Archiving Object

Definition

The archiving object is a central component of SAP Data Archiving. The archiving object specifies precisely which data is archived and how. It describes which database objects must be handled together as a single business object. and interprets the data irrespective of the technical specifications at the time of archiving (such as release and hardware).

Use

An archiving object has a name of up to ten characters in length. You need this name to carry out the archiving programs in archive administration (transaction SARA). However, the function for calling data archiving is often integrated in the application menu, where the archiving object name is set as the default so that you do not need to enter it yourself.

Structure

The following programs must (or can) be assigned to an archiving object. (Archiving objects are defined using transaction AOBJ) The SAP System contains programs (some of which are optional) for the following actions:

· Preprocessing (optional)

Some archiving objects require a preprocessing program that prepares the data for archiving. This preprocessing program marks data to be archived, but it does not delete any data from the database.

Preprocessing programs must always be scheduled manually and are run from Archive Administration.

· Write

This program creates archive files and writes data to them. At this point, however, no data is being deleted from the database.

You can specify in archiving object-specific Customizing whether the next phase (delete) is to take place automatically after the archive files have been created. Delete jobs can also be event-triggered. To do this, you set up the trigger event in archiving object-specific Customizing.

· Delete

This function can entail several activities. The activities are always dependent on the existing archive files.

Normally, the data is deleted from the data base. However, in some case, the archived data in the database may only have a delete indicator.

In archiving object-specific Customizing, you can specify that archive files, after successful processing, are to be transferred to an external storage system using the SAP Content Management Infrastructure (which contains the ArchiveLink/CSM interface).

· Postprocessing (optional)

This function is usually carried out after deletion has taken place. It is not available for all archiving objects. If the data has not yet been deleted from the database by the delete program, it is deleted by the postprocessing program. Depending on the archiving object used, postprocessing can also fulfill other tasks. For more information, refer to the documentation on the specific archiving object.

· Reload archive (optional)

You can reload archived data from the archive files into the database using this function. It is not available for all archiving objects. To access this function, choose Goto ® Reload.

· Index (optional)

This function builds (or deletes) an index that allows individual access. It is not included in every archiving object.