As the holiday season rolls in and the summer days become a distant memory, we have something exciting to look forward to.
I’m thrilled to announce the Q4 delivery of SAP HANA Cloud in 2024.

Before we dive into the details, I highly recommend watching this short video for an overview of the release highlights. Now, without further ado, let’s explore the innovations in more detail.

Innovations in SAP HANA Cloud, SAP HANA Database

Administration & Service Management

Dynamic horizontal scaling for easy-to-configure elasticity

Let me start with an introduction to one of the most anticipated features in our latest quarterly delivery for 2024: The ability for customers to dynamically scale computing resources horizontally based on demand. This innovation enables customers to leverage so-called elastic compute nodes (ECN), allowing resources to be increased or decreased as needed. Whether you’re facing spikes in demand or evolving application requirements, this feature ensures that you can adapt your SAP HANA Cloud environment seamlessly.

The immense value add for users comes from the ability to optimize the size of the SAP HANA database based on average workloads while dynamically addressing peak workloads. This not only ensures cost-efficiency but also empowers applications running on the SAP HANA database to handle increasing workloads without any performance degradation. It also ensures their responsiveness and high performance under varying conditions. With this enhancement, customers can be confident that their infrastructure will scale efficiently and effectively, meeting the dynamic needs of their business.

Furthermore, to support database administrators in identifying workloads which qualify to be routed to elastic compute nodes, we are introducing a so-called Advisor, providing you with handy recommendations. Integrated into SAP HANA Cloud Central, the tool offers administrators the possibility to analyse specific workloads which occurred at certain points in time, to better understand whether they would be suitable for off-loading. In case a recommendation can be provided by the advisor, users are presented with ECN size recommendations, scheduling guidance and insights into appropriate workload class routings. This will help users to utilize the benefits presented by ECNs more easily.

Recommendations provided by ECN Advisor

To get more details about the concept of Elastic Compute Nodes, take a look at this blog post provided by Seungjoon Lee.

Native Storage Extension (NSE)

Automated Setting of Buffer Cache Size for NSE

We are pleased to introduce the automated setting of the buffer cache size for NSE in SAP HANA Cloud. This feature enables the database to calculate and set the `UNLOAD_THRESHOLD` parameter size of the buffer cache automatically, based on the persistence size for data in the NSE. Additionally, the database runs periodic checks of the actual persistence size within a defined interval. Thus, ensuring that the `UNLOAD_THRESHOLD` parameter accurately reflects the minimum required buffer cache size.

By automating this process, we significantly reduce administrative efforts and costs, as manual intervention is no longer required to adjust the buffer cache size. Moreover, this innovation helps with accurate sizing of the buffer cache, thereby optimizing memory usage and enhancing the overall performance of your SAP HANA Cloud environment.

Providing a Unified Persistency Format for Both Column-Loadable and Page-Loadable Data

We are excited to introduce a unified persistency format that supports both column-loadable and page-loadable data in SAP HANA Cloud. This provides a transparent switch between the two formats without requiring a conversion of the persistency format.

This significantly reduces the conversion time and thus minimizes business downtime and simplifies administration for the native storage extension. This innovation also enables automated and intelligent use of the native storage extension. By providing a unified format, we ensure that your operations run smoothly and efficiently, allowing you to take biggest advantage of the native storage extension (NSE).

Exporting & Importing catalog data

As part of our latest quarterly delivery, we’ve enhanced the Visual Studio Code extension for the SAP HANA database explorer to now support the exporting and importing of catalog data directly to and from their current Visual Studio Code workspace. With this functionality, equivalent to the existing SAP HANA database explorer capabilities, we are ensuring a seamless experience for users when importing and exporting data.

By integrating this feature directly into Visual Studio Code, we aim to reduce switchover times to other tools, streamlining workflows and making it easier for users to manage their catalog data. This innovation not only eases the use but also enhances the overall user experience, making it simpler to transfer and utilize catalog data within SAP HANA Cloud.

Import from SAP HANA to SAP HANA Cloud

We are introducing the ability to import data directly from SAP HANA 2.0 containers via export to SAP HANA Cloud. This enables users to transition data smoothly from on-premise SAP HANA environments to the cloud. By facilitating the process, we aim to enhance scalability and optimize performance, allowing businesses to leverage the advanced features and capabilities of SAP HANA Cloud and take full advantage of the cloud’s benefits.

Support for GCP Private Service Connect

After adding support for the AWS PrivateLink Service in Q3 2024, we are excited to now introduce support for GCP Private Service Connect in SAP HANA Cloud, SAP HANA database. This innovation enables seamless and secure connections between applications running within a Google Cloud Platform (GCP) landscape and SAP HANA Cloud. This facilitates the use of private IP endpoints through GCP Private Service Connect, which are addressable only within the GCP network and not exposed publicly. It complements the existing strict transport layer security (TLS) enforcement and optional IP allow/disallow list configuration in SAP HANA Cloud.

By reducing the exposure of IP endpoints, this enhancement provides an additional layer of security for connections to SAP HANA Cloud. Users benefit from improved security and reduced risk. Sensitive data remains protected within the GCP environment. This innovation simplifies the secure integration of SAP HANA Cloud into your GCP infrastructure, allowing for a more robust and secure data management experience.

Private network connectivity

Graphical View Modeling

Using Wildcards to Define Which Calculation Views Should Be Secured

In this quarter’s delivery, we are introducing the ability to use wildcards when defining the calculation view scope of analytic privileges and structured filters in SAP HANA Cloud. This enhancement allows you to determine which calculation views are included in the scope at the deployment time of the analytic privilege or structured filter.

By leveraging these wildcards, you can secure calculation views more flexibly and include newly created calculation views based on naming patterns. This significantly reduces maintenance effort, as privilege scopes are automatically updated after redeployment, ensuring your security measures remain current and effective without manual intervention.

Attaching workload-class hints to the query on the calculation view

I am also delighted to introduce the ability to attach workload-class hints directly to the query on the calculation view. With our latest update of SAP HANA Cloud, users can now optimize their workload and effectively manage resource consumption by selecting the “Execution Hint from List” option in the dialog box.

This innovative feature allows for the attachment of hints, but only those appended to the topmost calculation view will be effective. By utilizing these hints, users can tailor their system’s processing to fit specific tasks and conditions, ensuring a more efficient execution and smoother operational flow. Whether you’re handling large data sets or complex computations, this new feature provides a straightforward solution to enhance system responsiveness and achieve optimal results.

Availability of greedy pruning option for non-equi joins

Next, I am happy to mention another powerful feature to enhance your query performance: the availability of a greedy pruning option for non-equi joins. This new functionality is designed to speed up queries significantly by employing an advanced pruning technique tailored for non-equi joins. It is important for developers to confirm that the greedy pruning behavior aligns with their specific requirements.

By implementing this pruning option, users can expect a marked improvement in query execution speed, enabling faster data retrieval and more efficient data handling processes. This addition is yet another step towards optimizing your database operations and enhancing overall system performance.

Expression editor offering similarity functions for vectors

The recent release also features an exciting update to our expression editor, which now includes support for similarity functions specifically designed for vectors. Users can now harness the power of vector engine functions, such as COSINE_SIMILARITY and L2DISTANCE, directly within SQL expressions.

This enhancement allows for a seamless integration of vector engine capabilities with calculation views, empowering users to perform complex similarity assessments and distance calculations more easily.

Option to use referential join type in non-equi joins

Lastly, in the area of database modeling, we are enhancing the efficiency of non-equi join queries by now offering the option to utilize referential join types. This feature allows for an optimization in join processing by tapping into the power of referential joins. It’s essential for model developers to ensure that referential integrity is maintained.

By leveraging information about referential integrity, users can experience a noticeable acceleration in processing non-equi join queries. This new capability not only speeds up data handling but also improves the overall reliability of data relationships in complex queries. Make your data analysis tasks smoother and faster.

If you want to learn more about the modeling features in details, I would recommend to take a look at the blogpost my colleague Jan Zwickel published.

Native Multi-Tenancy

Multi-tenancy is a very popular and common software architecture in cloud environments, where multiple customers share the same single software instance. While sharing the same resources, customers and their data are separated from each other in so-called tenants. Multi-tenancy is extremely cost-effective, as you don’t need a dedicated software instances per customer. But, it also requires a modern data management layer that provides multi-tenant capabilities on database level.

With the Q4 2024 release, the SAP HANA Database within SAP HANA Cloud introduces native multi-tenancy on database level. Customer data are managed in database tenants which are sharing the same database instance, but are logically separated.

SAP HANA Cloud multi-tenancy ensures enterprise qualities on tenant level, like customer-specific encryption, recovery, or resource isolation. You can easily scale with SAP HANA Cloud, starting with small database tenant data sizes in a kilobyte range and growing as customer data requires. And, while you are dynamically onboarding new customers in your application by adding new database tenants, the SAP HANA Cloud database takes care of the balance between resource sharing and tenant separation. 

This blog post by Ruediger Karl provides more details on native SAP HANA Cloud multi-tenancy, its value and capabilities.

Data Privacy & Protection

Row-Level Access Control Based on Dynamic Structured Rules

With QRC4 2024, we are supporting row-level access control based on dynamic structured filter rules in SAP HANA Cloud. This enhancement offers fine-grained data access control, allowing for more precise and flexible management of data access permissions.

The dynamic structured rules improve both usability and security at the level of the SAP HANA database. They ensure that users only have access to the data they need and thus enhance data protection and streamline security administration.

Encrypted importing and exporting of data files with customer-controlled encryption keys (CCEK)

We are also strengthening the data security capabilities of SAP HANA Cloud this quarter. Users are now able to encrypt export data files based on customer-controlled encryption keys (CCEK). This ensures that data can only be imported into other systems if the encryption key has not been revoked.

This innovation helps ensure that exported data remains secure and cannot be decrypted if the customer-controlled encryption keys are revoked. By giving customers full control over their encryption keys, we enhance data protection and comply with stringent security requirements.

Allowing X.509–based authentication for CONNECT SQL statements

From now on X.509 certificate–based authentication for the CONNECT SQL statement in SAP HANA Cloud is available. This is particularly beneficial for session pooling scenarios, such as those supported by the SAP Cloud Application Programming Model (CAP), where the active SAP HANA database user of an existing session is frequently switched. By utilizing X.509 certificates, the switch is performed using the CONNECT SQL statement and authenticating the new user’s credentials based on the certificate.

This innovation adds to the traditional username/password-based authentication, enhancing security and simplifying credential management. With the shift to X.509 certificate-based authentication, applications can more securely bind credentials during session pooling, ensuring robust and streamlined identity management in your SAP HANA Cloud environment.

X.509 certificate-based client authentication

Finally, in the area of data privacy and protection, we are proud to announce the introduction of X509 certificate-based client authentication for SAP HANA schemas and SAP HANA HDI containers in SAP HANA Cloud. This new security measure empowers users to significantly fortify their authentication processes. With the ability to enable service keys for using X.509 client certificates, users can now expose a dedicated certificate for each service binding, ensuring a much tighter security protocol. This update also introduces the ability to rotate certificates effortlessly—by creating new service bindings and deleting old ones. It also allows each service instance to have multiple bindings, each linked to a different certificate. Additionally, applications can create new bindings, switch all connections to these new bindings, and afterwards delete the old bindings without experiencing any downtime.

This feature not only enables zero-downtime credential rotation for schemas but also elevates the overall security infrastructure, delivering a more robust verification of user identities. Moreover, it also makes forgery more difficult by tying certificates to specific devices and users.

Multi-model data processing

New In-Database Vector Embedding SQL Function

We are adding an in-database text embedding function to SAP HANA Cloud, specifically designed to support SQL data warehousing. This enhancement includes the `vector_embedding()` function, which allows for the vectorization of text data already stored within your SAP HANA Cloud. The resulting embeddings can then be stored directly in SAP HANA Cloud as a vector data type.

This innovation lets customers leverage in-database capabilities for embedding and vectorization, eliminating the need for external tools. Additionally, it makes it easier to extract meaningful insights from text data, complementing the data analysis capabilities within SAP HANA Cloud.

Support for Aggregation Functions STDDEV and VAR on the JSON Document Store

From QRC4 2024 on, SAP HANA Cloud supports the aggregation functions STDDEV (standard deviation) and VAR (variance) on JSON document store collections. This allows the calculation of standard deviation and variance of specific JSON attributes within a document store collection.

This new capability enables users to derive improved insights and perform more comprehensive analysis on JSON attributes. By supporting these aggregation functions, SAP HANA Cloud facilitates a deeper understanding of data variability and dispersion, thereby enhancing the overall analytical capabilities of the platform.

Machine Learning and Predictive Analytics

New Text Analysis and Embedding Vector Generation from Text

In Q4 2024, we are introducing advanced text analysis and embedding vector generation capabilities through the Predictive Analysis Library (PAL) in SAP HANA Cloud. The new features include:

Best-Matching 25 (BM25) Keyword Text-Search Function: Based on the BM25 relevance scoring algorithm, this function enhances ranking in text-search result setsText analysis capabilities: Supporting word segmentation, part-of-speech tagging, and entity extraction (initial language support for English, German, French, Portuguese, and Spanish)Text vectorization function: Utilizes the in-database text-embedding model to process text data stored in the databaseText-chunking preprocessing function: Initially supporting sentence-based, paragraph-based, separator-based, and other nonsemantic methods for text separation

This set of innovations empowers data scientists and application developers alike to use SAP HANA Cloud to enhance keyword-based text-search results while benefitting from intuitive text-search matches. They can also perform deep textual analysis using natural language processing techniques to extract valuable information from text. Moreover, these innovations allow to generate vector embeddings directly from text data stored in the database, and thus eliminating the need for data export and external embedding models. And lastly, they can now efficiently divide larger text blocks into smaller, more manageable pieces suitable for analysis or text vectorization.

New Vector Data Analysis and Machine Learning Functions

Additionally, we are again strengthening the vector data analysis and machine learning capabilities in SAP HANA Cloud through additional features in the Predictive Analysis Library (PAL). These new features include vector data processing, such as support for data partitioning, multi-layer perceptron (MLP) recommender systems, principal components analysis, and K-means clustering. Additionally, there are capabilities for text-vector data and hybrid data classification and regression modeling with multitask MLP and hybrid gradient boosting tree (HGBT) functions. Advanced semantic text mining is also part of the QRC4 delivery of SAP HANA Cloud, featuring approximation-model-based semantic text-mining functions using either vector or text data sources, with implicit text data vectorization. Furthermore, there is a new time-series classification feature that distinguishes between additive and multiplicative time-series model patterns. Lastly, the updates include outlier detection, which identifies outliers in automated machine learning (AutoML) regression models.

These additions also empower data scientists and application developers using SAP HANA Cloud to utilize vector data for a broader scope of analysis, including cluster detection. They unlock the possibility to utilize the semantic context of text vectors in conjunction with other data attributes for classification and regression scenarios. Furthermore, these innovations improve text-mining results on large volumes of text and address the semantic similarity gap in text-mining analysis. They allow to properly differentiate between additive and multiplicative time-series model patterns based on seasonal variation, whether constant or with increasing variation over time. Finally, the enhancements to AutoML models lead to more accurate AutoML regression models by automatically excluding outlier data.

For more insights into the recent additions to the machine learning capabilities of SAP HANA Cloud, please have a look at the overview blogpost by my colleague Christoph Morgen.

Innovations in SAP HANA Cloud, data lake

Support for AWS PrivateLink services connections to the data lake

We are pleased to announce that the AWS PrivateLink service is now also supported in SAP HANA Cloud, data lake. This enables applications running within an Amazon Web Services (AWS) landscape to connect to SAP HANA Cloud using private IP endpoints through AWS PrivateLink. By utilizing private IP endpoints, which are addressable only within the AWS network and not exposed publicly, this enhancement reduces the exposure of IP endpoints. This complements standard IP allow/disallow list filtering and also adds an extra layer of security to your connections.

Users benefit from increased security and reduced risk. Sensitive data remains protected within your AWS environment. This makes it easier to securely integrate SAP HANA Cloud into your AWS infrastructure, providing a more robust and secure data management experience.

Self-service restore for the relational engine

Moreover, we are thrilled to announce the self-service restore capabilities for the data lake relational engine in SAP HANA Cloud. This feature empowers customers to perform database restores independently, eliminating the need for service tickets and external assistance.

With this update, we give customers full control over their data recovery processes, while significantly reducing the time required to perform a database restore. This not only enhances operational efficiency but also ensures that critical data is back online quickly, minimizing downtime and allowing businesses to maintain continuity and productivity.

Fast restore of relational engine databases

Additionally, we are excited to share a significant enhancement to our data lake: the fast restore of relational engine databases in SAP HANA Cloud. This feature allows users to quickly restore a relational engine database, regardless of its total size, drastically reducing restoration time. Previously, the restoration process could take approximately one hour per TB, but with this new capability, that time is greatly minimized.

The benefit for users is clear—the increased speed enhances time efficiency but also ensures that critical data is back online faster, allowing you to return to normal again quickly.

Ticket-based modification of relational engine runtime options for the data lake

This feature allows you to request custom runtime option configurations through a service ticket when migrating on-premise SAP IQ software to the SAP HANA Cloud, data lake. It ensures that you can fulfill specific runtime configuration requirements that differ from the standard relational engine runtime configuration for SAP HANA Cloud’s data lake.

The ticket-based modifications help to mirror the runtime configuration of your on-premise system in the cloud. This is particularly beneficial when migrating complex on-premise SAP IQ software to the data lake relational engine in SAP HANA Cloud. The approach ensures a smoother migration experience, retained custom configurations, and optimal performance of your data lake ecosystem.

Exposing Connection Endpoints for Individual Relational Engine Worker Nodes in the Data Lake Component

In this quarter’s delivery, we are also enhancing the data lake within SAP HANA Cloud by providing unique and stable SQL endpoints for each individual worker node within a relational engine system.

Customers now have more control over workload distribution in their relational engine systems. By offering stable endpoints for each worker node, they can more effectively manage and optimize their data workloads, eventually ensuring better performance and resource utilization.

Further Innovations and Enhancements

Database Application Development

Ability to Detect and Tune SQL Performance with the SQL Plan Advisor

We are happy to introduce you to our SQL plan advisor in SAP HANA Cloud. The advisor is able to detect and tune SQL performance between execution engine plans. This new feature reports on fluctuating or degraded execution times for SQL statements to activate self-tuning mechanisms. It automatically compares execution performance tests between different engine plans and applies the tuned execution statement as proposed SQL plan advisor.

The SQL Plan Advisor allows users to identify problematic performance of deviating SQL statements. By leveraging automatic comparison and adjustment of future plans, the SQL Plan Advisor ensures minimal enhanced performance optimization and overall system efficiency with minimal user intervention required.

Expanded Data Center Availability in Australia and Brasil

In response to customer requests, SAP HANA Cloud is now available in several new data centers across multiple global regions and cloud platforms. Specifically, an SAP HANA Cloud data center has been made available in Australia (Sydney) on Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Additionally, another data center has been established in Brazil (São Paulo) on Microsoft Azure, catering to customers who prefer the Azure platform.

These expansions aim to provide customers with greater flexibility and choice, allowing them to run SAP HANA Cloud in the hyperscaler data centers of their preference. By increasing data center availability in these key regions, SAP HANA Cloud ensures optimal performance, data sovereignty, and closer proximity to users, enhancing the overall customer experience and support for global business operations.

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If you’ve reached this point, you’ve successfully navigated through our entire What’s New blogpost—well done!

For more technical details on the Q4 2024 release, please visit our What’s New Viewer in the Technical documentation, which provides a comprehensive overview of the release scope. To stay informed about the latest developments, be sure to follow the SAP HANA Cloud tag.

Additionally, you can explore new blog posts using the whatsnewinsaphanacloud tag. If you missed the What’s New webinar from Q3 2024, you can find it along with future webinars in this YouTube playlist. Keep an eye out for our upcoming webcast on the latest innovations, which will also be available in the same playlist soon.

Should you have any questions about SAP HANA Cloud or wish to discuss the mentioned innovations, feel free to post them in our SAP HANA Cloud Community Q&A or in the comments section below.

Enjoy the holidays, have a fantastic Christmas time and a great start into 2025!
🎄☃️🎉

​ As the holiday season rolls in and the summer days become a distant memory, we have something exciting to look forward to.I’m thrilled to announce the Q4 delivery of SAP HANA Cloud in 2024.Before we dive into the details, I highly recommend watching this short video for an overview of the release highlights. Now, without further ado, let’s explore the innovations in more detail.Innovations in SAP HANA Cloud, SAP HANA DatabaseAdministration & Service Management Dynamic horizontal scaling for easy-to-configure elasticity Let me start with an introduction to one of the most anticipated features in our latest quarterly delivery for 2024: The ability for customers to dynamically scale computing resources horizontally based on demand. This innovation enables customers to leverage so-called elastic compute nodes (ECN), allowing resources to be increased or decreased as needed. Whether you’re facing spikes in demand or evolving application requirements, this feature ensures that you can adapt your SAP HANA Cloud environment seamlessly.The immense value add for users comes from the ability to optimize the size of the SAP HANA database based on average workloads while dynamically addressing peak workloads. This not only ensures cost-efficiency but also empowers applications running on the SAP HANA database to handle increasing workloads without any performance degradation. It also ensures their responsiveness and high performance under varying conditions. With this enhancement, customers can be confident that their infrastructure will scale efficiently and effectively, meeting the dynamic needs of their business.Furthermore, to support database administrators in identifying workloads which qualify to be routed to elastic compute nodes, we are introducing a so-called Advisor, providing you with handy recommendations. Integrated into SAP HANA Cloud Central, the tool offers administrators the possibility to analyse specific workloads which occurred at certain points in time, to better understand whether they would be suitable for off-loading. In case a recommendation can be provided by the advisor, users are presented with ECN size recommendations, scheduling guidance and insights into appropriate workload class routings. This will help users to utilize the benefits presented by ECNs more easily.Recommendations provided by ECN Advisor To get more details about the concept of Elastic Compute Nodes, take a look at this blog post provided by Seungjoon Lee.Native Storage Extension (NSE)Automated Setting of Buffer Cache Size for NSEWe are pleased to introduce the automated setting of the buffer cache size for NSE in SAP HANA Cloud. This feature enables the database to calculate and set the `UNLOAD_THRESHOLD` parameter size of the buffer cache automatically, based on the persistence size for data in the NSE. Additionally, the database runs periodic checks of the actual persistence size within a defined interval. Thus, ensuring that the `UNLOAD_THRESHOLD` parameter accurately reflects the minimum required buffer cache size. By automating this process, we significantly reduce administrative efforts and costs, as manual intervention is no longer required to adjust the buffer cache size. Moreover, this innovation helps with accurate sizing of the buffer cache, thereby optimizing memory usage and enhancing the overall performance of your SAP HANA Cloud environment.Providing a Unified Persistency Format for Both Column-Loadable and Page-Loadable DataWe are excited to introduce a unified persistency format that supports both column-loadable and page-loadable data in SAP HANA Cloud. This provides a transparent switch between the two formats without requiring a conversion of the persistency format. This significantly reduces the conversion time and thus minimizes business downtime and simplifies administration for the native storage extension. This innovation also enables automated and intelligent use of the native storage extension. By providing a unified format, we ensure that your operations run smoothly and efficiently, allowing you to take biggest advantage of the native storage extension (NSE).Exporting & Importing catalog dataAs part of our latest quarterly delivery, we’ve enhanced the Visual Studio Code extension for the SAP HANA database explorer to now support the exporting and importing of catalog data directly to and from their current Visual Studio Code workspace. With this functionality, equivalent to the existing SAP HANA database explorer capabilities, we are ensuring a seamless experience for users when importing and exporting data. By integrating this feature directly into Visual Studio Code, we aim to reduce switchover times to other tools, streamlining workflows and making it easier for users to manage their catalog data. This innovation not only eases the use but also enhances the overall user experience, making it simpler to transfer and utilize catalog data within SAP HANA Cloud.Import from SAP HANA to SAP HANA CloudWe are introducing the ability to import data directly from SAP HANA 2.0 containers via export to SAP HANA Cloud. This enables users to transition data smoothly from on-premise SAP HANA environments to the cloud. By facilitating the process, we aim to enhance scalability and optimize performance, allowing businesses to leverage the advanced features and capabilities of SAP HANA Cloud and take full advantage of the cloud’s benefits.Support for GCP Private Service ConnectAfter adding support for the AWS PrivateLink Service in Q3 2024, we are excited to now introduce support for GCP Private Service Connect in SAP HANA Cloud, SAP HANA database. This innovation enables seamless and secure connections between applications running within a Google Cloud Platform (GCP) landscape and SAP HANA Cloud. This facilitates the use of private IP endpoints through GCP Private Service Connect, which are addressable only within the GCP network and not exposed publicly. It complements the existing strict transport layer security (TLS) enforcement and optional IP allow/disallow list configuration in SAP HANA Cloud.By reducing the exposure of IP endpoints, this enhancement provides an additional layer of security for connections to SAP HANA Cloud. Users benefit from improved security and reduced risk. Sensitive data remains protected within the GCP environment. This innovation simplifies the secure integration of SAP HANA Cloud into your GCP infrastructure, allowing for a more robust and secure data management experience.Private network connectivity Graphical View ModelingUsing Wildcards to Define Which Calculation Views Should Be SecuredIn this quarter’s delivery, we are introducing the ability to use wildcards when defining the calculation view scope of analytic privileges and structured filters in SAP HANA Cloud. This enhancement allows you to determine which calculation views are included in the scope at the deployment time of the analytic privilege or structured filter.By leveraging these wildcards, you can secure calculation views more flexibly and include newly created calculation views based on naming patterns. This significantly reduces maintenance effort, as privilege scopes are automatically updated after redeployment, ensuring your security measures remain current and effective without manual intervention.Attaching workload-class hints to the query on the calculation viewI am also delighted to introduce the ability to attach workload-class hints directly to the query on the calculation view. With our latest update of SAP HANA Cloud, users can now optimize their workload and effectively manage resource consumption by selecting the “Execution Hint from List” option in the dialog box. This innovative feature allows for the attachment of hints, but only those appended to the topmost calculation view will be effective. By utilizing these hints, users can tailor their system’s processing to fit specific tasks and conditions, ensuring a more efficient execution and smoother operational flow. Whether you’re handling large data sets or complex computations, this new feature provides a straightforward solution to enhance system responsiveness and achieve optimal results.Availability of greedy pruning option for non-equi joinsNext, I am happy to mention another powerful feature to enhance your query performance: the availability of a greedy pruning option for non-equi joins. This new functionality is designed to speed up queries significantly by employing an advanced pruning technique tailored for non-equi joins. It is important for developers to confirm that the greedy pruning behavior aligns with their specific requirements. By implementing this pruning option, users can expect a marked improvement in query execution speed, enabling faster data retrieval and more efficient data handling processes. This addition is yet another step towards optimizing your database operations and enhancing overall system performance.Expression editor offering similarity functions for vectorsThe recent release also features an exciting update to our expression editor, which now includes support for similarity functions specifically designed for vectors. Users can now harness the power of vector engine functions, such as COSINE_SIMILARITY and L2DISTANCE, directly within SQL expressions.This enhancement allows for a seamless integration of vector engine capabilities with calculation views, empowering users to perform complex similarity assessments and distance calculations more easily. Option to use referential join type in non-equi joinsLastly, in the area of database modeling, we are enhancing the efficiency of non-equi join queries by now offering the option to utilize referential join types. This feature allows for an optimization in join processing by tapping into the power of referential joins. It’s essential for model developers to ensure that referential integrity is maintained. By leveraging information about referential integrity, users can experience a noticeable acceleration in processing non-equi join queries. This new capability not only speeds up data handling but also improves the overall reliability of data relationships in complex queries. Make your data analysis tasks smoother and faster.If you want to learn more about the modeling features in details, I would recommend to take a look at the blogpost my colleague Jan Zwickel published.Native Multi-TenancyMulti-tenancy is a very popular and common software architecture in cloud environments, where multiple customers share the same single software instance. While sharing the same resources, customers and their data are separated from each other in so-called tenants. Multi-tenancy is extremely cost-effective, as you don’t need a dedicated software instances per customer. But, it also requires a modern data management layer that provides multi-tenant capabilities on database level. With the Q4 2024 release, the SAP HANA Database within SAP HANA Cloud introduces native multi-tenancy on database level. Customer data are managed in database tenants which are sharing the same database instance, but are logically separated. SAP HANA Cloud multi-tenancy ensures enterprise qualities on tenant level, like customer-specific encryption, recovery, or resource isolation. You can easily scale with SAP HANA Cloud, starting with small database tenant data sizes in a kilobyte range and growing as customer data requires. And, while you are dynamically onboarding new customers in your application by adding new database tenants, the SAP HANA Cloud database takes care of the balance between resource sharing and tenant separation.  This blog post by Ruediger Karl provides more details on native SAP HANA Cloud multi-tenancy, its value and capabilities.Data Privacy & ProtectionRow-Level Access Control Based on Dynamic Structured RulesWith QRC4 2024, we are supporting row-level access control based on dynamic structured filter rules in SAP HANA Cloud. This enhancement offers fine-grained data access control, allowing for more precise and flexible management of data access permissions.The dynamic structured rules improve both usability and security at the level of the SAP HANA database. They ensure that users only have access to the data they need and thus enhance data protection and streamline security administration.Encrypted importing and exporting of data files with customer-controlled encryption keys (CCEK)We are also strengthening the data security capabilities of SAP HANA Cloud this quarter. Users are now able to encrypt export data files based on customer-controlled encryption keys (CCEK). This ensures that data can only be imported into other systems if the encryption key has not been revoked. This innovation helps ensure that exported data remains secure and cannot be decrypted if the customer-controlled encryption keys are revoked. By giving customers full control over their encryption keys, we enhance data protection and comply with stringent security requirements.Allowing X.509–based authentication for CONNECT SQL statementsFrom now on X.509 certificate–based authentication for the CONNECT SQL statement in SAP HANA Cloud is available. This is particularly beneficial for session pooling scenarios, such as those supported by the SAP Cloud Application Programming Model (CAP), where the active SAP HANA database user of an existing session is frequently switched. By utilizing X.509 certificates, the switch is performed using the CONNECT SQL statement and authenticating the new user’s credentials based on the certificate.This innovation adds to the traditional username/password-based authentication, enhancing security and simplifying credential management. With the shift to X.509 certificate-based authentication, applications can more securely bind credentials during session pooling, ensuring robust and streamlined identity management in your SAP HANA Cloud environment.X.509 certificate-based client authenticationFinally, in the area of data privacy and protection, we are proud to announce the introduction of X509 certificate-based client authentication for SAP HANA schemas and SAP HANA HDI containers in SAP HANA Cloud. This new security measure empowers users to significantly fortify their authentication processes. With the ability to enable service keys for using X.509 client certificates, users can now expose a dedicated certificate for each service binding, ensuring a much tighter security protocol. This update also introduces the ability to rotate certificates effortlessly—by creating new service bindings and deleting old ones. It also allows each service instance to have multiple bindings, each linked to a different certificate. Additionally, applications can create new bindings, switch all connections to these new bindings, and afterwards delete the old bindings without experiencing any downtime.This feature not only enables zero-downtime credential rotation for schemas but also elevates the overall security infrastructure, delivering a more robust verification of user identities. Moreover, it also makes forgery more difficult by tying certificates to specific devices and users.Multi-model data processingNew In-Database Vector Embedding SQL FunctionWe are adding an in-database text embedding function to SAP HANA Cloud, specifically designed to support SQL data warehousing. This enhancement includes the `vector_embedding()` function, which allows for the vectorization of text data already stored within your SAP HANA Cloud. The resulting embeddings can then be stored directly in SAP HANA Cloud as a vector data type.This innovation lets customers leverage in-database capabilities for embedding and vectorization, eliminating the need for external tools. Additionally, it makes it easier to extract meaningful insights from text data, complementing the data analysis capabilities within SAP HANA Cloud.Support for Aggregation Functions STDDEV and VAR on the JSON Document StoreFrom QRC4 2024 on, SAP HANA Cloud supports the aggregation functions STDDEV (standard deviation) and VAR (variance) on JSON document store collections. This allows the calculation of standard deviation and variance of specific JSON attributes within a document store collection.This new capability enables users to derive improved insights and perform more comprehensive analysis on JSON attributes. By supporting these aggregation functions, SAP HANA Cloud facilitates a deeper understanding of data variability and dispersion, thereby enhancing the overall analytical capabilities of the platform.Machine Learning and Predictive AnalyticsNew Text Analysis and Embedding Vector Generation from TextIn Q4 2024, we are introducing advanced text analysis and embedding vector generation capabilities through the Predictive Analysis Library (PAL) in SAP HANA Cloud. The new features include:Best-Matching 25 (BM25) Keyword Text-Search Function: Based on the BM25 relevance scoring algorithm, this function enhances ranking in text-search result setsText analysis capabilities: Supporting word segmentation, part-of-speech tagging, and entity extraction (initial language support for English, German, French, Portuguese, and Spanish)Text vectorization function: Utilizes the in-database text-embedding model to process text data stored in the databaseText-chunking preprocessing function: Initially supporting sentence-based, paragraph-based, separator-based, and other nonsemantic methods for text separationThis set of innovations empowers data scientists and application developers alike to use SAP HANA Cloud to enhance keyword-based text-search results while benefitting from intuitive text-search matches. They can also perform deep textual analysis using natural language processing techniques to extract valuable information from text. Moreover, these innovations allow to generate vector embeddings directly from text data stored in the database, and thus eliminating the need for data export and external embedding models. And lastly, they can now efficiently divide larger text blocks into smaller, more manageable pieces suitable for analysis or text vectorization.New Vector Data Analysis and Machine Learning FunctionsAdditionally, we are again strengthening the vector data analysis and machine learning capabilities in SAP HANA Cloud through additional features in the Predictive Analysis Library (PAL). These new features include vector data processing, such as support for data partitioning, multi-layer perceptron (MLP) recommender systems, principal components analysis, and K-means clustering. Additionally, there are capabilities for text-vector data and hybrid data classification and regression modeling with multitask MLP and hybrid gradient boosting tree (HGBT) functions. Advanced semantic text mining is also part of the QRC4 delivery of SAP HANA Cloud, featuring approximation-model-based semantic text-mining functions using either vector or text data sources, with implicit text data vectorization. Furthermore, there is a new time-series classification feature that distinguishes between additive and multiplicative time-series model patterns. Lastly, the updates include outlier detection, which identifies outliers in automated machine learning (AutoML) regression models.These additions also empower data scientists and application developers using SAP HANA Cloud to utilize vector data for a broader scope of analysis, including cluster detection. They unlock the possibility to utilize the semantic context of text vectors in conjunction with other data attributes for classification and regression scenarios. Furthermore, these innovations improve text-mining results on large volumes of text and address the semantic similarity gap in text-mining analysis. They allow to properly differentiate between additive and multiplicative time-series model patterns based on seasonal variation, whether constant or with increasing variation over time. Finally, the enhancements to AutoML models lead to more accurate AutoML regression models by automatically excluding outlier data.For more insights into the recent additions to the machine learning capabilities of SAP HANA Cloud, please have a look at the overview blogpost by my colleague Christoph Morgen.Innovations in SAP HANA Cloud, data lakeSupport for AWS PrivateLink services connections to the data lakeWe are pleased to announce that the AWS PrivateLink service is now also supported in SAP HANA Cloud, data lake. This enables applications running within an Amazon Web Services (AWS) landscape to connect to SAP HANA Cloud using private IP endpoints through AWS PrivateLink. By utilizing private IP endpoints, which are addressable only within the AWS network and not exposed publicly, this enhancement reduces the exposure of IP endpoints. This complements standard IP allow/disallow list filtering and also adds an extra layer of security to your connections. Users benefit from increased security and reduced risk. Sensitive data remains protected within your AWS environment. This makes it easier to securely integrate SAP HANA Cloud into your AWS infrastructure, providing a more robust and secure data management experience.Self-service restore for the relational engine Moreover, we are thrilled to announce the self-service restore capabilities for the data lake relational engine in SAP HANA Cloud. This feature empowers customers to perform database restores independently, eliminating the need for service tickets and external assistance. With this update, we give customers full control over their data recovery processes, while significantly reducing the time required to perform a database restore. This not only enhances operational efficiency but also ensures that critical data is back online quickly, minimizing downtime and allowing businesses to maintain continuity and productivity.Fast restore of relational engine databasesAdditionally, we are excited to share a significant enhancement to our data lake: the fast restore of relational engine databases in SAP HANA Cloud. This feature allows users to quickly restore a relational engine database, regardless of its total size, drastically reducing restoration time. Previously, the restoration process could take approximately one hour per TB, but with this new capability, that time is greatly minimized. The benefit for users is clear—the increased speed enhances time efficiency but also ensures that critical data is back online faster, allowing you to return to normal again quickly.Ticket-based modification of relational engine runtime options for the data lakeThis feature allows you to request custom runtime option configurations through a service ticket when migrating on-premise SAP IQ software to the SAP HANA Cloud, data lake. It ensures that you can fulfill specific runtime configuration requirements that differ from the standard relational engine runtime configuration for SAP HANA Cloud’s data lake.The ticket-based modifications help to mirror the runtime configuration of your on-premise system in the cloud. This is particularly beneficial when migrating complex on-premise SAP IQ software to the data lake relational engine in SAP HANA Cloud. The approach ensures a smoother migration experience, retained custom configurations, and optimal performance of your data lake ecosystem.Exposing Connection Endpoints for Individual Relational Engine Worker Nodes in the Data Lake ComponentIn this quarter’s delivery, we are also enhancing the data lake within SAP HANA Cloud by providing unique and stable SQL endpoints for each individual worker node within a relational engine system.Customers now have more control over workload distribution in their relational engine systems. By offering stable endpoints for each worker node, they can more effectively manage and optimize their data workloads, eventually ensuring better performance and resource utilization.Further Innovations and Enhancements Database Application DevelopmentAbility to Detect and Tune SQL Performance with the SQL Plan AdvisorWe are happy to introduce you to our SQL plan advisor in SAP HANA Cloud. The advisor is able to detect and tune SQL performance between execution engine plans. This new feature reports on fluctuating or degraded execution times for SQL statements to activate self-tuning mechanisms. It automatically compares execution performance tests between different engine plans and applies the tuned execution statement as proposed SQL plan advisor.The SQL Plan Advisor allows users to identify problematic performance of deviating SQL statements. By leveraging automatic comparison and adjustment of future plans, the SQL Plan Advisor ensures minimal enhanced performance optimization and overall system efficiency with minimal user intervention required.Expanded Data Center Availability in Australia and BrasilIn response to customer requests, SAP HANA Cloud is now available in several new data centers across multiple global regions and cloud platforms. Specifically, an SAP HANA Cloud data center has been made available in Australia (Sydney) on Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Additionally, another data center has been established in Brazil (São Paulo) on Microsoft Azure, catering to customers who prefer the Azure platform.These expansions aim to provide customers with greater flexibility and choice, allowing them to run SAP HANA Cloud in the hyperscaler data centers of their preference. By increasing data center availability in these key regions, SAP HANA Cloud ensures optimal performance, data sovereignty, and closer proximity to users, enhancing the overall customer experience and support for global business operations.—If you’ve reached this point, you’ve successfully navigated through our entire What’s New blogpost—well done! For more technical details on the Q4 2024 release, please visit our What’s New Viewer in the Technical documentation, which provides a comprehensive overview of the release scope. To stay informed about the latest developments, be sure to follow the SAP HANA Cloud tag. Additionally, you can explore new blog posts using the whatsnewinsaphanacloud tag. If you missed the What’s New webinar from Q3 2024, you can find it along with future webinars in this YouTube playlist. Keep an eye out for our upcoming webcast on the latest innovations, which will also be available in the same playlist soon. Should you have any questions about SAP HANA Cloud or wish to discuss the mentioned innovations, feel free to post them in our SAP HANA Cloud Community Q&A or in the comments section below.Enjoy the holidays, have a fantastic Christmas time and a great start into 2025!🎄☃️🎉   Read More Technology Blogs by SAP articles 

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