SAP HANA System Down, HANA not starting

Purpose

This page is to explain the steps on how to perform checks if the SAP HANA instance is not starting. At the end of this guide, there will be frequently asked questions and common problems that are encountered.

Checks to perform

The first thing that is needed to be determined, is if the SAP HANA database is running. To do this run:

ps -ef | grep hdb

If the HANA database is running the following processes will be present

hdbnameserver

hdbpreprocessor

hdbcompileserver

hdbindexserver

hdbstatisticsserver (this may not be present as of post SP7 this could be merged into the Indexserver)

Please ensure that processes are being ran by the correct <SID>adm user incase they have multiple HANA's

running on the system

If you see the running processes then please review the System Hang section.

To see if the HANA database will start try via putty going to /usr/sap/<SID>/HDB<instance#> and running

HDB start

If this fails go to /usr/sap/<SID>/HDB<instance#>/exe here you can try and run the processes manually

usually you will only need to call ./hdbnameserver and then the ./hdbindexserver and continue with the

rest if it is successful, if it is successful the issue could be with hdbdaemon or sapstartsvr and you

will check the associated logs.

Check the HANA trace files in the following location /usr/sap/<SID>/HDB<instance#>/<server name>/trace

or create a full system dump by following SAP Note 1732157 - Collecting diagnosis information for SAP HANA

The order of checking the trace files should be first the daemon, nameserver, indexserver, compileserver, and

preprocessor (statistics server would not cause the system to stop starting).

However, after checking the indexserver, you should be able to see where the error lies

Issues and Reported Problems

Common issues that we can see are:

Disk Full Error

In this the trace file will contain the words 'rc=24 no space left on device errors' for this please

review SAP Note 2083715 - Analyzing log volume full situations

Corrupt Log Segments

The trace file will say something like cannot find or cannot read a log segment at a hexadecimal address, the only

resolution to a corrupt log segment is to do a recovery that does not involve that log segment

Missing Log Segments

In the trace we will see 'Cannot open file "/<path_to_missing_logsegment>/logsegment_000_XXXXXXXX.dat", rc=2: No such file or directory'

for this please review SAP Note 1788692 - Index Server crash due to missing LogSegment file

Authorization Issues

In the trace we will see the message 'not authorized' in the trace, in this scenario check as the <SID>adm

user and see if that user can make a file in the location specified in the trace to verify this. If you

cannot create the file run the chmod command on the folder to allow reading and writing (ie chmod 764)

Hardware issue

There is no generic line in the trace would point to hardware, but if the issue is OS related or a disk cannot mount please follow the

hardware portion of the survival guide

HANA Not Starting after a failed hdblcm rename (hdbrename)

When you try to start HANA it fails with "process hdbdaemon HDB Daemon not running". No daemon, nameserver, or indexserver trace is created which indicates that it hasn't even gotten to the point of trying to start the services.

SAP Note 2142432 - SAP HANA does not start after a failed attempt to rename the HANA SID

System Crash

An SAP incident will have to be made with a full system dump (SAP Note 1732157 - Collecting diagnosis information for SAP HANA)

HANA up but SAP system not starting:

Check if a connection is possible to the database by running

R3trans -d

this will end with a return code. RC <8 is a successful connection to the database but rc=12 would be a failure.

Check the trans.log which is produced to see further details about why the abap side of the SAP system could not connect to the database.

Here are some examples of common issues when R3trans d results in r=12

Your HANA DB rev is SPS9 (rev 90 or higher) and you see something similar to what is listed below:
"
4 ETW000 [ dev trc,00000] Database release is HDB 1.00.090.00.1413897729 54 0.055046 4 ETW000 [dbhdbsql.cpp,00000] *** ERROR => Using non supported HANA version: 1.00.090.00.1413897729 4 ETW000 [dbhdbsql.cpp,00000] *** ERROR => Min. version for this release must be 1.00.62
"
Please see SAP Note 1952701 - DBSL supports new SAP HANA SP9 version number

Timezone and DST issues:

The system may come up but have dumps of ZDATE_LARGE_TIME_DIFF

Follow the guidelines at: http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-58741

SAP Note 1932132 - SAP HANA : Large time difference between application server and HANA database

SAP KBA 2137138 - Timezone name incorrect after DST switch

Related SAP Notes/KBAs

SAP Note 1732157 - Collecting diagnosis information for SAP HANA

SAP Note 2083715 - Analyzing log volume full situations

SAP Note 1788692 - Index Server crash due to missing LogSegment file