Solution infrastructure
This is why companies need professional test data management
The solution described in this document can be summarized as follows: The goal is to create a homogeneous copy of an SAP system. The source of the system copy is a production system. The target of the system copy is an existing non-production system. The focus is on a specific use case, a system copy created for updates. Backup and restore are performed at the SAN device level and supported by HP System Copy software. Pre- and post-processing is automated using the UC4 Automated System Copy for SAP solution. Thus, the proposed solution allows you to optimize the automation and acceleration of SAP system copies generated for upgrades and reduce IT administration costs. Automated, fast and powerful upgrade capabilities enable shorter and more flexible SAP software lifecycles, enabling more agile business processes.
Strategy as of NetWeaver 2007: Prerequisite: in the case of a Unicode conversion, conversion must be performed during export. If the target database can be built with unsorted unloaded data, all packages are automatically unloaded unsorted. R3load ensures that tables that must always be unloaded sorted are unloaded sorted.
Pre- and post-processing
In order to have up-to-date data and exactly the same software versions on an SAP test system for meaningful tests as are active on the production system, the production systems are regularly copied completely to the test system. However, many settings in the test system must be retained, because a test system should not act like a production system and, for example, send documents to customers and suppliers or trigger something in production.
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.
A solution such as "Shortcut for SAP Systems" offers an automatable solution for many of the activities involved in an SAP system copy.
The target of the system copy is an existing non-production system.
However, the selection of business objects is not possible in the standard system.