Replication Server supports heterogeneous data servers through an open interface. You can use any data-storage system as a data server if it supports a set of required basic data operations and transaction-processing directives.
Sybase Client/Server Interfaces™ (C/SI) include routines and protocols for client/server communication. Replication Server connects with data servers as a client using C/SI. If a data server does not support C/SI, you can create an Open Server™ gateway to allow Replication Server to access the data server or you can use a Sybase DirectConnect™ product, which provides access to other databases. When the data server returns results, the Open Server gateway can return them to the client using C/SI routines.
For detailed information about using Replication Server with databases from different vendors, see the Replication Server Heterogeneous Replication Guide.
Other open architecture components include:
Replication Agents
A Replication Agent detects modifications made to primary data and submits them to Replication Server for distribution to other databases.
The RepAgent thread in Adaptive Server is the Replication Agent for Adaptive Server databases.
Replication Agents for Informix, Microsoft SQL Server, SQL Anywhere™, DB2, Oracle, IMS, and VSAM databases are available from Sybase. If you use non-Adaptive Server data servers, you must provide a Replication agent for them. For details, see the Replication Server Design Guide and Sybase documentation for Replication Agents.
Error classes and error processing actions
Error classes allow you to tailor your system to handle database errors for a type of data server. You can specify error actions in response to errors that a data server returns to Replication Server. Replication Server provides a default error class for Adaptive Server. See Chapter 6, “Handling Errors and Exceptions” in the Replication Server Administration Guide Volume 2 for details.
Functions, function strings, and function-string classes
Replication Server uses function strings to format replicated operations correctly for a type of destination database. To aid replication system administrators, Replication Server groups all the function strings for a particular type of database into a function-string class.
Replication Server provides default function-string classes for Adaptive Server, Informix, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, Adaptive Server Anywhere, IMS, VSAM, and DB2 databases. You can customize function strings to execute commands appropriate for your database and application. See Chapter 2, “Customizing Database Operations” in the Replication Server Administration Guide Volume 2 for details.
