Name Space for Identifiers

The name space of an identifier is the scope in which Replication Server recognizes it.

A data server name, for example, has a global name space because the name can be used for only one data server in the entire replicated data system. A column name, on the other hand, has table scope; it must be qualified with the name of the table because more than one table can have a column with the same name.

Name space for Replication Server identifiers table shows the Replication Server name space for each identifier.

Name Space for Replication Server Identifiers
Identifier Type	Name Space
Article	Publication
Column	Table
Data server	Global
Database	Data server
Error class	Global
Function-string class	Global
Function	Replication definition. User-defined functions used for asynchronous procedures executed in Adaptive Server databases must have globally unique names, unless a table replication definition is specified in the procedure.
Function replication definition	Global
Parameter	Function
Publication	Primary data server and database
Replication definition	Global
Replication Server	Global
Subscription	Replication definition, replicate data server, and database. Subscriptions must have globally unique names.
User	Replication Server
Variable	Function or table

You should adopt a naming convention for replication definitions and other Replication Server objects with global scope to ensure that names remain unique in the global name space.

Warning! Identifiers with global name space must be managed carefully. Replication Server cannot detect all duplications in the global name space immediately, but errors may occur later.

Identifiers with a name space other than global sometimes must be qualified. For example, the syntax for many Replication Server commands includes an at clause, which identifies the data server and database where a table is located:

at data_server.database

In a correctly configured system, all servers will use the same sort order. If servers do not use the same sort order, different servers will compare identifiers inconsistently, which can lead to abnormal behavior in the network.