How to connect hana to n8n?
You can connect SAP HANA to n8n by running a small JDBC helper service and calling it from n8n, or by mounting the HANA JDBC driver into a helper container. This guide shows how to connect hana to n8n with Docker, the ngdbc.jar JDBC driver, and a minimal HTTP-JDBC bridge so n8n workflows can run SQL queries.
What You Need
- Docker and Docker Compose on your machine.
- SAP HANA JDBC driver file ngdbc.jar (download from SAP).
- Java JDK (openjdk) for the helper service.
- n8n Docker image (n8nio/n8n) and basic n8n knowledge.
- HANA host, port, username, and password.
Setup: how to connect hana to n8n
Step 1: Prepare files and driver
Create a folder and place the HANA JDBC driver in it. Replace the URL with your SAP download link.
mkdir hana-n8n
cd hana-n8n
# Example placeholder - download ngdbc.jar from SAP Support Portal
curl -L -o ngdbc.jar "https://your.sap.download/ngdbc.jar"
Step 2: Create a minimal Java HTTP-JDBC bridge
Save this file as Main.java in the same folder. The bridge reads HANA credentials from environment variables and accepts POST /query with form body sql=YOUR_SQL.
import com.sun.net.httpserver.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.net.InetSocketAddress;
import java.sql.*;
import java.util.*;
public class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
int port = args.length>0?Integer.parseInt(args[0]):8080;
HttpServer server = HttpServer.create(new InetSocketAddress(port),0);
server.createContext("/query", exchange -> {
if(!"POST".equals(exchange.getRequestMethod())){
exchange.sendResponseHeaders(405,-1);return;
}
InputStream is = exchange.getRequestBody();
String body = new String(is.readAllBytes());
String sql = Arrays.stream(body.split("&"))
.filter(s->s.startsWith("sql="))
.map(s->s.substring(4)).findFirst().orElse("");
String host = System.getenv("HANA_HOST");
String portEnv = System.getenv("HANA_PORT");
String user = System.getenv("HANA_USER");
String pass = System.getenv("HANA_PASS");
String url = "jdbc:sap://"+host+":"+(portEnv==null?30015:Integer.parseInt(portEnv));
StringBuilder out = new StringBuilder();
try(Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection(url, user, pass);
PreparedStatement ps = conn.prepareStatement(sql);
ResultSet rs = ps.executeQuery()){
ResultSetMetaData m = rs.getMetaData();
out.append("[");
boolean firstRow=true;
while(rs.next()){
if(!firstRow) out.append(",");
firstRow=false;
out.append("{");
for(int i=1;i<=m.getColumnCount();i++){
out.append('"').append(m.getColumnName(i)).append('"')
.append(":\"").append(rs.getString(i)).append("\"");
if(iStep 3: Build a simple Docker setup
Create a Dockerfile that compiles and runs the Java bridge. Place it beside ngdbc.jar and Main.java.
FROM openjdk:11-slim
WORKDIR /app
COPY ngdbc.jar ./
COPY Main.java ./
RUN javac -cp ngdbc.jar Main.java
EXPOSE 8080
CMD ["sh","-c","java -cp .:ngdbc.jar Main 8080"]
Create docker-compose.yml
version: '3.7'
services:
jdbc-bridge:
build: .
environment:
- HANA_HOST=hana.example.com
- HANA_PORT=30015
- HANA_USER=myuser
- HANA_PASS=mypassword
ports:
- "8080:8080"
n8n:
image: n8nio/n8n
environment:
- N8N_BASIC_AUTH_ACTIVE=true
- N8N_BASIC_AUTH_USER=admin
- N8N_BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD=admin
ports:
- "5678:5678"
depends_on:
- jdbc-bridge
Start both services:
docker-compose up -d --build
Step 4: Call the bridge from an n8n workflow
In n8n, use an HTTP Request node to POST SQL to the bridge. Example POST body: sql=SELECT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP FROM DUMMY.
curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/query -d "sql=SELECT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP FROM DUMMY"
Update
To update the JDBC driver or bridge code, replace ngdbc.jar or Main.java and rebuild the bridge image.
# replace ngdbc.jar, then
docker-compose build jdbc-bridge
docker-compose up -d jdbc-bridge
Security
- Do not store plaintext credentials in version control. Use Docker secrets or environment files with restricted permissions.
- Limit network access to the helper service. Use firewall rules or internal networks so only n8n can reach the bridge.
- Use parameterized queries and avoid concatenating untrusted input into SQL to prevent injection.
- Enable TLS for n8n and the helper if exposed to untrusted networks.
Done
You now have a simple, repeatable method to connect SAP HANA to n8n using Docker and the HANA JDBC driver. The bridge accepts SQL from n8n workflows and returns JSON results.
