How to preserve ATF Test Suites before clone refresh?

[NarasimhaRC]

Hi Community,

Our test instance is scheduled for a clone refresh and I want to make
sure I don't lose our ATF (Automated Test Framework) work before it
gets overwritten.

We currently have around 50 test suites with their associated test
cases and test steps all built out on the test instance.

My plan is to:
1. Create a local update set on the test instance
2. Use a background script to push all records from sys_atf_suite,
sys_atf_test, sys_atf_step, and sys_atf_suite_test into the update set
3. Complete the update set and export it as XML
4. After the clone, import the XML into the refreshed instance and commit

My questions:
- Is this the recommended approach for backing up ATF content before a clone?
- Are there any additional ATF-related tables I should include in the
script (e.g. step configurations, parameters, or custom actions)?
- Does the update set capture everything needed to fully restore the
test suites, or are there dependencies I might miss?
- Any gotchas or lessons learned from doing this before?

Any advice from people who have done this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[AndersBGS]

Hi @NarasimhaRC ,

why not exclude tables from the clone itself - by doing that you ensure that the tables are not overwritten from prod.

[NarasimhaRC]

Hi @AndersBGS ,

Thanks for your response — that definitely helps 👍

Excluding the ATF tables from the clone is a great approach to prevent data loss. However, in scenarios where we still want to take a backup (for example, as a safety measure or for migration across instances), would my approach using update sets and XML export be sufficient?

Also, are there any additional tables or dependencies we should consider while taking a backup of ATF artifacts?

Appreciate your guidance!

Best regards,
NarasimhaRC

[lauri457]

Commit suites to prod, just confirm sysprop sn_atf.runner.enabled is false