

Dear All,

The SQL Plan Analyzer was removed from the Cloud Cockpit version but still available with on-premise Cockpit. We have planned to replace the existing SQL Analyzer due to complaints regarding usability and responsiveness for complex plans.

We will introduce 2 types of SQL Analyzer which will be based on Visual Studio Code and it is planned be released in Q4 this year.

• Desktop version installed as a VS Code plugin
• Cloud version in Business Application Studio

In the meantime, the PLV must be downloaded and opened in SAP HANA Studio until the replacement solution is released.

[bmcdonn2 · Accepted solution]

Thank you for this response. It's good to know that there is a replacement in the works that will be accessible in both the Business Application Studio and as a VS Code Plugin. I can agree that the performance was often quite poor in the HANA Cockpit and Web IDE so I look forward to the new versions of the Analyzer. I just wish that we had these new options before the old ones were removed. For now we will download and import into HANA Studio.

[henrique_pinto · Accepted solution]

Hi taesuk.son, thank you for the feedback!
Just one question: what reason did SAP have to remove the working (albeit not perfectly) SQL Plan Analyzer from the Cockpit & DBX before the one on BAS is available? Leaving it there for another couple of months wouldn't hurt it, would it?
Unless it wasn't just performance and the results themselves being shown on the cloud-based apps were not correct, then forcing the offline PLV visualization would make sense.
Can you please clarify on the reasons why SAP decided to remove it just 2 months before the new one was available?

[dvankempen]

Hi Brian,

As documented,

What's New for SAP HANA Cockpit, SAP HANA Cloud

25 September 2020

SQL Analyzer (Removal) The SQL Analyzer has been removed. You can still download plans as PLV to your device.

[bmcdonn2]

Denys,

Thanks for the response. It just occurred to me to check the changelogs. It seems that it was also removed from the Database Explorer in early September: What's New for SAP HANA Database Explorer.

So while this was intentional, the corresponding documentation was not updated and no efficient option for running this analysis was provided for users that cannot integrate HANA Studio with their DB (as is the case with the HANA Service). It is disappointing that there was previously an integrated option and now we are forced to save/download a plv file for loading into HANA Studio in Eclipse.

I hope SAP has a better option for this in the future and that it is not dependent on moving to the newer HANA Cloud service.

Thanks,

Brian

[dvankempen]

Let me check if we can get some feedback on this.

[bmcdonn2]

Thanks for looking into this Denys. Our current workflow given this new setup where SQL Analyzer has been removed is the following:

1. Generate SQL Analyzer Plan File in SQL Console
2. Open up Saved Plans in HANA Cockpit and Download .plv
3. Load Downloaded .plv file into Eclipse HANA Studio

The fact that our only method of accessing this functionality is by using three separate tools (one to generate the plan, one to download the plan and one to analyze the plan) is seriously slowing down our ability to analyze performance. Even short-circuiting the workflow such that we could generate+download in a single step would be an improvement. Of course, our end goal would be returning to a fully-integrated system where we can generate+analyze in a single step.

[henrique_pinto]

Good catch, denys.kempen .
However, downloading the .plv to open on HANA Studio can't be the answer, since HANA Studio is being deprecated.
For HANA Cloud, the official tooling is HANA Cockpit and DB Explorer.
If the Plan Visualizer/Explain Plan isn't available on them anymore, what is the recommended/expected way a HANA Cloud customer will be using for SQL Explain Plan/Query Performance Tuning on HANA Cloud.

Thank you very much,
Henrique.

[dvankempen]

As documented...

Deprecated but supported until June 2025. But you are right, of course. WiP, I understand.

[bmcdonn2]

Denys,

Can you please confirm the following statements so I have a full understanding of where we're at:

1. The plan visualizer will only be available in the HANA Studio (as discussed in this ticket and announced in corresponding changelogs)
2. The HANA Studio does not support direct integration with the SAP Cloud Platform HANA services (as discussed in Note 2693731)
3. Given these two constraints, the only way to run the plan visualizer if you use an SAP Cloud Platform HANA service is to download the plan from the HANA Cockpit or Database Explorer and load it into the HANA Studio
4. This is how SAP expects us to use these services and tools for the foreseeable future

Knowing that this was intentional and that this is the only option we have will help us plan accordingly within our team to make sure they have the proper workflows and tools. Our database experts previously were able to operate 100% with SAP Cloud Platform tools (Web IDE and HANA Cockpit) but now we will need to make sure they have Eclipse installed locally with the HANA Studio added as well.

Thanks,

Brian

[dvankempen]

Requested the product manager to comment.

===

In more general terms, there are official channels for these type of requests beyond mere Q&A:

• Should you need an official SAP response, consider creating a support ticket https://support.sap.com
• For suggestions and enhancements, consider adding a request to customer influence https://influence.sap.com/sap/ino/#campaign/902.

[bmcdonn2]

Denys,

I am aware of those other channels but what I've learned from this entire exercise is that this SAP Community gets results while the others do not. If I am to prioritize those other channels, they need to deliver on the promise that they will assist me with my problem.

To give you an example, I entered an Expert Chat related to this issue on September 30th and the representative I talked to was helpful but could not provide any more details on this issue. They helpfully opened an incident for me that same day (September 30th). As of the evening of October 5th (when I closed the ticket), I had still not received a response on that ticket.

Compare that situation to this community Q&A. I described an issue and you responded in about an hour with some clarifying information. Less than 12 hours after I posted the question I received another follow-up from your colleague Tae Suk Son that contains not only a confirmation of my problem but the planned resolution.

Not only that, but this question is for the whole public to see. So if somebody else has a similar question, they can refer to this question and see that yes, the SQL Analyzer was removed but a replacement is on the way. If I had handled this through official private channels such a public record would not exist.

In an ecosystem where documentation is often scattered and contradictory, the SAP Community is a wonderful resource where developers like me and folks like you with insider information can cut through some of the confusion to arrive at answers that benefit everyone.

All that being said, this matter is now closed.

Thanks,

Brian