Replication Server keeps track of other components in a replication system using connections that identify primary and replicate databases and routes that identify other Replication Servers.
Since Replication Server was originally designed for Adaptive Server Enterprise database replication, the definition of a connection in Replication Server follows the Sybase standard of a server name followed by a database name. For example, a Replication Server connection to an Adaptive Server named ASE1 and database PUBS would be ASE1.PUBS.
Replication Server cannot connect directly to a non-Sybase data server. In the case of a primary database, Replication Server allows a connection from a Replication Agent on behalf of the non-Sybase primary database. In the case of a replicate database, Replication Server connects to a DirectConnect database gateway, which in turn connects to the non-Sybase replicate data server. Since Replication Agents and DirectConnect gateways are not data servers themselves, the Replication Server connection properties for those components may have different meanings than they would for a database server connection.
If Replication Server uses CIS to connect to a replicate
data server, the server name and database name are the Adaptive
Server name and the Adaptive Server database name that represent
the CIS connection.
A single Replication Server connection can support data flow in either one or two directions. Data flows in through a Replication Server connection by way of the Replication Agent User thread. Data flows out through a Replication Server connection by way of the Data Server Interface (DSI) thread. Each Replication Server connection can support either outbound data flow only (through the DSI thread), or both inbound and outbound data flow (through the Replication Agent User and DSI threads).
