General steps for implementing a replication system v7

When implementing a replication system, follow these general guidelines.

1. Determine if Replication Server is the right solution for your requirements and you have chosen the best solution for your particular needs. You can use Replication Server to implement single-master or multi-master replication systems. For single-master replication systems, the distinguishing characteristic of Replication Server is its ability to replicate:

   • From an Oracle database to a PostgreSQL or EDB Postgres Advanced Server database

   • From a SQL Server database to a PostgreSQL or EDB Postgres Advanced Server database

   • From an EDB Postgres Advanced Server database to an Oracle database

   • From a PostgreSQL or EDB Postgres Advanced Server database to a SQL Server database

2. Plan the general strategy of how you will use Replication Server. Will the single-master or multi-master model best suit your needs? (See Why use replication? for use case examples of single-master and multi-master replication systems.) Will you be replicating from Oracle to Postgres, from SQL Server to Postgres, from EDB Postgres Advanced Server to Oracle, or from Postgres to SQL Server? Will you be replicating between PostgreSQL and EDB Postgres Advanced Server databases? How often will you need to replicate the data? Will replication be done on an ad hoc basis or does it need to occur regularly according to a schedule?

3. Plan the logistics of your replication system. How many tables do you expect to replicate, and what are their sizes in total number of bytes and number of rows? What percentage of rows do you expect to change on each table between each replication? Are your database servers required to run on dedicated machines?

4. Design your replication system. Determine whether your replication system will be distributed or will run on a single host. Determine the publications and subscriptions you'll need and their tables and views. Make sure your publication tables meet the requirements for a Replication Server publication. See Restrictions on replicated database objects for details.

5. Implement and test your replication system in a test environment. Try out your replication system on a subset of your publication data to ensure the replication process works as expected. Make sure you can use the resulting replicated tables as expected in your application. Establish preliminary metrics on how long the replication process will take in your full production environment.

6. Implement and test your replication system in your production environment.