Replication Agent overview

A Replication Agent is a Replication Server client that retrieves information from the transaction log for a primary database and formats it for the primary Replication Server. RepAgent is the Replication Agent component for Adaptive Server.

Replication Agent detects changes to primary data and ignores changes to nonprimary data. Using Log Transfer Language (LTL), a subset of Replication Control Language (RCL), Replication Agent sends changes in primary data to the primary Replication Server, which distributes the information to replicate databases.

Sybase provides Replication Agent components for other Sybase and non-Sybase data servers, including Adaptive Server Anywhere, DB2 Universal Database, Informix, Microsoft SQL Server, and Oracle.

Replication Agent for DB2 is the Replication Agent component for the OS/390-based DB2 Universal Database. Sybase Replication Agent is the Replication Agent component for DB2 Universal Database (on UNIX and Windows platforms), Informix, Microsoft SQL Server, and Oracle.

RepAgent is an Adaptive Server thread. Replication Agent for DB2 is a separate process that resides on the OS/390 host. Sybase Replication Agent is a separate application that resides on a UNIX or Windows host.

A Replication Agent performs these tasks:

  1. Logs in to the Replication Server.

  2. Sends a connect source command to identify the session as a log transfer source and to specify the database for which transaction information will be transferred.

  3. Gets the name of the maintenance user for the database from the Replication Server. RepAgent filters out operations executed by the maintenance user, unless the send_maint_xacts_to_replicate or send_warm_standby_xacts configuration parameter is set to true.

  4. Requests the secondary truncation point for the database from the Replication Server. This returns a value, called the origin queue ID, that RepAgent uses to find the location in the transaction log where it is to begin transferring transaction operations. The Replication Server has already received operations up to this location.

  5. Retrieves records from the transaction log, beginning at the record following the secondary truncation point, and formats the information into LTL commands.