An SAP HANA system is identified by a single system ID (SID) and contains multiple isolated databases.

Each database comprises multiple servers, for example, the index server.

A system may consist of one host or a cluster of several hosts.

This is referred to as a muliple-host or distributed system, and supports scalability and availability.

4.1.Tenant Databases

SAP HANA supports multiple isolated databases in a single SAP HANA system. These are referred to as
tenant databases.

An SAP HANA system is capable of containing more than one tenant database.

A system always has exactly one system database, used for central system administration,

and any number of tenant databases (including zero).

An SAP HANA system is identified by a single system ID (SID).

Databases are identified by a SID and a database name.

Database clients, such as the SAP HANA studio, connect to specific databases.

4.2 Server Architecture of Tenant Database Systems

4.3 Multiple-Host (Distributed) Systems

An SAP HANA system can be distributed across multiple hosts for reasons of scalability and availability.

A multiple-host or distributed SAP HANA system is a system that is installed on more than one host.

The main reason for distributing a system across multiple hosts is scale-out. A multiple-host system can
overcome hardware limitations of a single physical server, and it can distribute the load between
multiple servers.

An SAP HANA system installed on multiple hosts is identified by a single system ID (SID). It is perceived
as one unit from the perspective of the administrator, who can install, update, start up, or shut down
the system as a whole. The different databases of the system share the same metadata and requests
from client applications can be transparently dispatched.

An SAP HANA system that includes the SAP HANA XS advanced runtime can also be flexibly

configured both to support failover and optimize load balancing.