EnBW ODR AG is a long-standing PBS customer that has already been using numerous PBS software solutions since 2010 in addition to some strategic PBS archive add ons such as CFI, the add-on for SAP FI, the specific add-ons for the energy industry CCU-IS and CISU, and also various tools such as PBS ContentLink, a lean connection between SAP and storage systems. For their initial installation, EnBW ODR decided for NetApp NSeries with SnapLock technology as the storage system, as this was already available at the customer and also supported by PBS ContentLink.
Project Execution
The ongoing archiving was stopped so that the current archive files on the old content server could be logged and documented statistically. A new PBS ContentLink server was constructed in parallel. At GRAU DATA a test file system was created with FileLock on the new PBS ContentLink and migration of a PBS archive of NSeries using GRAU DATA’s own tools was tested. The test migration was checked using the PBS statistics tools. Next, the archiving of new data on a connected SAP test system was tested with the new PBS ContentLink server running under GRAU DATA FileLock technology. The migration of the real PBS archive took place in the next step with a size of 300 gigabytes and 35,000 files with a runtime of about 2-3 hours. Each of the archived documents had its time stamp and expiration date copied exactly and all files were fully available.
Summary
Franz Weber, project manager at EnBW, liked the fact that the smooth approach chosen ensured a high degree of safety at any time. At any point in time there was the possibility to cancel the migration in the case of errors occurring and to continue working with the former status. The existing PBS ContentLink server was disconnected from the SAP system and shut down right at the end of the project without data having been deleted or changed at this point in time. The data on the old PBS ContentLink as well as on the server itself was still kept for several weeks to be on the safe side. During this period, no new archiving took place on the new PBS ContentLink to make it possible to return to the former status if necessary in the event of errors occurring later.
