License

If you want a license for the Data Lineage Metadata API we need the SID of your BW(/4HANA) or ERP, S/4HANA system. Or the 3-digit HANA DB ID of your HANA database.

Requirements

The Data Lineage Metadata API can be started from any machine (Windows or Unix) with access to your SAP System or the underlying SAP HANA database.

Depending on the approach you have chosen, you will need a HANA, a BW, or an ERP user. Which rights are needed is described in the system-specific pages:

• Rights and Authorizations - BW

• Rights and Authorizations - Embedded Analytics

• Rights and Authorizations - HANA

Installation

Windows

Download the latest version of the Data Lineage Metadata API and unzip it. Open the terminal or command line to work with the tool.

Unix

Download the zip and start the following command

mkdir DataLineage; tar -xzf <DataLineageFileName>.tar.gz -C DataLineage; chmod +x DataLineage/DataLineage.sh; chmod +x DataLineage/Core/DataLineage

Insert License

Two possible ways to insert a license for Data Lineage API exist.
We sent you a license file or a license hash. What to do with them is described in the subchapters below.

Insert hash

Windows

DataLineage.cmd insert-license -l <license hash>

Unix

./DataLineage.sh insert-license -l <license hash>

Using license file

Add the file license.lic into the Core folder.

Maintain Connection Data

Normal Connection properties

To maintain the connection data you have to change the appsettings.json file.
Per default the appsettings.json file is empty, but the two connection possibilities are shown (see below).

{
  "BwErpSystemConfigurations": [
    {
      "BwErpSid": "",
      "Languages": [ "", "" ],
      "Server": "",
      "SystemNumber": "",
      "Client": "",
      "User": "",
      "Prefix": ""
    }
  ],
 
  "HanaSystemConfigurations": [
    {
      "BwErpSid": "",
      "HanaSchema": "",
      "SchemaBlacklist": [ "", "" ],
      "Languages": [ "", "" ],
      "Server": "",
      "Database": "",
      "SqlPort": "0",
      "UseSsl": "false",
      "User": "",
      "ConnectionString": ""
    }
  ],
  
  "SacSystemConfigurations": [
    {     
      "Url": "",
      "TokenUrl": "",
      "ClientId": "",
      "ExcludePrivateObjects": false
    }
  ]
}

If you decided on the RFC connection you use the properties below BwSystemConfiguations. If you decided on the HANA SQL connection you use the properties below HanaSystemConfiguations.

It can contain multiple systems depending on what is maintained in our license (see below what it might look like).

Explaining the properties:

Complex connection properties (HANA connection only)

Instead of using the delivered content of the appsettings.json file, you can use a connection string if you need to set more properties for your HANA database. That is important if you use e.g. proxy servers and users.

For more detailed information you can visit the SAP guide.

Example of ConnectionString:

Connection properties for upload

If you want to upload the file directly to a platform you need to maintain the parameters to upload your metadata.

Set Password

The following command in the command line sets an encrypted password into the appsettings.json file.

In the following examples, the set password is done for BW-/ERP-systems with an RFC connection. Here the parameter -s <SID> is used. If you have a HANA connection you have to set the password with parameter
-b <HANA HDB>.

Windows

DataLineage.cmd set-password -s <SID> -p <password>

Unix

./DataLineage.sh set-password -s <SID> -p <password>

Run Application

The BW Data Lineage API can be started for one system.
To find all parameters you can use, try --help to get more information.
The following command is for examples only. The complete command list can be found here.

Windows

Run the application with the following command

DataLineage.cmd extract-all -s <SID>

Unix

Run the application from the terminal

./DataLineage.sh extract-all -s <SID>

Plan a regular job

In most scenarios, it makes sense to pull the metadata of a system regularly. A recurring job should be created for this purpose. This chapter describes how to do it in Windows and Unix environments.

Windows

1. Open the Task Scheduler in Windows

2. Right Click > Create a task

   

3. In the general tab, you can give the task a name and should choose the second option “Execute independently of the user login”. You can also change the user here

   

4. In the tab Trigger, you have to set the interval in which the task should be scheduled

5. In the tab Actions, you have to insert the command which should be run.

   

Unix

1. Make sure DataLineage.sh has execution rights (chmod +x)

2. Edit the crontab file (crontab -e), adding the line for job

   1. Example for a job every 5 minutes:        */5 * * * * /<path>/DataLineage.sh extract-all -s <SID>

3. Make sure the job is in the jobs list after saving the file (crontab -l)

4. If the job doesn't run as expected, check the logs (grep "DataLineage" /var/log/syslog)