SAP HANA contains multiple components and it provides high computing power to HANA. Most important component of SAP HANA system is Index Server, which contains SQL/MDX processor to handle query statements for database.SAP HANA system also consists of Name Server, Preprocessor Server, Statistics Server and XS engine. XS engine is used to communicate and host small web applications and various other components on top of HANA database.

SAP HANA is an in-memory database so all data resides in memory all the time and hence all calculations and functions can happen directly and hence materialized aggregations are not required in SAP HANA database.With the use of column store, data is available vertically and hence operations on different columns can be easily performed.

In a Column store table, Data is stored vertically. So, similar data types come together as shown in the example above. It provides faster memory read and writes operations with help of In-Memory Computing Engine.In a conventional database, data is stored in Row based structure i.e. horizontally. SAP HANA stores data in both row and Column based structure. This provides Performance optimization, flexibility and data compression in HANA database.Storing Data in Columnar based table has following benefits −Data CompressionFaster read and write access to tables as compared to conventional Row based storageFlexibility & parallel processingPerform Aggregations and Calculations at higher ... Read More

Row based tables are used when only one record has to be processed at a time. Row based table doesn’t support aggregations and fast searching.When your application needs to access a complete record or a complete row it is recommended to use row based tables.

SAP HANA is not only a database but it is software and hardware innovation. You may get better result w.r.t Performance but HANA is not just a db with more memory.

Yes, you can set a variable on top of “Calculated column”. In the bottom box, you need to select the column on which you want to set a Variable.Click on Add and from the drop-down, you can select “Calculated column” as below:

Yes, this is possible. When you create variable in HANA, you have an option to make it as a mandate. Also from the drop down, you can make Selection type as Range or Interval

Variables are used as an explicit SQL filter directive for view consumers to filter the view data, based on attribute column values specified in variable UI prompt of a BI Client.To define a variable, you need to navigate to Semantics in a view → Go to Parameters/Variables and click on drop down next to the + sign.

When you create an Analytic View, you get an option of Data Foundation and Star Join. At Data Foundation level you can add objects- columnar tables and at Star join you can add other Attribute views.When you click on “+” sign, you get an option to search all Attribute views in the repository.

You are correct. In SAP HANA, Analytic Views are used to implement Star Schema queries wherein we join one Fact table to multiple Dimension tables. Analytic views use the real power of SAP HANA to performcomplex calculations and aggregate functions by joining tables in form of star schema and by executing Star schema queries.Following are key characteristics of SAP HANA Analytic View:Analytic Views are used to perform complex calculations and Aggregate functions like Sum, Count, Min, Max, Etc. Analytic Views are designed to run Start schema queries.Each Analytic View has one Fact table surrounded by multiple dimension tables. The fact table ... Read More