Replicating with all servers in a cluster

An additional benefit of creating a cluster is that it can simplify your replication topology and increase the reliability and performance of replication. This is because you can set up a server outside the cluster to replicate with all the servers inside the cluster. You do this by creating a single Connection document that specifies the server outside the cluster as the source of replication and the cluster name as the destination of replication. Then, every database on the source server that has a replica in the cluster replicates. If the cluster contains more than one replica of a database, the source server replicates with only one of those replicas, and cluster replication propagates the changes to the other replicas in the cluster.

Before you begin

Before replicating with a cluster name for the first time, the source server must access one of the clustered servers directly once. When this occurs, Domino® populates the source server's cluster cache with the names of the servers in the cluster. This makes the source server aware of the servers in the cluster.

About this task

Replication with a cluster is more reliable than replication with an individual server because Domino® replicates with any server in the cluster that contains a replica of the database it is processing. Therefore, if a server in the cluster is unavailable, replication can still proceed if another replica exists in the cluster. Replication with a cluster can also improve performance because Domino® uses workload balancing when choosing a server with which to replicate.

Issuing the Replicate command with a cluster name

Procedure

  1. Use the server console.
  2. Send the following Replicate commands to replicate databases on a local server with databases in the specified cluster.
    Table 1. Replicate commands

    Purpose

    Command

    To replicate all the databases that the local server has in common with servers in a specific cluster

    		 
    replicate cluster_name
    Note: cluster_name is the name of the cluster

    To replicate a specific database only

    		 
    replicate cluster_name filename
    Note: filename is the file name of a database

    To replicate with all the databases in a specific directory

    		 
    replicate cluster_name local_directory
    Note: local_directory is the name of a directory that contains databases

Specifying a cluster in a Connection document

Procedure

  1. Create a Connection document for replication with cluster.
  2. Complete fields on the Basics tab:
    Table 2. Basics tab

    Field

    Description

    Source server

    Type the name of a server. The server cannot be a member of the cluster.

    Destination server

    Type the cluster name.
  3. Complete fields on the Replication/Routing tab:
    Table 3. Replication/Routing tab

    Field

    Description

    Replication task

    Choose Enabled.

    Replication Type

    Select Pull Push, Pull Only, or Push Only. Pull Pull does not work with a cluster name.

    Files/Directory Paths to Replicate

    Leave blank to select all databases; type one or more file names or a directory name to specify databases.

Replicating with a cluster from a Notes client

Before you begin

Replicating with a cluster name is useful when you do not know the location of a database within the cluster.

Note: A client must access a server in the cluster directly once before replicating with a cluster name. Doing so makes the client aware of the cluster by adding the names of the servers in the cluster to the CLUSTER.NCF file on the client.

Procedure

  1. Do one of the following:
    • Open the database you want, and then choose File > Replication > Replicate.
    • Right-click the bookmark to the database you want, and then choose Replication > Replicate.
  2. If a box appears asking whether to Replicate via background replicator or Replicate with options, choose Replicate with options and click OK.
  3. In the with field, type the cluster name.
  4. Make any other changes you want, and click OK.