Hallo Andy,
Regarding your questions:
This util-file in the dbs directory does this only need to be present during the refresh??
Does it then have to be removed for the normal backups to take place??
The utl-file is defined in the sap-file (eg. initQAS.sap) using the following entry:
util_par_file = /oracle/QAS/112_64/dbs/initQAS.utl
However, you don't have to use a util when running a backup. We use it for backups as well but this is not a requirement. Hence you might not find the utl-file on your servers.
You will have to use it for the restore! Otherwise your SAP server will not know which backup to restore from (because your production server has a different hostname).
Hence the really important bits in initQAS.utl are:
CvClientName
<hostname target> #Your QAS server hostname
srcCrossClient
<hostname source> #Your PRD server hostname
It definitely can be done from one host to another using a different SID ???
Yes, we restore production (SID: PRD) to all sort of other instances (SIDs: QAS, TRG, etc.).
Does this .utl file reside in the dbs directory on the QA server or the dbs directory on the PROD server??
For the restore you have to have it in the dbs-directory of the QAS server and you have to have the utl_par_file-reference in your init<SID>.sap file.
Regards,
Thomas.