Important Considerations for Cloning Environments

This topic gives you important considerations for the Cloning Environment feature. To learn more, read:

Supported Cloning Scenarios
Unsupported Cloning Scenarios
Compatibility Between Source and Target Environments
Clone After Scheduled Daily Maintenance
Cloning Options and Key Considerations
Target Account Reconciliation Settings Reset After Cloning

Supported Cloning Scenarios

The following cloning scenarios are supported:

Migrating to another NetSuite EPM SKU
Production to test cloning
Test to production cloning

Unsupported Cloning Scenarios

The following scenarios for cloning aren't supported:

NetSuite Account Reconciliation and NetSuite Narrative Reporting don't support cloning one environment to another that's on an older monthly update.
Cloning might fail if NetSuite Planning and Budgeting has a renamed seeded period member that's been replaced by a custom period member. For example, if you renamed the seeded YearTotal period member to unused_YearTotal. Then, you added an alternate type period member with the original seeded member name (called YearTotal).

Cloning Uses Current Snapshot

The Clone Environment feature uses the latest snapshot (named Artifact Snapshot) created during the last daily maintenance.

After the snapshot that you'll use for cloning is created, don't make changes to your source application. Any changes you make to after the snapshot is created won't be included when you clone the environment.

Tip:

If you need to change the source environment, you'll have to take a new snapshot with those updates and redo the cloning process. Before you clone the source environment again, you'll need to remove the application on the target environment using the Recreate Service feature. Click your user name in the upper-right corner, and from the Settings and Actions menu, select Recreate Service.

Compatibility Between Source and Target Environments

NetSuite Cloud EPM lets you clone from a source environment to a target environment if their monthly updates are within one month of each other. For example, if the source environment is on the 24.08 update, the target environment can be on 24.07, 24.08, or 24.09. The exception is NetSuite Account Reconciliation.

For NetSuite Account Reconciliation, you can only clone between environments that are on the exact same monthly update. For example, if the source environment is on the 24.08 update, the target environment must also be on 24.08.

Clone After Scheduled Daily Maintenance

You should start cloning after the scheduled daily maintenance for both the source and target environments. On the source environment, if the daily maintenance starts while cloning is happening, the cloning process will stop. On the target environment, the cloning process isn't affected even if daily maintenance starts at the start time. In that case, daily maintenance will run after cloning is done.

If cloning takes a long time, on the source environment, reschedule the start time for daily maintenance. This action prevents the cloning process from being stopped. For information about resetting the daily maintenance start time, see the following help topics in the Oracle Help Center:

If you want to start service maintenance manually instead of waiting for the scheduled time, use the runDailyMaintenance EPM Automate command. For more information, see the help topic runDailyMaintenance.

Cloning Options and Key Considerations

The following table lists your cloning options and the key considerations for each one.

Clone Options	Considerations for Cloning
Users and Predefined Roles	Check this option to make sure that login names of users are identical in the source and target environments. Don't change the login names of users in the target environment. For example, don't switch from short name jdoe to the email john.doe@example.com. Changing the login names will break existing access control settings. You need both the Service Administrator and Identity Domain Administer roles to clone users and their predefined roles. If someone who isn't an Identity Domain Administer checks Users and Predefined Roles and then clones an environment, the import of users and their predefined roles will fail. Users who only have the Identity Domain Administrator role assigned to them aren't cloned to the target environment. In the source environment, if a user has the Identity Domain Administrator role and predefined roles assigned to them, then they're cloned. However, in the target environment, they're assigned only to the respective predefined roles. These users won't have the Identity Domain Administrator role in the target environment. If the source environment is OCI and users get predefined roles by IDCS groups instead of direct assignment, those IDCS groups aren't cloned. In the target environment, the predefined roles are assigned directly to cloned users. Changes to a user’s predefined roles update based on the roles that are assigned in the source snapshot. However, role assignments in the target won't be removed to match those in the source snapshot. For example, jdoe is a Power User in the target environment but only has only the User role in the source snapshot. This cloning option assigns jdoe to the User role but doesn't remove the Power User role in the target environment. You'll see the error "EPMIE-00070: Failed to find user during assigned roles import" if both of these conditions happen: You don't import users. A user in the source snapshot doesn't have a predefined role in the target environment. This option doesn't delete users from the target environment if they aren't in the source snapshot. For example, if jdoe has an account in the target environment but not in the source snapshot, the account won't be deleted in target environment. This option adds users who aren't in the target environment. It doesn't update existing user properties in the target environment, even if those properties are different in the source snapshot. For example, the last name for jdoe in the source snapshot is spelled differently in the target environment. The last name in the target will be kept and won't be changed to match the source. This option doesn't change passwords for existing users in the target environment, even if they're different in the source snapshot. New users in the target environment get assigned a random password and will receive an account activation email that asks them to change it.
Data Management	Clone only if both the source and target environments are on the same monthly update, or if the target environment is one update newer than the source environment. For example, you can clone 24.01 Data Management records to another 24.01 environment or to a 24.02 environment. Cloning Data Management records can take a long time if the staging tables have a lot of records.
Application Audit	For NetSuite Close Management and Consolidation and NetSuite Tax Reporting, data for Application Audit is included in the snapshot by default. This option isn't available in NetSuite Account Reconciliation.
Job Console	This option isn't available in NetSuite Account Reconciliation.
Stored Snapshots and Files	The cloning process only copies files stored directly in the inbox and outbox. The files in sub-folders aren't cloned. For example, if you have files file1.csv and myfiles/file2.csv in inbox, only file1.csv gets cloned. This process can take a long time depending on how many snapshots and files you have in inbox and outbox, and how big they are.
Daily Maintenance Start Time	If you check this option, the maintenance start time will reset to match the source environment where the snapshot came from. Clear this option to keep the current maintenance start time in the target environment.

Clone Options

Considerations for Cloning

Users and Predefined Roles

Check this option to make sure that login names of users are identical in the source and target environments.
Don't change the login names of users in the target environment. For example, don't switch from short name jdoe to the email john.doe@example.com. Changing the login names will break existing access control settings.
You need both the Service Administrator and Identity Domain Administer roles to clone users and their predefined roles. If someone who isn't an Identity Domain Administer checks Users and Predefined Roles and then clones an environment, the import of users and their predefined roles will fail.
Users who only have the Identity Domain Administrator role assigned to them aren't cloned to the target environment. In the source environment, if a user has the Identity Domain Administrator role and predefined roles assigned to them, then they're cloned. However, in the target environment, they're assigned only to the respective predefined roles. These users won't have the Identity Domain Administrator role in the target environment.
If the source environment is OCI and users get predefined roles by IDCS groups instead of direct assignment, those IDCS groups aren't cloned. In the target environment, the predefined roles are assigned directly to cloned users.
Changes to a user’s predefined roles update based on the roles that are assigned in the source snapshot. However, role assignments in the target won't be removed to match those in the source snapshot. For example, jdoe is a Power User in the target environment but only has only the User role in the source snapshot. This cloning option assigns jdoe to the User role but doesn't remove the Power User role in the target environment.
You'll see the error "EPMIE-00070: Failed to find user during assigned roles import" if both of these conditions happen:
- You don't import users.
- A user in the source snapshot doesn't have a predefined role in the target environment.
This option doesn't delete users from the target environment if they aren't in the source snapshot. For example, if jdoe has an account in the target environment but not in the source snapshot, the account won't be deleted in target environment.
This option adds users who aren't in the target environment. It doesn't update existing user properties in the target environment, even if those properties are different in the source snapshot. For example, the last name for jdoe in the source snapshot is spelled differently in the target environment. The last name in the target will be kept and won't be changed to match the source.
This option doesn't change passwords for existing users in the target environment, even if they're different in the source snapshot.
New users in the target environment get assigned a random password and will receive an account activation email that asks them to change it.

Data Management

Clone only if both the source and target environments are on the same monthly update, or if the target environment is one update newer than the source environment. For example, you can clone 24.01 Data Management records to another 24.01 environment or to a 24.02 environment.
Cloning Data Management records can take a long time if the staging tables have a lot of records.

Application Audit

For NetSuite Close Management and Consolidation and NetSuite Tax Reporting, data for Application Audit is included in the snapshot by default.

This option isn't available in NetSuite Account Reconciliation.

Job Console

This option isn't available in NetSuite Account Reconciliation.

Stored Snapshots and Files

The cloning process only copies files stored directly in the inbox and outbox. The files in sub-folders aren't cloned. For example, if you have files file1.csv and myfiles/file2.csv in inbox, only file1.csv gets cloned.
This process can take a long time depending on how many snapshots and files you have in inbox and outbox, and how big they are.

Daily Maintenance Start Time

If you check this option, the maintenance start time will reset to match the source environment where the snapshot came from.
Clear this option to keep the current maintenance start time in the target environment.

Target Account Reconciliation Settings Reset After Cloning

After cloning, the settings for the target NetSuite Account Reconciliation application will reset to their default values.

If you want to keep the target application's settings, follow these steps in order:

Export the settings from the source environment by using the exportARApplicationProperties EPM Automate command. See exportARApplicationProperties.
Clone the environment.
After cloning is done, import the application properties into the target environment by using the importARApplicationProperties EPM Automate command. See importARApplicationProperties.