Basisadvanced
SAP System Copy & Landscape Refresh
Homogeneous and heterogeneous system copies used to build new SAP systems or refresh existing ones from a source system.
A client copy copies business data inside one system. A system copy builds an entire new SAP system from an existing one — database, repository, configuration, everything.
A client copy is like duplicating one tenant's apartment inside the same building; a system copy is constructing an entirely new building and, for a heterogeneous copy, doing it with different construction materials (a different database engine) while still recreating every room exactly as it was.
Key Concepts
1
It is how a quality system is refreshed from production before a big test cycle, and how a new sandbox is
built.
2
Two kinds, and the difference is whether the platform changes.Homogeneous — same operating system and same database. Because the platforms match, the database's own
backup and restore can be used, which is fast.
3
Heterogeneous — the OS or the database changes, for example a traditional database on Windows becoming
HANA on Linux. A binary copy is impossible between incompatible platforms, so the data must be unloaded
into a neutral format and loaded back in (R3load). That takes far longer.
4
Software Provisioning Manager (SWPM) orchestrates both.
5
The copy is the easy half. What is consistently underestimated is everything required afterwards, and
an interview answer that stops at "restore the backup" is incomplete.
6
- SID and hostname references throughout the system
- RFC destinations, which still point at production
- Logical system names, converted with `BDLS` — essential in any ALE or IDoc landscape,
since documents carry the sender's logical system name
- Outbound interfaces, which must be stopped before they send real messages to real partners
- Background jobs, which will otherwise run production's schedule
- Printers and output devices
- Licence keys, which are tied to the hardware
- User authorisations, which are now production's in a system with weaker controls
- Personal data, which may need scramblingBDLS
7
BDLS deserves its own mention. After a copy, documents and configuration still refer to the source
system's logical name. Until they are converted, an IDoc sent from the copy identifies itself as
production, and partner systems act on it.
BDLS
8
DMO is the variant worth naming. The Database Migration Option of SUM combines a release upgrade and a
migration to HANA in one procedure, with a single downtime instead of two.
9
That is why it became the standard route from ECC to S/4HANA for teams keeping their existing system,
rather than a greenfield rebuild.
10
The distinction to state clearly.
client copy logical, within one system, one client's data
system copy infrastructural, an entire system including the repository11
A refresh of quality from production is a system copy. Refreshing a sandbox's configuration from a golden
client is a client copy. Choosing the heavier one when the lighter would do buys days of downtime for
nothing.
12
What the interviewer is probing.1. "What has to happen after a production copy into QA?" Probing: the post-processing.
Stalls: "Nothing." Moves up: post-copy automation — clear transport buffers, reconfigure RFC
destinations and logical systems, scramble or restrict sensitive data, and reset job schedules.
13
2. "Why is leaving production RFC destinations in place dangerous?" Probing: the real
incident. Stalls: "It is not." Moves up: the refreshed QA system can send IDocs or emails to
production or to real customers.
14
3. "Homogeneous or heterogeneous copy?" Probing: the vocabulary. Stalls: "The same." *Moves
up:* homogeneous keeps the same OS and database and can use a backup restore; heterogeneous changes
one and requires export-import.
15
4. "How do you handle personal data in a refresh?" Probing: the compliance angle. Stalls:
"Copy it." Moves up: scramble or mask it as part of post-copy, because a non-production system
rarely has production-grade access control.