Replication Server supports non-ASE 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 provides Sybase Enterprise Connect™ Data Access (ECDA) to connect Replication Server with non-ASE data servers. If a data server does not support Sybase Open Client™ and Open Server™, you can create an Open Server gateway to allow Replication Server to access the data server.
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.
If you use non-Adaptive Server data servers, you must provide a replication agent for them. Replication Agents for Microsoft SQL Server, IBM DB2 UDB, and Oracle databases are available from Sybase. For details, see the Replication Server Design Guide and Sybase documentation for Replication Agent.
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. Replication Server 15.2 and later provides default error classes for Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, and IBM DB2 UDB databases. See Chapter 6, “Handling Errors and Exceptions” in the Replication Server Administration Guide Volume 2.
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 and provides connection profiles that install function-string classes for Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, and IBM DB2 UDB 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.
