Replication Manager

The Replication Management Tab

When you open Replication Manager, the Replication Management tab graphically depicts your entire site, with all registered server nodes. As all connections are TCP/IP, these can be via your local network, WAN, or even cloud-based sites with a valid secured connection.

• The central Replication Manager is shown as a unique green square
• Registered server nodes are shown as blue squares
• Replication plans are displayed as lines connecting server nodes.
• All available plans are listed under Existing Plans (see Menus below).

In This Chapter Main Window Tabs Servers Arranging Your Canvas Managing Layouts Using the Menus

Main Window Tabs

You will notice two tabs in the main window:

• Replication Management – (default) This tab displays the servers and replication plans. This is where you will create replication plans and manage your replication.
• Replication Logs – This tab displays the logs of replication activity. After you have defined your replication plans and deployed them, you can switch to this tab to monitor operation. See Replication Logs Tab.

 

Servers

The central part of the Replication Management tab is a canvas that shows each FairCom Server in the site. Each server is shown as a blue square containing a server icon and the name of the server. The figure below shows four servers:

• MEMPHIS – This is the server running the Replication Management Studio, which can be any standard FairCom Server.
• FAIRCOM1 – In the diagram below, red arrows show that ReplPlan1 replicates data from this FairCom Server to FAIRCOM3.
• FAIRCOM2 – In the diagram below, red arrows show that ReplPlan3 replicates data from this FairCom Server to FAIRCOM3. Notice that this server is dimmed to indicate it is currently offline.
• FAIRCOM3 – In the diagram below, red arrows show that this FairCom Server is the destination (target) for data replicated from FAIRCOM1 and FAIRCOM2. This server has a dashed outline and a large chain link to indicate that the mouse is hovering over its border, which will be important when you use drag-and-drop to create a replication plan.

Refresh scans the network and refreshes the display of servers and plans. Under normal operation that will not be necessary because the Replication Manager continually checks the site and refreshes its view. Use this option to force a refresh if you think a server may have stopped responding.

The section titled Arranging Your Canvas explains more about setting up the canvas exactly the way that is best for you.

You can save multiple arrangements and recall them, as explained in Managing Layouts.

 

Arranging Your Canvas

You can drag the servers around on the canvas to create a layout that is meaningful to you. For example, you may want to arrange the servers "geographically," with the west-coast servers on the left and the east-coast on the right. Alternatively, you may want to place all production servers in one row, all development servers in another, and all reposting servers in another row.

The Replication Manager remembers the current layout when you load it again on the same machine.

To drag a server, place the mouse pointer over the center of it and it will change from a hand to a 4-pointed arrow. You can drag the server to any position on the canvas.

Multiple Selection

You can Control+Click (hold the Control key and click) on a server to see a red dotted line around it, indicating that it is selected. If you Control+Click on several servers, you will see dotted lines around each one indicating that they are all selected. This allows you to move the selected servers as a group.

Click on a selected server again to remove the dotted line and de-select it.

Resizing a Server

You can change the size and shape of any server depicted in the display. This can be useful if you want to collapse the server as small as possible to save screen space or enlarge a server to make a long name easy to read. (Hint: You can use the Zoom control if you need to see a large number of servers.)

Hold Shift while clicking on a server to see resizing handles in its corners. You can drag the handles to change the size of the server. To remove the zoom handles, hold Shift while clicking on the server.

Zooming the Display

The Zoom drop-down above the canvas allows you to select a zoom ratio. You can increase and decrease the zoom using the scroll wheel on your mouse or by clicking the magnifying glass icons next to the zoom drop-down.

 

Moving the Canvas

You can drag the entire canvas around to see different parts of it. This is a useful feature if you have too many servers to fit them all on the screen. When the mouse hovers over the white space between the servers, the cursor becomes a hand to indicate that you can drag the canvas around to see different parts of it.

The MiniView, the rectangle in the upper-right corner of the window, provides an overview of the entire site. You can drag the MiniView to see a different portion of the canvas. The servers are depicted as dark gray rectangles; the area of the canvas that is displayed is shown in a medium shade of gray.

• The small line in the upper-right of the MiniView allows you to minimize and expand it.
• The button labeled MiniView allows you to show and hide this tool.

The MiniView provides a view of the entire canvas, which is scaled to fit in the viewer. You can drag the gray canvas inside the MiniView to move the entire canvas in the main window.

 

Managing Layouts

The Replication Manager provides a menu labeled Layout that allows you to manage the location of the servers and groups on the main viewing canvas. To edit a layout, simply click the Layout drop-down menu and select an option:

• Edit Description allows you to rename the currently selected layout.
• New Layout allows you to create a new layout. You will be asked to enter a name for the layout. After entering a name, you may rearrange the servers on the canvas and the Replication Management Studio will remember their positions the next time you reload the Replication Management Studio or select that layout.
• Delete Layout allows you to delete the currently selected layout.

 

Using the Menus

The main menu in the Replication Manager provides several selections for managing your replication environment:

Actions – This drop-down menu lists available actions:

• Manage Archived Plans – Replication Plans can be archived using a selection in the drop-down menu under Existing Plans (once archived, a plan is not displayed under Existing Plans). This selection allows you to view archived plans and restore or delete them using the Archived Plans Management Window.
• Show Unmanaged Servers – This menu option controls the display of servers that are not included in replication. You can right-click on a server to "unmanage" it if you do not want to control it (for example, if it is going to be offline for an indefinite period).
• Agent Tracing – This option turns Agent Tracing off and on (check mark = on). The status of Agent Tracing is indicated in the status bar in the lower-left corner of the window. See Agent Tracing.
• Web Tracing – This option turns Web Tracing off and on (check mark = on). The status of Web Tracing is indicated in the status bar in the lower-left corner of the window. See Web Tracing.
• Reset Dialog Sizes – This option returns all dialog boxes to their original sizes. It is a quick way to clean up the display if you have moved windows.

Options – This selection opens the Options window, which allows you to set properties for the Replication Manager. See the topic titled Options Window.

Help – Displays the help for the Replication Manager.