1 General
1.1 What is ABAP post-copy automation?
ABAP post-copy automation automates most of the crucial activities that have to be performed after the copy or refresh of an SAP NetWeaver system or an SAP Business Suite system based on SAP NetWeaver Application Server ABAP (for example, SAP Business Warehouse). It is part of SAP Landscape Management, enterprise edition software and SAP Landscape Management Cloud software.
Instead of performing post-copy activities manually, profit from expert knowledge in machine-readable format and make your overall system copy experience easier, faster and more reliable.
1.2 How are the post-copy activities automated?
The automation is performed with the
ABAP task manager for lifecycle management automation, our framework for the automation of ABAP lifecycle management tasks. It is part of every ABAP system based on SAP NetWeaver 7.0 and higher (as of a certain SP level) and easy-to-use for everybody familiar with SAP ABAP systems. For the task of post-copy automation, we offer special task lists reflecting expert knowledge especially for the copy and refresh of SAP systems. You can parameterize and adapt the task lists to your requirements.
1.3 How does ABAP post-copy automation relate to SAP Landscape Management?
ABAP post-copy automation is part of
SAP Landscape Management, enterprise edition software and SAP Landscape Management Cloud software.
You can perform the automated ABAP post-copy activities either integrated as part of the reliable and fast end-to-end system copy and refresh process of
SAP Landscape Management (including automated cloning with network isolation, system rename and automated post-copy activities) or run it stand-alone without having
SAP Landscape Management installed or directly involved. In both cases, you require an SAP Landscape Management, enterprise edition license or an SAP Landscape Management Cloud subscription.
1.4 Where can I get further details?
- Before you use ABAP post-copy automation (PCA) with the enterprise edition of SAP Landscape Management or with the ABAP task manager for lifecycle management automation, read first the ABAP PCA Installation Guide and second the ABAP PCA Configuration Guide on SAP Help Portal at: https://help.sap.com/viewer/p/ABAP_POST-COPY_AUTOMATION
- For more information about using the ABAP task manager for lifecycle management automation, call transaction STC01 in your system and choose the Online Help pushbutton directly in the tool.
- Especially for post-copy automation, there is a Learning Map available as described here.
- For troubleshooting information, see the PCA Troubleshooting Note.
2. Offering
2.1 Which use cases are supported?
You can execute both the automated activities after an initial system copy process (where a new system is created as copy of a source system) and after the refresh of an existing system.
2.2 Which products are covered?
- With our ABAP basis content, we are offering post-copy activities for all systems based on SAP NetWeaver AS ABAP 7.0 and higher.
- Also, we are providing automation content especially for SAP Business Warehouse systems (incl. BW/4HANA) and systems connected to them. Here I recommend the following Blog which covers System Copy Automation for SAP Business Warehouse System Landscapes (BW PCA).
2.3 What activities are automated for the initial copy process?
Most of the post-activities relevant for our customers after the copy of a system based on SAP NetWeaver AS ABAP are already automaed – including the deletion of obsolete information from the original system (such as the clean-up of ABAP basis tables) and the automated post-copy configuration (such as the configuration of standard jobs, licenses, logon groups, system profiles, operation modes, secure store, spool and TMS, just to name a few).
2.4 What activities are automated for the system refresh procedure?
For the refresh of existing systems, existing configuration gets persisted, so that your existing system will behave the same way after you have refreshed it with the latest data from your source system. Be it your existing configuration for ALE, archiving, batch jobs/server groups, CCMS, customer-defined tables, OS commands, licenses, log-on groups, op modes, printer/spool, RFC, SLD, SCOT, STRUST, TMS, users, ... – all these settings can be handled accordingly.
In addition, automated pre-checks and the clean-up and post-configuration activities mentioned above are provided, making the overall refresh of an existing system easy and smooth.
2.5 What features does the framework offer?
With the
ABAP task manager for lifecycle management automation, you can easily create and maintain variants of the pre-delivered automation task lists that can then be executed without dialog phase (such as with the execution as part of the automated end-to-end system copy and refresh process with
SAP Landscape Management, offering a fast and reliable system copy experience with the push of a button) or with only some parameters predefined by you. Optionally, you can also extend pre-delivered content with your own tables and reports.
After the execution, you find detailed information in the log file for every performed activity, offering full transparency on the automation process.
3. Usage
3.1 How can I get ABAP post-copy automation?
The framework is part of every ABAP system (as of a certain release and SP level).
The content is provided by a dedicated TCI (Transport based Correction Instructions) and implemented via transaction SNOTE.
For an detailed technical overview refer to SAP Note
1614266
In addition, you have to install a license of
SAP Landscape Management.
3.2 How can I execute ABAP post-copy automation?
- You start the ABAP task manager by calling transaction STC01 in your system.
- You open the relevant task list (for example, the basis task list for the initial system copy).
- You parameterize and adapt the task lists to your requirements and save it as own variant.
- Now, you either execute the variant directly from the ABAP task manager or you integrate the variant into the end-to-end system provisioning process of SAP Landscape Management.
- For future procedures, you can re-use the existing variant and profit from reliable, repeatable, and fast system copy and system refresh procedures nearly as easy as the click of a button.
3.3 What do "Lower limit" and "Upper limit" mean in the BDLS task lists?
In the task lists to automatically adapt the logical system names via BDLS, you have to specify the parameters "Lower limit" and "Upper limit":
- In the "Lower limit" field, enter the former logical system name
- In the "Upper limit", enter the new logical system name
The task list will then replace all occurrences of the former logical system name with the new one.
3.4 Where can I find further troubleshooting information?
For ABAP Post-Copy Automation, there is a troubleshooting
note available.
