Business Scenario
As a Database Administrator, you want to upgrade your company's SAP HANA Cloud database. Before upgrading, you want to check the prerequisites such as database version, time of upgrade, and resolved issues to make sure that the upgrade goes smoothly.
Overview Upgrade Process SAP HANA Cloud databases
Watch the following video to see how to upgrade a SAP HANA Cloud database instance.
SAP HANA Cloud Release Strategy
Upgrades and patches for the SAP HANA Cloud, SAP HANA database are continuously provided. The database administrator is notified when an upgrade or patch becomes available.
A new version of SAP HANA Cloud is shipped every three months on the last day of every quarter. This means SAP HANA Cloud uses a Quarterly Release Cycle. The Quarterly Release Cycle versioning schema is as follows:
Note
QRC #/YYYY, where # is the release quarter and YYYY is the release yearAs an example: QRC 4/2023 would be the SAP HANA Cloud version released in the last quarter of 2023.
Scenario 1
Your instance is running QRC1. You can perform a manual upgrade to the newest patch of QRC1, QRC2, or QRC3.
Scenario 2
Your instance is still running QRC1 after QRC3 is already released. Seven months after the initial QRC1 release, you will be notified by SAP that an automatic upgrade is scheduled. SAP will automatically install the latest QRC2 patch.
Scenario 3
Your instance is running QRC1. You can perform a manual upgrade to the newest patch of QRC1 or QRC2.
You cannot downgrade to a lower version or revert to the previous version after the upgrade was performed
Upgrades
As soon as there is a newer version of the SAP HANA Cloud available, a notification will be shown in the SAP HANA Cloud Central application. You can upgrade to this new QRC release.
Every version of SAP HANA Cloud, SAP HANA database is provided with patches for up to seven months. After these seven months, SAP automatically upgrades your SAP HANA Cloud database instance to the highest patch level of the current QRC-1.
The maintenance window for the automatic upgrade of an instance is defined by SAP, but you will be notified in advance of the upcoming upgrade.
Patches
Patches are shipped between the QRC releases and are provided for up to seven months after its initial release. Apply a patch to fix known bugs and benefit from other improvements.
By default, applying a patch or upgrade requires the instance to be restarted, which causes downtime. To reduce the downtime, an upgrade can be performed without the need to restart the instance. You can choose whether the instance is restarted or not in the instance configuration under General Update Mode.
Showing an SAP HANA Cloud database instance upgrade
Open the following demonstration on how to upgrade an SAP HANA Cloud database.
Required Skills
As you now have learned, the actual task of upgrading an SAP HANA Cloud database instance is not so complicated. The more important part of the process is to make sure that all prerequisites are fulfilled and that all the business users are informed and aligned. To complete the whole upgrade process correctly, the following skills are very useful:
- Level Competent: SAP HANA database administration
- Level Competent: SAP BTP
- Level Competent: Operating Systems, preferably Linux
- Level Competent: Databases, preferably Linux
- Level Proficient: Soft skills
Summary
You now have a clear understanding of the various tasks to be performed and skills required to perform an SAP HANA Cloud database upgrade.
Further Reading
Additional SAP HANA Cloud reading material is available on help.sap.com.
Here's some information on the topic SAP HANA Cloud patches and upgrades: