User's Guide Part III. Using SQL Anywhere Chapter 27. Introduction to SQL Remote ReplicationWhile SQL Remote can provide replication services in many different environments, its features are designed with the following characteristics in mind:
The following examples show some typical SQL Remote setups.
SQL Remote provides two-way replication between a database on an office network and standalone databases on the laptop computers of sales representatives. Such a setup may use a MAPI e-mail system as a message transport.
The office server may be running a SQL Anywhere network server for Windows NT, Novell NetWare, or OS/2, to manage the company database. The Message Agent at the company database runs as a SQL Anywhere client, either on the same computer as the SQL Anywhere server, or on another computer on the network. For MAPI support, the Message Agent should run on a Windows or Windows NT system.
The laptop computers may be running Windows 95 or Windows for Workgroups, and each sales representative has a SQL Anywhere standalone database engine to manage their own data.
While away from the office, a sales representative can make a single phone call from their laptop to carry out the following functions:
The updates may include, for example, new specials on the products the sales representative handles, or new pricing and inventory information. These are read by the Message Agent on the laptop and applied to the sales rep's database automatically, without requiring any additional action on the sales representative's part.
The new orders recorded by the sales representative are also automatically submitted to the office without any extra action on the part of the sales representative.
SQL Remote provides two-way replication between database servers at sales offices or outlets and a central company office, without requiring database administration experience at each sales office beyond the initial setup and that required to maintain the server.
Coupled with SQL Anywhere's modest administration requirements, this makes SQL Anywhere ideal for companies with small sales offices and outlets, where the server may be used by only a few people.
SQL Remote is not designed for up-to-the-minute data availability at each site. Instead, it is appropriate where data can be replicated at periods of an hour or so.
Such a setup may use a MAPI e-mail system to carry the replication, if there is already a company-wide e-mail system. Alternatively, an occasional dialup system and file transfer software can be used to implement a FILE message system.
SQL Remote is easy to configure to allow each office to receive their own set of data. Tables that are of office interest only (staff records, perhaps, if the office is a franchise) may be kept private in the same database as the replicated data.
Layers can be added to SQL Remote hierarchies: for example, each sales office server could act as a consolidated database, supporting remote subscribers who work from that office.