Title: Data Archiving and Housekeeping in SAP BW
Subject: SAP-BW (Business Warehouse) in SAP Field
As data volumes grow exponentially in SAP BW systems, managing storage efficiently becomes critical. Without proper data archiving and housekeeping, system performance can degrade, backup windows can lengthen, and maintenance costs can rise.
This article covers the fundamentals of data archiving and housekeeping in SAP BW, explaining best practices to optimize system performance, reduce storage costs, and maintain data availability and compliance.
¶ Why Data Archiving and Housekeeping Matter in SAP BW
- Maintain system performance by reducing active data volume.
- Lower storage and infrastructure costs by moving or deleting old data.
- Improve backup and recovery times with smaller data footprints.
- Ensure regulatory compliance by archiving data securely and reliably.
- Enhance data management and governance with clear retention policies.
Data archiving is the process of moving data that is no longer actively used to an offline or less expensive storage while keeping it accessible for audits or reporting.
- Archiving targets older data, e.g., historical transactional data from InfoCubes or DSOs.
- Archived data can be retrieved via special reports or restored if needed.
- In BW, data archiving typically involves exporting data to external systems or files and deleting it from the active BW database.
Housekeeping refers to routine maintenance tasks to clean up temporary, redundant, or obsolete data and optimize system health.
- Examples include deleting old PSA data, request logs, and transport buffers.
- Housekeeping tasks help free memory and database space.
- Automated housekeeping runs via process chains or background jobs.
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Define Clear Archiving Policies
- Classify data by importance and retention requirements.
- Determine archiving frequency based on data growth and access needs.
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Use SAP Archiving Tools and Objects
- Leverage SAP standard archiving objects tailored for BW (e.g., for InfoCubes or DataStore Objects).
- Use transaction SARA to manage archiving sessions.
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Plan Data Retrieval Scenarios
- Ensure archived data can be accessed or restored without impacting current operations.
- Implement data retrieval reports or integrate with SAP Information Lifecycle Management (ILM).
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Test Archiving Thoroughly
- Run archiving in a test environment to validate the impact.
- Verify data integrity post-archiving.
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Regular Cleanup of PSA and Staging Areas
- PSA (Persistent Staging Area) stores raw data temporarily; regularly delete processed data.
- Clean old requests and temporary tables to reclaim space.
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Automate Housekeeping
- Schedule housekeeping tasks via process chains to run during off-peak hours.
- Use transaction RSA1 or RSPC for monitoring.
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Monitor and Analyze System Logs
- Clean up old application logs, error logs, and transport buffers.
- Use SAP tools like ST03N and DB02 for system health checks.
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Optimize Database and Indexes
- Run database-specific housekeeping jobs like index rebuilding and statistics updates.
- Archive or purge unused data objects to improve query performance.
| Tool / Transaction |
Purpose |
| SARA |
Manage archiving sessions and objects |
| RSA1 |
BW Data Warehouse Workbench for monitoring data flows and housekeeping |
| RSPC |
Process Chain monitoring and automation |
| ST03N |
Workload analysis to detect heavy data loads |
| DB02 |
Database performance and space management |
| Transaction SM36 / SM37 |
Schedule and monitor background jobs for housekeeping |
Data archiving and housekeeping are indispensable for maintaining a high-performing, cost-effective, and compliant SAP BW environment. Establishing clear policies, using SAP’s archiving tools, automating housekeeping tasks, and regularly monitoring system health help ensure your BW system remains agile and efficient, even as data volumes continue to grow.