Copying, Updating, and Replicating Data

Using several Lawson utilities (dbcopy, dbupdate, and cmpdict), you can effectively copy, upgrade, or replicate the data in one data area (the SourceDataArea) to another (the DestinationDataArea).

The following examples illustrate the potential use of these utilities:

• Compare dictionaries

  Compare the source data structures with those in the destination using cmpdict. Load the output into a spreadsheet to distribute and analyze before taking action on the data.

• Deploy from a test environment to production

  If you use live input data (for example, Employee Self-Service applications) to test a new feature or release of Lawson software, use the dbcopy utility to update the production data area with data from the test data area.

• Upgrade data

  Some data tables are updated on a regular basis to other systems. The dbupdate utility reads an update log to update tables in the destination data area with only data that has changed. Rather than drop the destination tables and copy the entire set of history tables from source to destination, dbupdate is a relatively fast alternative.

The following illustration shows how you might use these utilities together to accomplish these goals.