SQL Anywhere database replication - What has been your experience with SQLRemote?

Author

What has been your experience with SQLRemote?

Jack T.

2005-08-30, 1:23 pm

How well does SQLRemote work for you?

What issues do you have?

What was the potential for conflict in your environment?

Thanks,
Jack T.

Rob Waywell

2005-08-30, 8:24 pm

If you could provide some design parameters, then we would be able to
provide more detailed feedback.

Personally I have worked with Customer's using SQL Remote with up to 10,000
remotes users. I have also worked with a number of Customer's who have
released multiple versions of their applications using SQL Remote over the
last 8 years.

--
-----------------------------------------------
Robert Waywell
Sybase Adaptive Server Anywhere Developer - Version 8
Sybase Certified Professional

Sybase's iAnywhere Solutions

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"Jack T." <Jack. Toering_NO_SPAM_HERE
_@LeadingEdgeITA.com> wrote in message
news:4314a3e7$1@foru
ms-1-dub...
> How well does SQLRemote work for you?
>
> What issues do you have?
>
> What was the potential for conflict in your environment?
>
> Thanks,
> Jack T.
>
>

Jack T.

2005-08-30, 8:24 pm

Rob, first of all thank you for your very valuable time and insights.

>If you could provide some design parameters, then we would be able to
>provide more detailed feedback.<

The goal is to keep all of the schema's the same. Last-guy-in-wins column
level replication is what I intend to implement. I DO expect schema
changes, and from that standpoint I would think that SQLRemote would be a
good way to go since they would be replicated as well. The database will
not be large.

>Personally I have worked with Customer's using SQL Remote with up to 10,000
>remotes users. I have also worked with a number of Customer's who have
>released multiple versions of their applications using SQL Remote over the
>last 8 years.<

That's good news. I will have about 6 remote users and not a large
database. With 10,000 remote users, you couldn't afford a high maintenance
replication system, and you must have devised an efficient rollout method
for database and program changes. I would be very interested in hearing
from the voice of experience on how you manage these two areas.

Thank you,
Jack T.

--
-----------------------------------------------
Robert Waywell
Sybase Adaptive Server Anywhere Developer - Version 8
Sybase Certified Professional

Sybase's iAnywhere Solutions

Please respond ONLY to newsgroup

EBF's and Patches: http://downloads.sybase.com
choose SQL Anywhere Studio >> change 'time frame' to all

To Submit Bug Reports:
http://case-express.sybase.com/cx/c...sc?CASETYPE=Bug

SQL Anywhere Studio Supported Platforms and Support Status
http://my.sybase.com/detail?id=1002288

Whitepapers, TechDocs, and bug fixes are all available through the iAnywhere
Developer Community at www.ianywhere.com/developer
"Jack T." <Jack. Toering_NO_SPAM_HERE
_@LeadingEdgeITA.com> wrote in message
news:4314a3e7$1@foru
ms-1-dub...
> How well does SQLRemote work for you?
>
> What issues do you have?
>
> What was the potential for conflict in your environment?
>
> Thanks,
> Jack T.
>
>

Breck Carter [TeamSybase]

2005-08-30, 8:24 pm

On 30 Aug 2005 12:15:23 -0700, "Jack T."
<Jack. Toering_NO_SPAM_HERE
_@LeadingEdgeITA.com> wrote:

>I DO expect schema
>changes, and from that standpoint I would think that SQLRemote would be a
>good way to go since they would be replicated as well.

Not automatically. SQL Remote may be driven by the transaction log,
but dbremote.exe applying replication messages isn't exactly like
dbsrv9.exe applying a transaction log. The former does inserts,
updates and deletes, the latter does everything. You can *force*
dbremote to do other things via PASSTHROUGH but danger lurks; see this
section in the Help for more information:

SQL Remote User's Guide
Administering SQL Remote for Adaptive Server Anywhere
Using passthrough mode
Uses and limitations of passthrough mode

Breck

--
SQL Anywhere Studio 9 Developer's Guide
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Jack T.

2005-08-30, 8:24 pm

Breck, thanks for chiming in. This whole experience proves once again that
working in a vacuum without leveraging other people's experience would be
very unproductive indeed.

>
> Not automatically....You can *force* dbremote to do other things via
> PASSTHROUGH but danger lurks; see this section in the Help for more
> information:<

I will definitely do that.

Thanks again,
Jack T.

Rob Waywell

2005-08-31, 9:23 am

To add to Breck's comments, (and surprised he didn't mention this already),
MobiLink provides for multiple synchronization script versions. This can be
useful when rolling out schema changes that impact the synchronization.

As for managing remote systems, this still depends on lot on your
preferences and environment. For example since you only have 6 remotes, it
could be feasible to use a remote control tool such as Windows Remote
Desktop to manually administer upgrades. For larger environments tools such
as Afaria are extremely valuable.

http://www.ianywhere.com/products/afaria.html

The important thing is to recognize that sooner or later every application
requires changes/fixes/upgrades and to figure out before you deploy how you
are going to handle those.

--
-----------------------------------------------
Robert Waywell
Sybase Adaptive Server Anywhere Developer - Version 8
Sybase Certified Professional

Sybase's iAnywhere Solutions

Please respond ONLY to newsgroup

EBF's and Patches: http://downloads.sybase.com
choose SQL Anywhere Studio >> change 'time frame' to all

To Submit Bug Reports:
http://case-express.sybase.com/cx/c...sc?CASETYPE=Bug

SQL Anywhere Studio Supported Platforms and Support Status
http://my.sybase.com/detail?id=1002288

Whitepapers, TechDocs, and bug fixes are all available through the iAnywhere
Developer Community at www.ianywhere.com/developer
"Jack T." <Jack. Toering_NO_SPAM_HERE
_@LeadingEdgeITA.com> wrote in message
news:4314cdbe$1@foru
ms-2-dub...
> Breck, thanks for chiming in. This whole experience proves once again
> that working in a vacuum without leveraging other people's experience
> would be very unproductive indeed.
>
>
> I will definitely do that.
>
> Thanks again,
> Jack T.
>
>

Andre Schild

2005-09-02, 11:23 am

Jack T. schrieb:
> How well does SQLRemote work for you?
>

Very very well.

> What issues do you have?
>

Message security can be a problem.

> What was the potential for conflict in your environment?
>

The initial checkout of a remote database can be very timeconsuming
and needs some high isolationlevel. (Unless you go with the snapshot thing)

André

Jack T.

2005-09-02, 8:23 pm

Andre,
Thank you very much for sharing your experience with me. Your
experience can save me and others a lot of time.

> Very very well.<
Excellent!

>Message security can be a problem.<
I would guess you mean that it gets in the way sometime

>The initial checkout of a remote database can be very timeconsuming and
>needs some high isolationlevel. (Unless you go with the snapshot thing)<

Got it. I'm thinking I won't have that problem because my DB size will be
small.

Thanks you very much,
Jack T.

"Andre Schild" <a.schild@aarboard.ch> wrote in message
news:43187112$1@foru
ms-1-dub...
> Jack T. schrieb:
>
> Very very well.
>
>
> Message security can be a problem.
>
>
> The initial checkout of a remote database can be very timeconsuming
> and needs some high isolationlevel. (Unless you go with the snapshot
> thing)
>
>
> André

Andre Schild

2005-09-05, 3:23 am

Jack T. schrieb:
> Andre,
> Thank you very much for sharing your experience with me. Your
> experience can save me and others a lot of time.
>
> I would guess you mean that it gets in the way sometime

No, it does not get in the way.
But since the messages sent between the databases are only
compressed but not encrypted this could be a problem in
terms of information disclosure.

So if there is a chance that the messages can be intercepted,
you will have to be aware of that.

André

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