Updated March 10, 2025•4-minute read
Jump to section Overview What is SAP HANA? What is Linux? Why it only runs on Linux Why run it on Red Hat Enterprise Linux? How do I migrate? Why Red Hat? What is SAP HANA and what is it used for?HANA stands for high-performance analytical appliance, and it is SAP’s in-memory database. SAP HANA can be installed on a set of on-premise servers (like IBM Power Systems), in a private cloud, or as a cloud service (hosted by a cloud provider like AWS or Microsoft Azure). SAP HANA uses in-memory computing, employing random access memory (RAM) to access, organize, and analyze data. Users interact with SAP HANA using Structured Query Language (SQL), a common relational database programming language. As an in-memory database, it is optimized to run petabytes of complex ERP computations in real-time. SAP HANA is used for a number of purposes, such as database management, data virtualization, advanced analytics, and application development.
What is Linux?Linux is an open source OS that manages app requests to hardware—facilitated by the Linux kernel. Linux has the largest OS user base in the world and is released under a license that allows anyone to run, study, share, and modify it. Linux systems have robust command line interfaces (CLIs) that grant direct access to the computer. Paired with the freedom to modify the source code (a staple of open source software), Linux CLIs give users unrestricted access to the hardware below the OS and apps running above it.
Why does SAP HANA only run on Linux?The relationship between SAP and Linux goes all the way back to 1999, when SAP claimed to be the first major ERP vendor to offer its customers business solutions on Linux. In 2005, SAP decided that every new SAP app would run natively on Linux. So when SAP began developing new enterprise data storage software that could execute ERP algorithms in (essentially) real-time, it chose to do so on Linux. A year later in 2010, SAP released that database as SAP HANA.
SAP HANA is SAP’s most advanced in-memory database, and many of its capabilities—like processing online transactions (OLTP) and immediately preparing those transactions for business intelligence apps and online analytical processing (OLAP)—are functionalities almost exclusive to in-memory data management systems. SAP HANA can also be used as a web-based application server stack, capable of sending and receiving queries from any software, allowing developers to customize a wide range of solutions integrated closely with HANA's database functions.
That kind of data processing requires the world’s most powerful, customizable, and stable OS. So SAP standardized the SAP HANA system on the same OS used on the world’s 500 fastest supercomputers: Linux. And since there’s no way to predict the next-generation of big data (Machine learning? Artificial intelligence? Neural networking?), SAP HANA’s underlying OS needs to be both endlessly customizable (a hallmark of open source software) and stable (a hallmark of enterprise open source software).
Why run SAP HANA on Red Hat Enterprise Linux? How do I migrate?If you’re among the millions of SAP users who haven’t migrated to SAP S/4HANA or standardized on SAP HANA—you’re not alone. Here are some common steps to guide your migration:
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Keep reading Why run Linux on AWS?For organizations using Amazon Web Services (AWS), Linux shortens time to market, reduces complexity, provides on-demand scalability, and lowers costs.
What is high availability?High availability determines if a system is meeting its operational performance level, is available almost 100% of the time, and is performant for an established time period.
What is ERP?Enterprise resource planning (ERP) unifies the massive amounts of data within an organization, and enables information flow between different teams.
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