Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Documentation

Refreshing an Environment

Learn how to run self-service P2T and T2T refreshes for your Fusion Applications environments.

Note

The self-service environment refresh feature is not available on the Cloud Classic Console (My Services). For information about requesting an environment refresh, see Scheduling Service Maintenance for Environment Refresh.

An environment refresh copies data from a source environment to a target environment, making a copy of the source environment onto the target environment. Environment refreshes ensure a predictable experience during testing activities by providing a comparable non-production environment for testing and validation, before applying changes to your production environment.

Key Concepts for Refreshing an Environment

The following terminology is used when discussing environment refresh:
PRODUCTION-TO-TEST (P2T)
Refresh from a production (source) environment to a non-production (target) environment.
TEST-TO-TEST (T2T)
If you have multiple non-production environments, you can refresh from one non-production environment to another.
REFRESH POINT
A refresh uses the latest backup of the source environment. The refresh point tells you the timestamp of the source backup that was used. Note that because the backup is used, data entered or changed after the source backup was taken but before the refresh was initiated, won't be included.
LAST REFRESH
The date and time that the last refresh was completed.

Environment Refresh Requirements and Limitations

Following are requirements for and limitations of environment refresh:
  • You can't refresh a production environment.
  • During the refresh, the target environment is unavailable, but the source environment is not affected. See also Environment Refresh Duration.
  • The source and target environments must be in the same environment family.
  • The refresh is always performed from the most recent backup version of the source environment, not the source environment itself. Therefore, some data may not match between the source and target environments if there was activity on the source environment after the backup was taken.
  • Fusion Applications version and patch level must match in the source and target environments. This includes monthly updates and exception updates.
    Important

    When you schedule a refresh, keep in mind that the maintenance cycles of the source and target environments may not be in synch, because production environments are typically patched 2 weeks later than the non-production environments. If the patch levels (or versions) become out of synch between when the refresh was scheduled and the scheduled date, you must cancel the refresh and reschedule it for a later date (when the version or patch levels will be in synch), or contact support if you need the refresh completed sooner.

    If a patch level mismatch is detected, then 7 days before the scheduled refresh:

    • Oracle will notify you by email that the scheduled refresh can't be performed because of the patch level incompatibility.
    • A warning message is displayed on the environment details page, advising you of the action needed.
  • If the installed language packs do not match, the target environment is overwritten with the language packs of the source environment.
  • A target environment can be refreshed only once per 7 days.
  • A refresh can't be performed within 4 days before scheduled maintenance for the target environment.
  • A refresh can't be performed 1 day after the start of the target maintenance downtime.
  • If the source and target environment have different scheduled maintenance dates, you can't schedule a refresh for a date that falls between the scheduled maintenance dates of the source and target environments.

What's Copied During an Environment Refresh

During an environment refresh, almost all data is copied. The following tables list more details.

Data Copied from the Source to the Target

The refresh copies the following data from the source environment to the target environment:

Object Additional Information or Examples
All data in the Fusion Applications schema Transactional data and functional setups
WebCenter content File attachments and inbound and outbound integration files
Key artifacts managed by Fusion Middleware Metadata Service User interface extensions managed as Application Development Framework (ADF) sandboxes, such as Flexfields and workflow/approval extensions managed by the Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) Suite
Business Intelligence Web catalog and Repository Definitions (RPDs) The entire catalog is copied.
Pre-compiled FastFormula used by HCM Cloud Services
Oracle Data Integrator (ODI) repository
Identity Management Policy Store data Application and system policies, but not credentials and keys
Identity Management Identity Store data

Data Not Copied

The following data is not copied during the refresh:

Object Additional Information or Examples
Compiled objects Fusion Applications binaries, Fusion Middleware binaries, and for HCM Cloud Services customers, compiled FastFormula
Home page notifications Approval requests
Data maintained in the Topology Manager Endpoint URLs to other environments
ESS process parameters Instance data
Some schemas FUSION_IPM, FUSION_BIPLATFORM, FUSION_ORASDPLS, FUSION_ORASDPXDMS, FUSION_ORASDPSDS, FUSION_ORASDPM
Files and binaries in file system Java files, scripts, and executable in the file system
Environment-specific data Long-running workflows, SOA transaction tables, and system audit data
Learning content Data loaded with Manage Catalog Resources is not copied, such as SCORM, AICC, PDF, and web links
Security credentials and OPSS data
Virus scan configuration data

Environment Refresh Duration

Typically, an environment refresh may take up to 48 hours, depending on the size of the data. It's possible for the refresh to take more than 48 hours if the source environment is very big. During the refresh, the target environment shows a status of Refresh in progress. If you enable data masking for the refresh, the time to refresh the environment is extended to include the data masking process.

The source environment is not impacted.

Environment Refresh Management Tasks

To refresh an environment
You can refresh an environment in one of the following ways:
  • Follow the step-by-step guide on the user interface of the Console: On the Fusion Applications Overview page, in the Environment refresh section of Guided learning, click Refresh environment. You are provided step-by-step assistance to perform the task. To exit the task at any point, click Close. You can submit your feedback about the guided task after you close or complete it.
  • Use the following procedure on the Console:
    1. Navigate to the environment: On the Applications tab of the Console, click Fusion Applications. On the Overview page, click Environments, and then click the environment name. The environment details page is displayed.
    2. On the environment details page, under Resources, click Refresh.
    3. Click Refresh environment.
    4. Select the Source environment from the list.
    5. To schedule the refresh for a later date, select Schedule refresh for a later date and then choose the date and time.
    6. If you purchased the Data Masking SKU, you'll see a Data Masking option. Select the check box to run data masking on the refreshed data. For more information about data masking, see Overview of Data Masking.
    7. Click Submit.
    8. To confirm the refresh, type the name of the target environment in the field provided.
    9. Click Refresh.
To view refresh history details
  1. Navigate to the environment: On the Applications tab of the Console, click Fusion Applications. On the Overview page, click Environments, and then click the environment name. The environment details page is displayed.
  2. On the environment details page, under Resources, click Refresh. The list of submitted refresh occurrences is displayed showing the following details:
    • The OCID (unique identifier) of the refresh request.
    • The Source environment of the last refresh.
    • The Refresh status of a scheduled or completed refresh (the status can be Scheduled, Success, In progress, Needs attention, or Failed).

      If the status is Failed, see What to do if a refresh fails.

      The status Needs attention indicates there is a version mismatch between the source and target environments. You can reschedule the refresh to resolve this status.

    • Source environment Refresh point date and time.
    • The Start date and time that the refresh was initiated.
To monitor the status of a refresh
  1. Navigate to the environment: On the Applications tab of the Console, click Fusion Applications. On the Overview page, click Environments, and then click the environment name. The environment details page is displayed.
  2. On the environment details page, under Resources, click Refresh. The list of submitted refresh occurrences is displayed showing the following details:
    • Source environment
    • Refresh status
    • Refresh point
    • Start date

If the status of a scheduled refresh is Needs attention, click the Actions menu (Actions Menu) at the end of the row and select View details. A common cause for this status is that the version or patch levels of the source and target have become out of synch since the time the refresh was scheduled. To resolve this issue, reschedule the refresh. If you require the refresh to be run sooner, contact support.

To cancel or reschedule a scheduled refresh
  1. Navigate to the environment: On the Applications tab of the Console, click Fusion Applications. On the Overview page, click Environments, and then click the environment name. The environment details page is displayed.
  2. On the environment details page, under Resources, click Refresh. The list of submitted refresh occurrences is displayed.
  3. Find the scheduled request you want to cancel or reschedule and click the Actions menu (Actions Menu) at the end of the row.
    • To reschedule: Select Reschedule from the menu and then choose the new refresh date. Type in the environment name to confirm, and then click Reschedule.
    • To cancel: Select Cancel from the menu. Type in the target environment name to confirm, and then click Cancel refresh.
What to do if a refresh fails

If the Refresh Status is Failed, take the following actions:

  1. Check the Work requests for the environment to view the error:
    • On the environment details page, under Resources, click Work requests.
    • In the list of work requests, find the entry for Refresh environment.
    • Click the operation name to view its details. The details lists Log messages and Error messages. Click Error messages to view the error.
  2. Depending on the error, you can:
    • Try the refresh again later. If the refresh failed because of a version mismatch, ensure to schedule it when the versions will be in synch according to your maintenance schedule for production and non-production environments.
    • File a service request, if the issue persists or if the refresh needs to be done immediately. Include the information from the work request error message.