I've searched the forums and found bits and pieces, but not a comprehensive guide on this topic. It is a common practice to clone a production database and utilize the clone for testing or development purposes. I'm looking for a comprehensive set of steps related to APEX for this scenario. Below is a sample list of steps (without much guidance). I'm wondering if anyone has already developed such a guide or if we can get Oracle to do so.
- Use RMAN or your favorite technology to backup and restore the production database, but DO NOT START
- Change the database SID and name if not done above
- Set JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSES to 0. This is a key step to make sure that when you start the database things don't start "happening"
- Start the database
- Assuming you are running a runtime only environment in Production, run apxdvins.sql to upgrade the runtime into a full development environment.
- Log into the INTERNAL workspace and modify instance settings: Instance URL, Image URL, SMTP server settings (if you wish to use a different SMTP server), Print Server settings, any other settings you want
- Navigate to the Manage Instance > Mail Queue and delete anything in the queue. There clone may have happened while things were in the queue.
- Manage Instance > Interactive Report Descriptions: Delete all of the Interactive Report subscriptions. This is also a key step to ensure that you don't have emails going out to production users from your development or test environment.
- Manage Instance > Session State: Purge all session state. There could be sensitive production data that you don't want left around in session state.
- Modify any settings specific to your own applications, e.g. web service URLs, lookup values, etc.
- Reset JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSES to appropriate value.
It would also be great to have a script that does the above things.
Are there other things that should be done? Is there a script to accomplish most of the above (excluding #10, of course)?