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Automating SAP System Copy and Refresh

Introduction
Bringing consistency, efficiency, and visibility into highly complex System Copy and System Refresh processes is a challenge faced by many SAP administrators. Documenting and automating these processes help address these challenges and simplify the operation and validation aspects of the process. System Copy and System Refresh automation can drive much of the procedure unattended, while keeping administrators informed about problems and engaging them at key decision points. Automated administration procedures provide clarity and coordination of all activities, which are especially valuable in a multiple System Copy process. Benefits include:

Time savings: Reduced dependency on operator activity Error reduction: Consistent, correct execution of steps and a documented, clear, repeatable workflow Easier auditing: Detailed audit report to simplify auditing

The simple scenario in Table 1, based on an actual automation, illustrates how effective automation can save time and reduce costs. Actual benefits will vary in different environments.
Table 1. Before and After Scenario Based on an Actual Environment
System A After Automation 15 minutes per refresh with all 50 individual steps automated 50 refreshes/year Downtime after automation = 12.5 hours per year

System A Before Automation 2 hours per week and 50 individual steps 50 refreshes/year Downtime before automation = 100 hours per year Sample Time and Cost Savings Calculation If cost of downtime = $10,000/hour * 87.5 hours = $875,000 If cost of downtime = $1000/hour * 87.5 hours = $87,500

Many enterprises conduct SAP System Copy and System Refresh semi-annually to coincide with release schedules. Prior to a new release rollout to the SAP production system, System Refresh is conducted to refresh the QA system from the production system, which helps enforce data consistency between the two. This facilitates comprehensive testing before the release is rolled out to production. Completing a System Copy or full System Refresh is challenging. Many different procedures must be coordinated because of complex and far-reaching processes as well as the involvement of the SAP production system. Significant problems can occur if any part of the process is not completed properly. Adding automation can provide consistent best practice-based execution of procedures, improve business continuity, increase IT productivity, and reduce the risk of business disruption.

Balancing Time and Risk

Because the target systems must be brought down, work often occurs over weekends. The total downtime associated with the System Copy segment of the procedure can range from a weekend to a week or more, depending on the scope and systems involved. It can take longer if there are errors in the backup that was created from production. Often, the System Copy of the production systems begins on a Friday after close of business. While the System Copy is running, the Basis team takes down the QA system and performs pre-restore steps. This includes extracting profiles, user records, remote function call (RFC) destinations, and tables that must not be overwritten. After the

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System Copy of production is completed, the Basis team or the storage team kicks off the backup restore to the QA systems. If a different team handles backup and restore, then yet another team is affected. After the restore process has completed, the Basis experts can start working on the lengthy post-restore steps. The Basis team must connect the restored systems to the correct systems - for example, enterprise resource planning (ERP) to business intelligence (BI), or eXchange Infrastructure (XI) to ERP - and then test the connections to any QA interfaces. Afterward, yet another expert conducts a final audit involving tasks such as verifying that everything looks correct, all of the steps were completed, QA systems are not still pointing to production interfaces, and so on. The systems are then opened back up to the owners. The entire process takes days, and many procedures and people play a role in a successful completion. In contrast to the traditional process, automation tools and automated procedures can provide an auditable process that drives and tracks active approvals from experts. While automation does not reduce the number of necessary procedures, it provides clarity and coordination, making the operation and validation simpler. Less Time to Do More As systems get larger, data restore takes longer to complete. Finishing post-restore steps over a weekend can become difficult. System Refresh projects are lengthy and usually involve connectivity to multiple systems, such as ERP, SAP Business Information Warehouse (BW), customer relationship management (CRM), sales relationship management (SRM), and process integration (PI). If there are multiple interfaces, they must be reintegrated and connected after the refreshes are completed, which requires more staff. At least one Basis staffer should be assigned to each system. With a large number of steps and people involved, the work is fraught with the risk of missing a vital step or making a mistake. Examples
Table 2. Example Pre-DB Copy Activities
STRUST: Certificate management Stop/start SAP system or server Execute script (company scripts) SPAD: Output device management Database activities SAP license management

SCC8: Client management SM37: Batch job management OS commands (file management and so on)

Table 3.

Database Copy
Orchestrate with native DB tools

Coordinate with DBA team

Table 4.

Example Post-DB Copy Activities

STMS: Transport management SM37: Batch job management SE06: System change WSADMIN: Web service configuration WE21: tRFC ports SM61: Enable background servers SP12: TemSe management RZ04: Op modes and instance Implement scripts (company scripts) SCC4: Client administration LPCONFIG: Logical port management BDLS: Convert Logical Systems MN05: Output condition records STRUST: Certificate management RZ12: Activate RFC groups STRUSTSS02: Activate single sign-on Database activities SAP license management

SMLG: Logon group management SU01: User management SM59: RFC destination management OAC0: Archive configuration SPAD: Output devices Stop/start SAP system or server STMS: Import users RZ10: Profile groups OS commands (file management)

Many Manual Steps, Higher Potential for Errors Steps vary in complexity. Some are simple, such as running a transaction and deleting data that was important to the source system but is no longer useful to the target system. Others are complex, such as going through a series of RFC destinations and renaming them from production to QA destinations.
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Some enterprises have attempted to automate these steps through scripting with UNIX shell scripts. However, someone still must run the scripts and validate results. In most enterprises, these steps are conducted manually following a series of complex, scripted documents, which makes it possible to miss a step or adjust a value. A missed step or bad value can cause significant, time-consuming problems. Scenario: Small Omissions, Significant Impact Suppose a simple omission occurs. For example, a staffer forgets to rename an SAP printer or output device that is pointing to a production printer so that it points instead to a QA printer. As a result, when the testing team is testing the process of printing production slips, the slips that were intended for QA testing only are printed to production printers on the companys manufacturing shop floor. Or worse, perhaps the RFC destination that interfaces with a credit card processing application is fed dummy sales orders and runs credit authorizations on fake credit cards. Simple errors can lead to significant business impact, a fact that is well understood in the IT community. Advanced Automation Option Cisco Tidal Intelligent Automation for SAP System Refresh is a solution that combines a software product with services to automate many System Refresh procedures for SAP systems, including SAP BW. This solution can improve business continuity, increase IT productivity, and reduce potential for business disruption. This Cisco solution provides System Copy for SAP templates that tackles pre-restore steps, database copy orchestration, and post-restore steps. Experts study customer System Refresh processes in detail, customize a master automation template, provide the in-house knowledge required to run and refine the automated process, and maintain and improve the automation on an ongoing basis: 1. 2. First, services solution experts work to understand the customers environment, explore the architecture and systems affected by this service, and review existing system refresh procedures. Second, the experts create and configure necessary automated procedures using their deep SAP domain expertise, knowledge of best practices, and content developed by Cisco Tidal software experts to automate system refresh procedures. This content runs on the Cisco Tidal Intelligent Automation platform, which enables automated performance analysis and operational process capabilities across SAP landscapes. One master restore template is built for every SAP NetWeaver system being restored: that is, one for ERP, one for BI/BW, one for PI/XI, and so on. 3. Third, after delivery of the automation solution, the services solution team offers a continuous service improvement program during which it works closely with customer staff to maintain and implement system refresh procedures at the highest possible level. The templates included with the solution are based on SAP best practices. (See Figure 1.)
Figure 1. Master Process Template Structure

Delivering Automation Benefits

Reducing off-hours work: Process automation significantly reduces the dependence on administrators to manually coordinate and orchestrate individual steps. While approvals can easily be built in at key process checkpoints, the automated process can run sophisticated workflows with complex logic and knowledge of system state without requiring human intervention.

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Figure 2.

Automated Process Flow Example

The solution can also automate the execution of long-running complex transactions, such as BDLS, as part of the post-restore steps. During the services engagement, a variety of methods are built into the master template to help improve performance of BDLS, such as:

Identifying large tables in SAP that will be converted and creating temporary indexes on the logical
system name

Setting up the technology to schedule and run BDLS in parallel (A*, B*, and C* tables, excluding some
tables, or running it for single tables as appropriate)

Repeating in parallel for each logical system change (ECC, BW, BI, and so on)

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Deleting temporary indexes

In addition, if multiple systems are being refreshed simultaneously, a master template can be built that orchestrates the simultaneous kickoff of each systems master templates. By allowing the parallel restore of multiple systems and the simultaneous execution of the steps at machine speed, this intelligent automation solution can significantly accelerate the restore process and reduce off-hours Basis involvement.
Figure 3. Before and After BDLS Optimization

Reducing operational complexity: Because the automation steps use customized best practices approved by senior Basis staff, operational complexity is significantly reduced, enabling junior staff to trigger workflows that kick off the restores. Approvals and human interventions can be built into any step of the process to make it easy to engage specific subteams outside of Basis, such as automatically emailing or paging the storage team to kick off data restore. When restoration is complete, it can sign off on the web console, and the process will continue. The solution can also give senior Basis staff the ability to audit or approve certain primary steps before the process continues.

Relieving staff: Subsequent steps can be run automatically, including repopulating RFC destinations or executing pre-existing scripts. Additionally, a set of pre-designed scripts can be used, because the solution provides a repository for them. This avoids the problem of having multiple versions of scripts stored at various locations. The solution provides one central repository for all scripts, which helps staff with version control.

Reducing potential for error: Because the values that the solution inputs are predetermined and consistently applied every time the process is run through automation, the risk of manual error and missed steps is significantly reduced. Human approvals and audits can also be added, enabling teams to see the steps that have been performed and to validate that everything is correct at any point in the process.

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Figure 4.

Customizable Targets for Process Execution

Figure 5.

Full Governance and Auditing with Approval Processes

This solution also provides automatic notification to the owners of the QA systems that will be taken down. In addition to shorter System Refresh execution times, the solution allows multiple simultaneous refreshes. Furthermore, a detailed automation summary report is delivered to help ensure that governance and compliance procedures and processes are followed and documented. (See Figure 6.)

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Figure 6.

Automation Summary Report for Auditing and Compliance

Capabilities Summary
The Cisco Tidal Intelligent Automation Solution for SAP System Refresh delivers benefits through four major capabilities:

Its workflows automate pre-refresh procedures It orchestrates SAP data migration, such as R3 load and RMAN Its workflows automate SAP post-refresh procedures It can incorporate custom refresh processes

Automation can help enterprises get the most accurate data possible for testing by improving currently scheduled SAP System Copy and System Refresh projects and even enabling them to conduct more frequent refreshes. It also improves clarity and coordination of all activities, especially when multiple SAP solutions are being managed. Effective automation can help System Copy and Refresh projects run more smoothly end to end while reducing the burden on Basis teams, providing for consistent execution of procedures, and reducing downtime and costs.

For More Information

For more information about this or any other Cisco product or service, visit http://www.cisco.com.

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