We have to repair/rebuild our SAP Sourcing QA system (version is 9 SP21). What happened in a few words is that the filesystem and database files got corrupted. We did a successful restore of the filesystem but found out that we did not have a database backup that we could use to restore the database. Both Netweaver and Sourcing schema are in the same Oracle database. The current state of this system is that Java instance give SQL error ORA-01578 “block corrupted”. Running utility DBVERIFY shows close to 18000 pages are corrupted that affect both schemas...
I have done much research on SAP Note KBA and SCN, and found the following references:
- Note 1594214 - Writeback or Refresh procedures (http://service.sap.com/sap/support/notes/1594214)
- System copy of Esourcing 5.1 / CLM 2.0 (https://scn.sap.com/thread/3461099)
- Software Provisioning with SAPinst (http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-30102)
- System Copy Guide: System Copy for SAP Systems Based on SAP NetWeaver 7.1 Java - SAP NetWeaver Composition Environment 7.1 (http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-14284)
I also contacted SAP customer support (component SRM-ESO-DB) requesting their recommendation for rebuilding our QA system from a copy of PROD. They confirmed that Note 1594214 would be the guidelines to copy the Sourcing application but that we need to first rebuild the server to have a “clean” Netweaver installation (ie. Not an upgrade. Scratch the old one and start over. Delete database schemas directly in oracle, remove the current software installations, and follow installation guide to re-install).
Taking all this into consideration and having discussions with our system administrators we may have the following options:
Option A (seams the closest to the customer support recommendation but requires the most efforts to built everything from scratch):
- Delete Netweaver and Database schemas directly in oracle
- Remove and Install Netweaver software
- Remove and Install Sourcing software
- Re-do system configurations (SSL, UME ...) up to what it was before the crash
- Follow procedure from Note 1594214 to copy Sourcing database schema from PROD over into QA database
Option B (seams efficient, but we have never used SAPinst to copy Java systems before):
- Use Utility SAPinst to copy PROD over QA.
- Probably modify system configurations according to QA not PROD
- Follow some of the steps from Note 1594214 to remove production information like emails.
Option C (seams the easiest, but we have never done it for a Java/Netweaver/Sourcing system and found no SAP Sourcing documentation to follow):
- Clone LPAR from PROD to new QA (like a disk-copy). This is what system and BASIS administrator do for ECC systems when testing disaster recovery plans
- Make some network configuration to distinguish this QA system from PROD and/or modify system configurations according to QA not PROD
- Follow some of the steps from Note 1594214 to remove production information like emails.
Please provide your recommendation or ideas on this. What should we do? Anyone has more specific procedure to copy PROD to QA including Netweaver and sourcing software and database?
Thank You,
Michel Laberge
Senior application consultant SAP MM/Sourcing.