Purpose of the SAP system copy
Consistency of database disk blocks - stopping I/O activities or executing DATABASE BEGIN ONLINE BACKUP command, flushing cache, etc.
SAP offers its own solution for this: With the Test Data Migration Server (TDMS), individual tables can be selected and written indirectly, via a third SAP system, from the source to the target system via Remote Function Call (RFC). However, the selection of business objects is not possible in the standard system. The tables to be copied can only be determined on the basis of the date. The content restriction applies from a certain point in time. At least the SAP tool can be used to reduce the runtime of an extraction of test data compared to the system copy or client copy.
What is the purpose of copying a complete SAP system? - Well, there are several reasons. Test and development system: After a new productive system has been set up, at least one identical development system or even one test system is still needed. To avoid having to repeat the customizing (settings and configurations of the SAP modules and business processes) on these systems, it makes sense to make a copy. This is clearly the faster way to achieve the goal!
Consideration of additional QA clients
Installation continues until the 'Load Data' phase. Here the program waits for successfully exported packages and starts the import as soon as a package has been exported.
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The tools we use can be easily operated either in the cloud or on premise. For this, the SAP systems to be copied must allow access at operating system level. The typical cloud infrastructures, such as AWS or Azure, are not a hurdle for this service.
If you have used "Shortcut for SAP Systems" to save system-specific tables before the system refresh, several manual steps can be omitted - the data can be restored by restoring the data saved before the system copy.
The first tools for SAP system copy creation came from the mainframe environment.
The respective owners of the transports have the possibility to discard an obsolete development.