Companies today are constantly looking for ways to leverage their data to make effective decisions and grow their businesses. One way to achieve this is by integrating different data sources into a single platform. In SQL Server, you can set up a linked server for SAP HANA data, allowing you to seamlessly integrate real-time SAP HANA data with your SQL Server instance.
The SQL Gateway is a powerful tool that enables you to configure a TDS (SQL Server) remoting service and set up a linked server for SAP HANA data. Once the service is started, you can use the SQL Server Management Studio UI or call stored procedures to create the linked server. This allows you to work with SAP HANA data just as you would with a linked SQL Server instance.
To get started, you need to connect to SAP HANA as an ODBC data source. This involves specifying connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs. Set the server, database, port, user, and password properties to authenticate to the SAP HANA server.
Once you have configured the ODBC DSN, you can proceed to configure the TDS remoting service in the SQL Gateway UI. The TDS remoting service is a daemon process that listens for TDS requests from clients. It allows SQL Server to communicate with SAP HANA through the linked server.
After configuring and starting the daemon, you can create the linked server and connect to SAP HANA. This can be done either through the SQL Server Management Studio UI or by calling stored procedures programmatically. In the UI, you can follow the steps to create a linked server from the Object Explorer. Specify the provider, data source, and catalog information, and configure the security context using the username and password of a user created in the SQL Gateway.
If you prefer to create the linked server programmatically, you can use stored procedures. The required inputs include the linked server name, provider, data source, catalog, and srvproduct. By calling the sp_addlinkedserver and sp_addlinkedsrvlogin stored procedures, you can create the linked server and configure authentication to the SQL Gateway.
Once the linked server is set up, you can connect to it from SQL Server Management Studio and execute queries against the SAP HANA data. Simply specify the table name accordingly in your queries.
By setting up a linked server for SAP HANA data in SQL Server, you can seamlessly integrate real-time SAP HANA data with your SQL Server instance. This allows you to connect with BI, analytics, reporting, and data visualization technologies, and seamlessly integrate with your favorite analytics tools. You can also facilitate operational reporting, offload queries and increase performance, support data governance initiatives, archive data for disaster recovery, and more.
So, if you’re looking to leverage your SAP HANA data and integrate it with your SQL Server environment, consider setting up a linked server using the SQL Gateway and the ODBC Driver. It’s a powerful solution that can help you make better decisions and drive your business forward.