R/3 System Copy PRD -- QA Oracle 9

Question

Hi all,
We need to perform a system copy of Production back to QA (4.7/6.40 kernel). My previous experience with a system copy was on a 4.6C system with Oracle 8 using R3COPY. I have just downloaded the latest system copy guide 'Homogeneous and Heterogeneous System Copy for SAP® Systems Based on SAP Web Application Server 6.20' and for Oracle it says that backup/restore method is not recommended or support and to use R3LOAD. We are not keen to use this method as it requires a longer Production downtime for us (more than twice what would be required for offline backup), also we would need the space available on the disk.
Has anyone still used the backup/restore method as described in the 4.6C system copy guide with Oracle 9? I don't see why this method is not supported since for us it would be much easier.
Thanks
- Natalie

Answer 1

Hello,
Perhaps this notes can be of help:
<a href="http://service.sap.com/sap/support/notes/427836">427836</a> OneDb system: Homogeneous system copy with DBR3CP.R3S ( bit old, perhaps not good for your system )
<a href="http://service.sap.com/sap/support/notes/713685">713685</a> Hom./Het.System Copy SAP Web AS 6.40
<a href="http://service.sap.com/sap/support/notes/857734">857734</a> System Copy of SAP Systems based on 6.20 and 6.40 / Oracle  
On this notes you can find other interesting refering the same issue
Not much into system copies with the new tools, but I think it is possible to use backup/restore.
The only thing is that you will have a little "mess" -> the tablespace name will have the old "SID", same happens with the schema. Unless you have installed the system with this issue in mind and used a "neutral" schema, the note is ( I think )[url=http://service.sap.com/sap/support/notes/617444]617444[/url]