Replication

Clustering over a slow link is not a good Idea.

I often refer to setups like this as a cluster *explative!

So that's what I'm asking to do?  Cluster? 

I've seen a Veritas package for Storage Replicator and there is some appliance (for $24,000) that is supposed to replicate back to a central server for a branch office.  The $24,000 is not at all acceptable. 

Would the Veritas package do what I am looking for?

Thanks.

The biggest myth about replication is that it somehow prevents loss of data. The more likely scenario is that when data is corrupted on the primary the corruption gets replicated to the secondary. The likelyhood of this happening goes UP when you have a slow link to a branch office.

Windows 2000 server has clustering.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/technologies/clustering/default.asp

Microsoft says it works.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/techinfo/overview/clustergeo.mspx

I disagree.

Either way its not going to be a $100 solution.

 

I do appreciate the thoughts.  I guess I would be willing to spend $1-2,000 but not $24,000.  No, I figured it wasn't a $100 solution.

The purpose of the replication was to provide the same data at the branch office as at the home office with little daily effort.

I gather this just isn't possible, huh?

 

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@scosby wrote:

I do appreciate the thoughts.  I guess I would be willing to spend $1-2,000 but not $24,000.  No, I figured it wasn't a $100 solution.

The purpose of the replication was to provide the same data at the branch office as at the home office with little daily effort.

I gather this just isn't possible, huh?

 

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Actually it is quite possible.
It works most of the time. (With Caveots)
But it should not be confused with doing local backups and or verification of the data on a daily basis. Most get lulled into a false sense of security thinking that it works all the time everytime without error.

Sending an email with the "data" is just as efficient and can be automated. However I suspect that the SIZE and Type of data is why it would be an issue. AKA a huge database or Financial information.

Again, thank you for the thoughts.

This is not to do backups.  This is simply to feed data that has been changed at the home office out to the branch and, when the branch changes something (minimal), it gets back.

The data includes databases but the majority is Word and Excel files.  There is about 45GB of data.  Daily backups show about 1-3GB changes during the day.

 

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@scosby wrote:

Again, thank you for the thoughts.

This is not to do backups.  This is simply to feed data that has been changed at the home office out to the branch and, when the branch changes something (minimal), it gets back.

The data includes databases but the majority is Word and Excel files.  There is about 45GB of data.  Daily backups show about 1-3GB changes during the day.

 

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I believe when I tested this that the "changes" means the Database must be FULLY REPLICATED aka
each change will require 45GB of data transfer.

Even with a Full T3 Line that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars per year it will be SLOWW transferring that much data.

Since you scoff at $25,000 dollars for a solution this leads me to believe you have T1 or SLOWER connection.

Its pretty easy to do the math that Replication of files THAT LARGE is not Tenable. Even Copying onto a FIREWIRE Hard drive and then shipping somewhere would take a LONNNG TIME.

This is why I say it doesnt really work. We have a cluster explative for EMAIL that supposedly replicates 150 email users that have some users with 4 gig mail databases. However over a DUAL T1 line the Entire mail database cannot be replicated in 1 Day. 4 days but not 1 day. So we usually Start the Replication late on friday and hope to bejevus that its done by monday mornig at 9:00am.

Man, I'm sorry - I'm not saying this right.

The total for everything on the server is 45GB.  The one database is only 65MB (it's a Paradox database if that matters).  The vast majority are Word and Excel files that are never touched.  That's where the 1-3GB of daily changes comes in: the 65MB database is in there but the rest are just single discrete files.

Yes, we have a full T-1 into the office and a T-1 at the branch.

 

Each change requires a full copy of the file to be moved over the slow 1.5 meg link. With a 65 meg database changed 100 times would be 6500 megs of changes.