To Faster, Better SAP System Copies

The Ninja Guide

Contents

Why we do SAP System Copies

What is Production-like data?

The ultimate test system

Your big problem

Preparation

The 10-Step Guide to simple system copies

Run BDLS faster

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Why we do SAP system copies

Improved quality of testing

Performance management of new releases

Ability to perform Volume Testing with

Production-sized data

Ability to test on Production-like data

Improved business confidence in new

releases (is it really going to work?)

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What is Production-Like data?

Taking a full copy of the Production system provides data at the same volumes as those used in the production system. A full copy of Production replicates everything* - providing an increased level of testing confidence.

* This can expose sensitive information to the testers so you need to scramble sensitive data as part of the system copy in such a way that it does not affect the ability to test effectively.

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Code & Config from here

Live Data from here

PROD DEV QA or

Pre-PROD

the ultimate test system DEV code + PROD data

Transports System Copy

The ultimate test system

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The business wants to run SAP projects faster. But to run faster, you need to be super confident in your IT releases. So you need better testing. Which means you need to test on real, live, Production-like data. But your SAP Production system is big – and getting bigger quickly – so creating a copy of production for testing takes days. Sure, system copy automation tools can help – they string all of the system copy steps together. But in SAP, the big problem is Logical System Copy - the dreaded BDLS process can run for days. If you want to run faster SAP projects, you need a faster system copy solution.

Your big problem

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Your next big dilemma?

Full System Copy Use a full backup of your Production system to create your test environment.

+ You get a pre-production system

which is a mirror of Production + It allows you to perform any test

with the same result as if you were testing in Production

− Uses the same amount of disk

space as Production − can take a long time to complete

Partial System Copy Perform a selective export of your Production system or exclude specific tables.

+ Can use less disk space + Quicker to perform − Could get issues if you exclude a

table which is cross-linked − Not enough data to perform

sufficient testing − Generally need expensive 3rd

party tools to perform − Increases complexity with data

slicing config

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When Will Your SAP Basis Operations Team Get the Automation Tools That They Need?

Gartner Note G00252727

Full SAP system copies or refreshes are notoriously time consuming, taking several days of laborious manual checks and steps using SAP NetWeaver tools. SAP recommends SAP LVM for the automation of this manual work within a private cloud environment or a traditional infrastructure. Alternatively, there are a number of leading automation vendors that offer similar tools for traditional SAP infrastructures. Full system SAP copies are useful for building testing type environments. Another approach preferred by many enterprises is to make a partial system copy by copying a subset of the database, for example, the last three months of transaction data.

1 August 2013 by Analyst Derek Prior

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between Developers and Operations

* aka DevOps

Collaboration is crucial

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SAP Basis Team

Storage & OS Team

Backup & Restore Team

Middleware Team

Project Managers

Test Managers

Change Management SAP Transports

SAP Functional Consultants

ABAP Developers

Service Delivery Managers

Database Administrators

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Early preparation

Is your Production system as small as it could be ?

The crucial part of a system copy is the restore of the Production system database. It can take a long time and will use the same amount of disk space as your current Production system. You should consider keeping your Production system as small as possible by carrying out standard SAP maintenance functions on a regular basis.

Job Name Program Variant Client Dependent Frequency

SAP_REORG_JOBS RSBTCDEL Yes Yes Daily

SAP_REORG_SPOOL RSPO0041 Ye Yes

Daily

SAP_REORG_BATCHINPUT SDBDCREO Yes Yes

Daily

SAP_REORG_ABAPDUMPS RSSNAPDL Yes No Daily

SAP_REORG_JOBSTATISTIC RSBPSTDE Yes

No

Monthly

SAP_COLLECTOR_FOR_JOBSTASTIC RSBPCOLL No

No

Daily

SAP_COLLECTRO_FOR_PERFMONITOR RSCOLL00 No No

Hourly

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Data Clean Up

Is your Production system as small as it could be ?

ALE cleanup from table EDIDC

Change Pointer cleanup from table DBCP / BDCPS

Workflow cleanup – removal completed WORKITEM data

SM35 - Clean up of Batch input Sessions

SM58 - Clean-up of transactional RFCs

Basis Database Logs

Archiving

Is your Production system as small as it could be ?

Implement a functional archiving strategy for each SAP

module (e.g. SD, FI, MM) with retention periods and

regular archive runs configured

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Pre-Production Configuration

DB Configuration

RFC Connections

External commands

Users

Logon Groups

Ports and Partner Profiles

Background Processing Groups

Printers

Email Configuration

Client Information

Licenses

Logical System Definitions

Central User Administration

Transport Management

SAP Instance Information

BW Source System

After you have restored the production database, it will look exactly like your production system. So plan which configuration you will need to keep safe and export before the system copy so that you can re-import it later.

Safe Configuration

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TSP03 Spool: Printer declaration

EDP21 Partner Profile: Inbound

TSP03A Spool: Device description

TBD00 Views of customer model

TSP03C Spool: Device Description Extension

TBD05 Distribution model for message types

TSP03D Spool: Device Description

CREP KPRO CMS: Content Repositories

TSP03L Spool: Long device names

CREPDESCR KPRO CMS: Descriptions of Content Repositories

TSP03T Paper format in the device paper tray

Some tables to include… Safe Configuration

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CREP_RFC KPRO CMS: Content Repositories (RFC)

RFCATTRIB Administration table for RFC destinations

TOAAR Communications configuration table for storage system

RFCDES Destination table for Remote Function Call

INSTVERS Documentation for installation Status and History

RFCDOC Description of Possible RFC Connections (->RFCDES)

TPFID Description of SAP instance

RFCSYSACL List of permitted trusted systems for the current system

RZLLITAB Assignments of Logon/Server Groups to Instances

EDIPO Table for description of ports for EDI

TVARV Table of variables in selection criteria

More tables to include… Safe Configuration

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EDIPOA Table for ALE Port Definitions

TVARVC Table of Variant Variables (Client-Specific)

EDIPOD Table for File Port Definitions

E070L CTS: Index for Assigning Numbers to Requests/Tasks

EDIPORT Summary Table for all Port Types for IDoc Processing

TPFID Description of SAP instance

EDPI1 EDI: Partner profiles (inbound)

BTCOMSET Definition of operation type sets and exception op. modes

EDP13 Partner Profile: Outbound (technical parameters)

TBDLST Text for logical system

EDPP1 EDI Partner (general partner profiles - in and out)

Even more tables to include… Safe Configuration

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How to serve up a Test system

You’re holding a dinner party for 20 guests

and clearly want everyone to come so you

talk to each person and agree a suitable

date. Don’t forget to send out invitations.

You order the ingredients in advance - this

way, you won’t forget anything.

You make sure that everything is prepared

and organized. You’ll be too busy on the

night anyway.

Now the hard work – roll up your sleeves

for a few long hours in the kitchen. Follow

your recipes carefully under pressure.

When you’re ready, announce that dinner

is served.

Invite all the people that need to be

involved and decide a date that everyone

agrees the system can be taken out of

use. Communicate the date to

everyone.

Create a detailed cook book to help

guide you through the System Copy

process.

Before the refresh takes place, ensure you

complete all preparation steps. You’ll be

too busy on the night!

Follow your detailed process - perform

the refresh and any post-refresh work to

deliver the pre-production system.

Communicate system availability -

testing may commence.

SYSTEM COPY EXECUTION STEPS…

Pre-Requisites

Agree the date

Get the right approval

Communicate to everyone

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1

Download 100 tasks

to remember on your next

System Copy

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10 copy execution steps

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Pre-refresh Checks

Check you have backups of

Production - the backup you are going

to use for the system copy

Pre-Production - in case something

goes wrong and you need to roll back

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10 copy execution steps

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Pre-refresh Activities

Export and log all the Safe Configuration

(p13-15) that you need to keep from the

Pre-Production system which you need to

put back.

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10 copy execution steps

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Prepare Target system environment

Delete the Pre-Production database.

Make sure you have enough space for the

new one.

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10 copy execution steps

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Restore Target Database

Restore the Production database onto

your Pre-Production system.

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10 copy execution steps

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Post-refresh Steps (Before SAP Start)

Safety First - Do all those cleanup activities

before you start SAP.

Make sure that you don’t send any data out

of the copied system.

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10 copy execution steps

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Start SAP

Start SAP on the Target system

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10 copy execution steps

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Post-refresh Checks on SAP

Perform all necessary checks to make sure

the system is working.

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10 copy execution steps

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Post-refresh Steps (After SAP Start)

Perform all tasks to re-configure the system into the

Pre-Production system and import any new transports

to apply the correct code and configuration.

Run the BDLS process - the most painful post

processing step of the refresh and can run for days in a

large SAP environment.

There is no BDLS progress status or end time estimate.

90% of the time

it takes to run an SAP System Copy

is the BDLS process

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10 copy execution steps

10 copy execution steps

Backup the Target system

Finally, the system so that you have an up-to-date

backup before you release it to the users.

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There’s a way to run BDLS at least 10x faster

No additional hardware

No specialist skills

SAP Certified software

Low cost subscription license

Implemented in less than 1 day

Direct BDLS replacement

Runs 10x to 20x faster

Inbuilt progress bar and end time estimate

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SnapOps

System CopyGT is a SnapOps solution