Best practice for keeping ATF tests after a clone

wpatrickhames · ‎02-19-2020

What is the best practice for keeping ATF tests after you clone down from production to sub-production instances?

I believe that I read somewhere that you do promote your tests up to production, although you don't enable them to run (because, production - duh). That way they clone down. Can I get verification this is the best practice way to do so?

Thanks,

Gerald Onyia · ‎02-19-2020

Yes. This is best practice. This is exactly how it's done at my company.

It can be promoted all the way to PRODUCTION, but not enabled in PRODUCTION. This way, you never lose your ATF Tests in the lower environments after clone downs. The clone downs will include your existing ATF Tests. It also allows you to perform automated regression after each clone down for quality check.

This is especially useful, for companies like mine, who have almost 600 ATF Tests.

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Gerald Onyia · ‎05-15-2024

This might be cumbersome for some, but it isn't for me. What I do is I go to the 'sys_attachment.list' table, find my attachments, export them to XML, and save it somewhere safe. After each clone down, all I've got to do is go back to the 'sys_attachment.list', and import XML. Only takes a few seconds and done I've got my attachments back in.

To get your correct attachments, once you go to the table, filter by the name of the attachment. Depending on how many times you used the attachment in multiple ATF Tests, it will create multiple sys id records. Filter to get ONLY those records. Then export them all into one XML file.

Hope this helps! 🙂

AndyvanStei · ‎05-15-2024

Yes, that is what I ended up doing. Also, don't forget sys_attachment_doc.list.

But there should be a way of doing it automated (preferably without API calls to PROD) cause I also have other attachments that I want to preserve. They are not that many or big, but it would make sense to be able to keep certain attachments while cloning. For now we will have to add this manual action.

simonpullen · ‎07-17-2025

So for preserving attachments, the way the clone should work is that if you preserve a record and it has attachments linked to it, then the clone engine will preserve that record and linked attachments.

So for those attachments, if you preserve the record that it is linked to the attachments, the clone engine should preserve for you.

Gerald Onyia · ‎05-15-2024

Replying to you also since I missed your comment from a year ago...

This might be cumbersome for some, but it isn't for me. What I do is I go to the 'sys_attachment.list' table, find my attachments, export them to XML, and save it somewhere safe. After each clone down, all I've got to do is go back to the 'sys_attachment.list', and import XML. Only takes a few seconds and done I've got my attachments back in.

To get your correct attachments, once you go to the table, filter by the name of the attachment. Depending on how many times you used the attachment in multiple ATF Tests, it will create multiple sys id records. Filter to get ONLY those records. Then export them all into one XML file.

Hope this helps!

Jayaramireddy V · ‎08-01-2022

Hi Onyia,
Good morning.

Can you describe the steps to cloning of ATF tests from one environment to another environment.

Waiting for your response.

Thanks,
Jayaramireddy V