copying TM1 to another server doesn't get the same figures

[LP_user]

Dear all,

I met very strange problem. We have two TM1 systems, one is production, one is development. I want to copy prod to dev so that dev is same as prod. So I just do the following steps:
1. stop TM1 service in dev server.
2. copy the whole TM1 folder from prod server, to dev server
3. start TM1 service in dev server.

When the above steps are done, I checked dev TM1 system. There are some figures in one cube, which are different as in prod TM1 system. It is really strange. I only did copy, nothing else. Is there something wrong in my steps?


It is pretty urgent. Could you please give me some hint?

With best regards,

LP_user

[Alan Kirk]

I met very strange problem. We have two TM1 systems, one is production, one is development. I want to copy prod to dev so that dev is same as prod. So I just do the following steps:
1. stop TM1 service in dev server.
2. copy the whole TM1 folder from prod server, to dev server
3. start TM1 service in dev server.

When the above steps are done, I checked dev TM1 system. There are some figures in one cube, which are different as in prod TM1 system. It is really strange. I only did copy, nothing else. Is there something wrong in my steps?

The fact that I didn't see:

1a. Did a data save on my prod server

anywhere in your post could play a role in that...

[LP_user]

The SaveDataAll process will run in prod nightly. You are right. I didn't run SaveDataAll explicitely when doing copy. But at least, I copied the data from last night. Is it correct?

[Alan Kirk]

The SaveDataAll process will run in prod nightly. You are right. I didn't run SaveDataAll explicitely when doing copy. But at least, I copied the data from last night. Is it correct?

No, it is not correct because it assumes that no one and nothing, no users and no processes, have changed the data on the production server between last night and the time that you took the copy. In fact, the data on the two instances will only be the same while there have been no updates to either environment since the last data save was done.

Fact: If you load the same cube data files into two different environments, you will get the same numbers[1].

Corresponding fact: If you are seeing different numbers AND you are looking at exactly the same view of the data (which you have not always done in the past), then you do not have exactly the same data in both environments because something has changed in one or both.

-------------------
[1] This assumes that you don't have things like unfed, skipchecked rules somewhere in your model.

[LP_user]

I agree that from last night until this morning when I did copying, there might be something being changed. But I saw there is big difference. And I tried 3 times the same copy procedure since last week. There is always same big difference between prod and dev.

I really checked very details in the cube, the lowest level and the figures. But it is different. Very strange.

[tomok]

And I tried 3 times the same copy procedure since last week. There is always same big difference between prod and dev.

Then you've left off a key detail. I've done this thing literally thousands of times and never had a difference. Surefire steps:

1) Run SaveDataAll on Dev (this is to get rid of any open log items)
1) Delete EVERYTHING from the data folder on Dev (and I mean literally everything, folders and files)
2) Run SaveDataAll on Prod
3) Copy ENTIRE contents of data folder on Prod to Dev (you may need to update TM1S.CFG file, depending on your setup)
4) Restart Dev service

This is GUARANTEED to work.

[LP_user]

Hi tomok,

Thanks for your reply. I used your steps to do the copy. It works! Now the Dev and Prod have the same figures. The difference between your method and mine is that "Run SaveDataAll on Dev". I don't understand your comment "this is to get rid of any open log items". What does it mean? What does the open log items do after I copied data from Prod, and restart the TM1 service?

Best regards,

LP_user

And I tried 3 times the same copy procedure since last week. There is always same big difference between prod and dev.

Then you've left off a key detail. I've done this thing literally thousands of times and never had a difference. Surefire steps:

1) Run SaveDataAll on Dev (this is to get rid of any open log items)
1) Delete EVERYTHING from the data folder on Dev (and I mean literally everything, folders and files)
2) Run SaveDataAll on Prod
3) Copy ENTIRE contents of data folder on Prod to Dev (you may need to update TM1S.CFG file, depending on your setup)
4) Restart Dev service

This is GUARANTEED to work.

[cgaunt]

When TM1 starts, the values in the cubes are loaded form the underlying .cub file. When data is changed in TM1, the transaction is stored in a separate log file, TM1s.log. The data that you see at any time is therefore a combination of the two. When you save the tm1 server instance, the data is all written to the .cub file, the tm1s.log file is archived with a date and time stamp and a new tm1s.log file is created. In the event that TM1 has crashed, it will recover from the last saved .cub file and the incremental impact of the contents of the active tm1s.log file.

What Tomok quite rightly suggested is that you run SaveDataAll on both environments. For Dev, this ensures that you have no content in your Dev tm1s.log file for prod this will ensure that all the data has been transferred to the .cub files so that you transfer all data.