KB483476: How to Configure SSL/TLS in MicroStrategy for SAP HANA

Prerequisites

The following instructions explain how to set up SSL/TLS connection between Strategy clients and a SAP HANA server (version 2.00.033.00.1535711040).
These instructions assume that the SAP HANA server is already configured to allow for SSL/TLS communication and that you have an ODBC driver installed on the client machine.
The following instructions detail:
How to configure the ODBC driver with Windows
How to configure the ODBC driver with Linux
How to set up connection without DSN
How to set up connection with DSN
 

How to Configure the ODBC Driver on Windows

To configure SSL/TLS connection when the ODBC driver is installed on a Windows machine:

• From the search panel on your machine, run ODBC Data Sources (64-bit).
• Select the System DSN tab and click Add.
  

• Choose the HDBODBC driver from the list and click Finish.
• Enter the Data Source Name, Description, Server, and Port.
  

• Click Settings. 
• Select the Connect using SSL checkbox and click OK.
  

• Your ODBC data source is available in the list of data sources in Developer.
  

How to Configure the ODBC Driver on Linux

You must update three files when the ODBC driver (version 2.0.62) is installed on the Intelligence server. Each file must point to the ODBC driver, or the folder containing it, to successfully connect.
The three files are:

• odbc.ini
• odbcinst.ini
• ODBC.sh

Modifying odbc.ini

• Navigate to /opt/mstr/Strategy and open the odbc.ini file.
• Locate the

  [ODBC Data Sources] 

  section in the file. 
• Add a line specifying the name of your data source. 
  

• At the bottom of the file, add the following information:
  

  Servernode=

  HANA instance IP and port
  

  User= 

  HANA database user
  

  Password=

  HANA database password
  
  

• To configure the file for SSL connection, add the following two entries:
  

  encrypt=1	sslvalidatecertificate=0

  
  Where the

  encrypt

   parameter corresponds to SSL encryption and

  sslvalidatecertificate 

  corresponds to the validation status of the server certificate. 1 indicates it is validated, 0 indicates it is not validated.
   
  

Modifying odbcinst.ini

Navigate to /opt/mstr/Strategy and open the odbcinst.ini file. Ensure

Driver= 

Setup=

Modifying ODBC.sh

Navigate to /opt/mstr/MicroStrategy/enc and open the ODBC.sh file. Ensure

 SAPHANA_PATH= 

Setting Up Connection without DSN

Once the ODBC driver is installed, Web users can set up a connection with the database. The following steps detail how to establish a connection without a DSN.

• In Strategy Web, open a project and click Add External Data > Database > Select Tables.
  Note: You can select any of the options available, in this example, we will use Select Tables.
  
• Click Add Data Sources.
  

• In the Data Source dialog, select DSN-less Data Sources.
• Enter the Database, Version, Driver, Connection String, User, Password, and Data Source Name.
  Note: If you are using Windows, the driver name is HDBODBC. If you are using Linux, the driver name is whatever you specified for SAP HANA ODBC DRIVER in the [ODBC Data Sources] section of the odbc.ini file.
  

• In the Connection string, add the following values to ensure SSL connection:
  

  encrypt=1;	sslvalidatecertificate=0;

  
  
  Where the

  encrypt

   parameter corresponds to SSL encryption and

  sslvalidatecertificate 

  corresponds to the validation status of the server certificate. 1 indicates it is validated, 0 indicates it is not validated. 
  
  Note: For ODBC-based connections, the configuration properties and their names are the same as the server parameters with the addition of the encrypt property, which initiates a TLS/SSL-secured connection. Other parameters can be checked by looking at the configuration files of HANA server (global.ini, for example) or by checking relevant manuals.
   
  
• Click Save

Setting Up Connection with DSN

To set up the data source with a DSN connection, use the following instructions.

• In Strategy Web, open a project and click Add External Data > Database > Select Tables.
  Note: You can select any of the options available, in this example, we will use Select Tables.
  
• Click Add Data Sources.
  

• In the Data Source dialog, select DSN Data Sources.
• Enter the DSN, Version, User, Password, and Data Source Name.
  Note: The DSN drop-down contains the DSN specified in either the odbc.ini file on the Intelligence server or the one specified in the ODBC Data Sources application list if your ODBC driver is installed on Windows.
  

• Click Save.