What is a SAP System Copy? Homogeneous System Copy and Heterogeneous System Copy or Database Copy

What is a SAP System Copy

Duplication of an SAP system. Certain SAP parameters might change in a copy. When you perform a system copy, SAPinst installs all the instances again, but it uses a copy of the source system database to set up the database.

Source System and Target System

The SAP system containing the original database is called the source system and the system to which the database copy is to be imported is called the target system. Their SAP system names are abbreviated to SOURCE_SAPSID and TARGET_SAPSID . 

The terms source database and target database are also used in this description.

Homogeneous System Copy
During the system copy you use the same operating system and database platform as the original system.

Heterogeneous System Copy
During the system copy, you change either the operating system or the database system, or both. Heterogeneous system copy is a synonym for migration.

Database Copy
Database-dependent part of the system copy.