Copying a Replication Agent configuration

When you create a new Replication Agent instance, you can copy the configuration of an existing instance by invoking ra_admin with the -c option and -f option.

The complete syntax is:

ra_admin -c new_inst -p port_num -f old_inst

where:

• new_inst is the name of the new Replication Agent instance you are creating.

• port_num is the client socket port number for the administration port of the new Replication Agent instance. For Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server, be sure that a second port, port_num+1, is available for the RASD.

• old_inst is the name of an existing Replication Agent instance whose configuration you want to duplicate for the new Replication Agent instance.

1. Open an operating system command window on the Replication Agent host machine.

2. At the operating system prompt, navigate to the Replication Agent bin directory.

   • On Windows platforms:

     cd %SYBASE%\RAX-15_1\bin
     

     Here, %SYBASE% is the path to the Replication Agent installation directory.

   • On UNIX platforms:

     cd $SYBASE/RAX-15_1/bin
     

     Here, $SYBASE is the path to the Replication Agent installation directory.

3. In the Replication Agent bin directory, invoke the ra_admin utility to create a new Replication Agent instance whose configuration is based on the configuration of an existing instance:

   ra_admin -c new_inst -p port_num -f old_inst
   

   where:

   • new_inst is the name of the new Replication Agent instance.

   • port_num is the client socket port number for the administration port of the new instance.

   • old_inst is the name of an existing Replication Agent instance whose configuration you want to copy for the new instance.

   After you invoke ra_admin, the operating system prompt returns when the new Replication Agent instance is created.

4. Verify that the Replication Agent instance was created properly using one of the following methods:

   • Invoke ra_admin with the -v option, and specify the name of the new Replication Agent instance:

     ra_admin -v new_inst
     

     Here, new_inst is the name of the new Replication Agent instance.

     When you verify a Replication Agent instance with the -v option, the utility verifies the instance by checking for an instance directory with the specified instance name under the Replication Agent base directory, and then checking all of the subdirectories under the Replication Agent instance directory.

   • Invoke ra_admin with the -l (lowercase L) option:

     ra_admin -l
     

     The -l option lists all verifiable Replication Agent instances, which should include the new one you just created.

   • As an alternative to using the ra_admin utility, you can use operating system commands to verify that the Replication Agent instance directories were created correctly.

The values of the following configuration parameters are not copied from an existing configuration:

• admin_port

• log_directory

• pds_database_name

• pds_datasource_name

• pds_host_name

• pds_password

• pds_port_number

• pds_retry_count

• pds_retry_timeout

• pds_server_name

• pds_username

• rs_source_db

• rs_source_ds

• The following parameters are valid only for Replication Agent for Oracle and Replication Agent for Microsoft SQL Server.

  rasd_backup_dir

• rasd_database

• rasd_trace_log_dir

• rasd_tran_log

• asa_port

See the Replication Agent Reference Manual for more information about Replication Agent configuration parameters.

After you create a Replication Agent instance, you can use the ra utility to start the instance so that you administer and configure it.