Replication Server is an Open Server application. In an Open Server application, the preferred method for determining the location (host and port number) of another Open Server is to look up the location in an interfaces file. The interfaces file contains a list of labels, typically server names, of which each have a corresponding host name and port number, where the identified server should be “listening” for login requests.
In the interaction between an ECDA database gateway and a Replication Server, the interfaces file is important. Because the Replication Server does attempt to log in to the server identified by the server name in the Replication Server connection, that server name must exist in the Replication Server interfaces file. In addition, the interfaces file entry must also exist as a service name in the ECDA gateway configuration file entries.
A single ECDA can act as a gateway for one or many different database instances. In the ECDA configuration, each database to be accessed by the ECDA is configured as a unique service name. For ECDA to know which configured service name a client wants to connect to, it uses the server name passed at login time and expects to find a matching service name to use to complete the connection. Not only must the Replication Server server_name in the connection match an interfaces file entry, but that interfaces file entry must match the DirectConnect service name describing the database you want to connect to. For more information on the role of service names and their configurations, refer to the ECDA Access Service User's Guide.
