SAP system clone and copy
Food for thought for another productive system: until when must the system be identical, keyword: transaction log
Test data is important for companies to eliminate risks in ongoing operations and to optimize systems or processes. But collecting this data can be challenging in times of Big Data and increased data protection, as well as due to complex IT structures.
Shutting down and copying virtualized systems, such as VMware instances, requires just a few mouse clicks. VMware is suitable for running multiple training, development and test environments on one physical system. Larger productive systems, on the other hand, are not so easy to virtualize. If users have to shut down the productive system during the copy, the runtime of the operation or the unavailability of the productive system becomes a critical factor.
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Shutting Down the Target System
Depends on the extent of splitting and the degree of parallelization. When importing, the limiting factor is often the index structure.
An SAP system copy is not done in an hour. Due to the large amount of data in an SAP system, the individual steps can take a long time to complete. The export and the import do not always run without errors. Often one is held up by troubleshooting. Of course, the target system must be prepared before the actual copy can be performed: Setting up the server, installing the operating system and database software, downloading and copying the installation media. During the export, the source system cannot be used. Therefore, this task must be planned well and in advance.
With "Shortcut for SAP Systems" any tables can be saved and restored. This is especially useful in the context of an SAP system copy - quite a few tables are system-specific and must exist unchanged in the system after a system copy.Shortcut for SAP Systems uses R3trans - a utility from SAP that is essentially used in the Transport Management System (TMS) environment. With "Shortcut for SAP Systems" it is now also available outside the TMS and enables completely new and diverse application possibilities. Among others in the environment of a system copy. R3trans works database independent. I.e. even in the case of a system refresh from an SAP system with an Oracle DB to a system with HANA, the backup and restore process works!
In a system copy-based update, the database of the target system is completely overwritten with the contents of the production system.
The website www.sap-corner.de offers many useful information about SAP basis.
This procedure is currently gaining in relevance, as it is required for the migration from SAP ERP to S/4HANA.