Refresh Environment Request
During your cloud service implementation lifecycle, you may need to copy all the data from one environment to another. You can accomplish this task by creating a Refresh Environment operational request.
When requesting to refresh the environment, be aware of the following:
- When you create an operational request for a given environment, that environment is considered the target environment. Data is copied into the target environment from another environment, the source environment, which you must select when creating the request.
- There are a few restrictions that apply:
- You cannot refresh a Production or a Test environment from a Development environment, due to Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) partition concerns. Environment ILM Partitions are managed internally by Oracle for all Production and Test environments. Oracle does not automatically create ILM partitions on Development environments.
When an environment is refreshed from another environment, the target database structure is overwritten to match the source environment. As a result, any existing ILM partitioning configuration in the target environment is replaced by the ILM partitioning configuration of the source environment. Refreshing a Production or Test environment from a Development environment is prohibited, and applicable error messages are displayed when such a request is attempted, as such an action would result in the loss of ILM partitioning in the Production or Test environment.
- The source environment database size cannot be more than 20% larger than the target environment database size. Any exceptions to this are to be resolved using a support ticket.
- You cannot refresh a Production or a Test environment from a Development environment, due to Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) partition concerns. Environment ILM Partitions are managed internally by Oracle for all Production and Test environments. Oracle does not automatically create ILM partitions on Development environments.
After the request is accepted, processing can start immediately. There is no scheduling option.
Environment Refresh Processing
The system copies all the data from the source environment to the target environment. The data is taken directly from the active source environment into a new target environment. After all the processing is completed, the new target environment is switched to the current target environment.
During this process, some performance impact might be noticed on the source environment while the data is being copied. Therefore, it is recommended to submit the request when activities happening on the source environment are at a minimum.
The processing time of the environment refresh request depends on the Database size of the source environment.
| Source Database Size | Estimated Processing Time |
|---|---|
| Up to 3 TB | 3 hours |
| Between 3 TB and 6 TB | 5 hours |
| Between 6 TB and 9 TB | 7 hours |
| Larger than 9 TB | More than 8 hours |
Environment Refresh Data Rules
The following data from the target environment, before the copy, is preserved and is not overwritten by the source data:
- Process automation configuration used for running the Content Migration Assistant (CMA) between environments.
- Configuration data related to how the target environment is identified by name, which is stored in the environment installation options.
- Environment specific Oracle Object Storage configurations, (such as values for the File Storage Configuration (F1-FileStorge) extendable lookup.
- Key Rings, including the keys.
- Configurations related to outbound integration, using External Systems and Message Senders.
Special Considerations for Data Refreshed From the Source Environment
- Key Rings from the source environment are added to the new target environment without the keys, since security keys cannot be shared across environments.
- Environment specific Oracle Object Storage configurations, such as values for the File Storage Configuration (F1-FileStorge) extendable lookup, are copied from the source environment, but all the environment specific details are excluded.
- Configurations related to outbound integration, using External Systems and Message Senders, are not copied if the source environment is the Production environment.
- User definitions in Oracle Identity Domains are not a part of the copy process since they are not a part of the environment data. If access to the source and target environments is controlled by different Identity Domains, the user definitions from the source environment’s identity domain might need to be migrated manually to the target environment’s identity domain. This depends on your security settings and whether users that had access to the source environment require access to the target environment as well.
Environment Refresh Post-Processing
When the request processing is completed, consider the following steps:
- Generate keys for all key rings added from the source environment, since keys are not copied over.
- Inspect and update integration configurations as needed, since some details may have been removed during the refresh. This can be done manually or using CMA, migrating selected configurations from the source environment to the new target environment.
- Review and update environment specific Oracle Object Storage that were copied from the source environment. These entries can have some missing data that is specific to the environment and therefore have to be updated after the refresh.
- Review Batch Controls for file path references to object storage buckets or file names and update them if necessary.
- Ensure that the Reporting Server from Browser URL value is the correct environment.
- Search, review, and select which batch streams and which scheduler programs are to be Active following the refresh and transition them to Active state to resume batch operations. All batch streams and scheduler program are disabled during the refresh.