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Oracle® TimesTen In-Memory Database Replication Guide
11g Release 2 (11.2.2)

E21635-11
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4 Defining Attributes and Options for a Replication Scheme

The following sections describe the return service options, STORE atttributes, and network operations that can be configured for both active standby pairs and classic replication (involving master and subscribers). Any differences for one replication scheme over the other are detailed within each section.

Using a return service

You can configure your replication scheme with a return service to ensure a higher level of confidence that your replicated data is consistent on the databases in your replication scheme.

Note:

This section assumes you understand return services. For an overview on return services, see "Copying updates between databases".

This section describes how to configure and manage the return receipt and return twosafe services. You can specify a return service for table elements and database elements for any standby or subscriber defined in replication scheme with the CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR, ALTER ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR, CREATE REPLICATION, or ALTER REPLICATION statements. The default is the NO RETURN service, which is asynchronous replication and the best performance option.

Note:

You can use the ttRepXactStatus procedure to check on the status of a return receipt or return twosafe transaction. See "Check the status of return service transactions" for details.

The following sections describe the return services that can be used for your replication scheme:

Specifying a different return service for each subscriber in a classic replication scheme

In a classic replication scheme, you can specify a different return service for table elements and database elements for the subscribers listed in each SUBSCRIBER clause in a CREATE REPLICATION or ALTER REPLICATION statement.

Example 4-1 shows separate SUBSCRIBER clauses that can define different return service attributes for SubDatabase1 and SubDatabase2.

Example 4-1 Different return services for each subscriber

CREATE REPLICATION Owner.SchemeName
  ELEMENT ElementNameElementType
    MASTER DatabaseName ON "HostName"
    SUBSCRIBER SubDatabase1 ON "HostName" ReturnServiceAttribute1
    SUBSCRIBER SubDatabase2 ON "HostName" ReturnServiceAttribute2;

Alternatively, you can specify the same return service attribute for all of the subscribers defined in an element. Example 4-2 shows the use of a single SUBSCRIBER clause that defines the same return service attributes for both SubDatabase1 and SubDatabase2.

Example 4-2 Same return service for all subscribers

CREATE REPLICATION Owner.SchemeName
  ELEMENT ElementNameElementType
    MASTER DatabaseName ON "HostName"
    SUBSCRIBER SubDatabase1 ON "HostName",
               SubDatabase2 ON "HostName"
               ReturnServiceAttribute;

RETURN RECEIPT

TimesTen provides an optional return receipt service to loosely couple or synchronize your application with the replication mechanism.

  • In an active standby pair, you can specify the RETURN RECEIPT clause to enable the return receipt service for the standby database. With return receipt enabled, when your application commits a transaction for an element on the active database, the application remains blocked until the standby acknowledges receipt of the transaction update.

  • In a classic replication scheme, you can specify the RETURN RECEIPT clause to enable the return receipt service for the subscriber database. With return receipt enabled, when your application commits a transaction for an element on the master database, the application remains blocked until the subscriber acknowledges receipt of the transaction update. If the master is replicating the element to multiple subscribers, the application remains blocked until all of the subscribers have acknowledged receipt of the transaction update.

Note:

You can also configure the replication agent to disable the return receipt service after a specific number of timeouts. See "Setting the return service timeout period" for details on timeouts.

If the standby or subscriber is unable to acknowledge receipt of the transaction within a configurable timeout period, your application receives a tt_ErrRepReturnFailed (8170) warning on its commit request.

Example 4-3 Defining RETURN RECEIPT for an active standby pair

The following example creates an active standby pair where master1 is the active database, master2 is the standby database. The standby database is enabled with the return receipt service.

Command> CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR 
 > master1, 
 > master2 
 > RETURN RECEIPT;

Example 4-4 Defining RETURN RECEIPT for a classic replication scheme

To confirm that all transactions committed on the tab table in the master database (masterds) are received by the subscriber (subscriberds), the element description (e) might look like the following:

NOTE: For more examples of classic replication schemes that use return receipt services, see Example 9-5 and Example 9-6.

ELEMENT e TABLE tab
    MASTER masterds ON "system1"
    SUBSCRIBER subscriberds ON "system2"
      RETURN RECEIPT

RETURN RECEIPT BY REQUEST

RETURN RECEIPT enables notification of receipt for all transactions. You can use the RETURN RECEIPT BY REQUEST clause to enable an acknowledgement receipt notification only for specific transactions identified by your application.

If you specify RETURN RECEIPT BY REQUEST, you must use the ttRepSyncSet built-in procedure on the active or master database to enable the return receipt service for a transaction. The call to enable the return receipt service must be part of the transaction (autocommit must be off).

If the standby or subscriber database is unable to acknowledge receipt of the transaction update within a configurable timeout period, the application receives a tt_ErrRepReturnFailed (8170) warning on its commit request. See "Setting the return service timeout period" for more information on the return service timeout period.

Example 4-5 RETURN RECEIPT BY REQUEST for an active standby pair

The following example creates an active standby pair where master1 is the active database and master2 is the standby database. The standby database is enabled with the return receipt service.

Command> CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR 
 > master1, 
 > master2 
 > RETURN RECEIPT BY REQUEST;

Example 4-6 RETURN RECEIPT BY REQUEST for a classic replication scheme

To enable confirmation that specific transactions committed on the tab table in the master database (masterds) are received by the subscriber (subscriberds), the element description (e) might look like:

ELEMENT e TABLE tab
    MASTER masterds ON "system1"
    SUBSCRIBER subscriberds ON "system2"
      RETURN RECEIPT BY REQUEST

Example 4-7 Using ttRepSyncSet to request the return services

Before committing a transaction that requires an acknowledgement return receipt, call ttRepSyncSet. The following example sets the request for a return receipt with the first column set to 0x01 with a timeout value of 45 seconds in column two.

Command> autocommit off;
Command> CALL ttRepSyncSet(0x01, 45, 1);

You can use ttRepSyncGet to check if a return service is enabled and obtain the timeout value. The following demonstrates that the values that were previously set with the ttRepSyncSet built-in procedure.

Command> CALL ttRepSyncGet;
< 01, 45, 1 >
1 row found.

For more information, see "ttRepSyncSet" and "ttRepSyncGet" in the Oracle TimesTen In-Memory Database Reference.

RETURN TWOSAFE

TimesTen provides a return twosafe service to fully synchronize your application with the replication mechanism. The return twosafe service ensures that each replicated transaction is committed on the standby database before it is committed on the active database. If replication is unable to verify the transaction has been committed on the standby or subscriber, it returns notification of the error. Upon receiving an error, the application can either take a unique action or fall back on preconfigured actions, depending on the type of failure.

Note:

When replication is configured with RETURN TWOSAFE, you must disable autocommit mode.

To enable the return twosafe service for the subscriber, specify the RETURN TWOSAFE attribute in the CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR, ALTER ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR, CREATE REPLICATION, or ALTER REPLICATION statements.

  • When using an active standby pair, a transaction that contains operations that are replicated with RETURN TWOSAFE cannot have a PassThrough setting greater than 0. If PassThrough is greater than 0, an error is returned and the transaction must be rolled back.

  • When using a classic replication scheme, the return twosafe service is intended to be used in replication schemes where two databases must stay synchronized. One database has an active role, while the other database has a standby role but must be ready to assume an active role at any moment. Use return twosafe with a bidirectional replication scheme with exactly two databases.

    When the application commits a transaction on the master database, the application remains blocked until the subscriber acknowledges it has successfully committed the transaction. Initiating identical updates or deletes on both databases can lead to deadlocks in commits that can be resolved only by stopping the processes.

If the standby or subscriber is unable to acknowledge commit of the transaction update within a configurable timeout period, the application receives a tt_ErrRepReturnFailed (8170) warning on its commit request. See "Setting the return service timeout period" for more information on the return service timeout period.

Example 4-8 RETURN TWOSAFE with an active standby pair

The following example creates an active standby pair where master1 is the active database, master2 is the standby database. The standby database is enabled with the return twosafe service.

Command> CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR 
 > master1, 
 > master2 
 > RETURN TWOSAFE;

Example 4-9 RETURN TWOSAFE with a classic replication scheme

To confirm all transactions committed on the master database (databaseA) are also committed by the subscriber (databaseB), the element description (a) might look like the following:

ELEMENT a DATASTORE
    MASTER databaseA ON "system1"
    SUBSCRIBER databaseB ON "system2"
      RETURN TWOSAFE

The entire CREATE REPLICATION statement that specifies both databaseA and databaseB in a bidirectional configuration with RETURN TWOSAFE might look like the following:

CREATE REPLICATION bidirect
ELEMENT a DATASTORE
    MASTER databaseA ON "system1"
    SUBSCRIBER databaseB ON "system2"
      RETURN TWOSAFE
ELEMENT b DATASTORE
    MASTER databaseB ON "system2"
    SUBSCRIBER databaseA ON "system1"
      RETURN TWOSAFE;

RETURN TWOSAFE BY REQUEST

RETURN TWOSAFE enables notification of commit on the standby database for all transactions. You can use the RETURN TWOSAFE BY REQUEST clause to enable notification of a commit on the standby only for specific transactions identified by your application.

If you specify RETURN TWOSAFE BY REQUEST for a standby or subscriber database, you must use the ttRepSyncSet built-in procedure on the active or master database to enable the return twosafe service for a transaction. The call to enable the return twosafe service must be part of the transaction (autocommit must be off).

The ALTER TABLE statement cannot be used to alter a replicated table that is part of a RETURN TWOSAFE BY REQUEST transaction. If DDLCommitBehavior=0 (the default), the ALTER TABLE operation succeeds because a commit is performed before the ALTER TABLE operation, resulting in the ALTER TABLE operation executing in a new transaction which is not part of the RETURN TWOSAFE BY REQUEST transaction. If DDLCommitBehavior=1, the ALTER TABLE operation results in error 8051.

Note:

See "Setting the return service timeout period" for more information on setting the return service timeout period.

If the standby or subscriber is unable to acknowledge commit of the transaction within the timeout period, the application receives a tt_ErrRepReturnFailed (8170) warning on its commit request. The application can then chose how to handle the timeout. See "Setting the return service timeout period".

When using an active standby pair, a transaction that contains operations that are replicated with RETURN TWOSAFE cannot have a PassThrough setting greater than 0. If PassThrough is greater than 0, an error is returned and the transaction must be rolled back.

Example 4-10 RETURN TWOSAFE BY REQUST for an active standby pair

The following example creates an active standby pair where master1 is the active database, master2 is the standby database. The standby database is enabled with the return twosafe by request service.

Command> CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR 
 > master1, 
 > master2 
 > RETURN TWOSAFE BY REQUEST;

Before calling commit for a transaction that requires confirmation of commit on the subscriber, call the ttRepSyncSet built-in procedure to request the return service, set the timeout period to 45 seconds, and specify no action (1) in the event of a timeout error:

Command> CALL ttRepSyncSet(0x01, 45, 1);

You can use the ttRepSyncGet built-in procedure to check if a return service is enabled and obtain the timeout value.

Command> CALL ttRepSyncGet();
< 01, 45, 1>
1 row found.

Example 4-11 RETURN TWOSAFE BY REQUEST for a classic replication scheme

To enable confirmation that specific transactions committed on the master database (databaseA) are also committed by the subscriber (databaseB), the element description (a) might look like:

ELEMENT a DATASTORE
    MASTER databaseA ON "system1"
    SUBSCRIBER databaseB ON "system2"
      RETURN TWOSAFE BY REQUEST;

Before calling commit for a transaction that requires confirmation of commit on the subscriber, call the ttRepSyncSet built-in procedure to request the return service, set the timeout period to 45 seconds, and specify no action (1) in the event of a timeout error:

Command> CALL ttRepSyncSet(0x01, 45, 1);

You can use the ttRepSyncGet built-in procedure to check if a return service is enabled and obtain the timeout value.

Command> CALL ttRepSyncGet();
< 01, 45, 1>
1 row found.

NO RETURN

You can use the NO RETURN clause to explicitly disable either the return receipt or return twosafe services, depending on which one you have enabled. NO RETURN is the default condition. This attribute is typically used only when altering a replication scheme to remove a previously defined return service in the ALTER ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR or ALTER REPLICATION statements. See Example 10-13.

Setting STORE attributes

The STORE attributes clause in the CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR, ALTER ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR, CREATE REPLICATION, and ALTER REPLICATION statements are used to set optional behavior for return services, compression, timeouts, durable commit behavior, and table definition checking. For a classic replication scheme, you can also define conflict reporting at the table level.

Note:

See "CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR" and "CREATE REPLICATION" in the Oracle TimesTen In-Memory Database SQL Reference for the full description and syntax for the STORE attributes.

When using classic replication schemes, the FAILTHRESHOLD and TIMEOUT attributes can be unique to a specific classic replication scheme definition. This means these attribute settings can vary if you have applied different classic replication scheme definitions to your replicated databases. This is not true for any of the other attributes, which must be the same across all classic replication scheme definitions. For example, setting the PORT attribute for one classic replication scheme sets it for all classic replication schemes. For an example classic replication scheme that uses a STORE clause to set the FAILTHRESHOLD attribute, see Example 9-5.

Note:

If you are using ALTER ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR to change any of the STORE attributes, you must follow the steps described in "Making other changes to an active standby pair".

The following sections describe some of the STORE attributes:

Setting the return service timeout period

The following describes how a timeout can occur in a replication scheme configured with one of the return services described in "Using a return service".

  • In an active standby pair replication scheme, a timeout occurs if the standby database is unable to send an acknowledgement back to the active database within the time period specified by RETURN WAIT TIME.

    If the standby database is unable to acknowledge the transaction update from the active database within the timeout period, the application receives an errRepReturnFailed warning on its commit request.

  • In a classic replication scheme, a timeout occurs if any of the subscribers are unable to send an acknowledgement back to the master within the time period specified by RETURN WAIT TIME.

    The replication state could be set to stop by a user or by the master replication agent in the event of a subscriber failure. A subscriber may be unable to acknowledge a transaction that makes use of a return service and may time out with respect to the master.

    If any of the subscribers are unable to acknowledge the transaction update within the timeout period, the application receives an errRepReturnFailed warning on its commit request.

A return service may time out because of a replication failure or because replication is so far behind that the return service transaction times out before it is replicated. However, unless there is a simultaneous replication failure, failure to obtain a return service confirmation from the standby or subscriber does not necessarily mean the transaction has not been or will not be replicated.

The default return service timeout period is 10 seconds. You can specify a different return service timeout period by either:

  • Specifying the RETURN WAIT TIME in the CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR, ALTER ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR, CREATE REPLICATION, or ALTER REPLICATION statements.

    The RETURN WAIT TIME attribute specifies the number of seconds to wait for a return service acknowledgement. A value of 0 means that there is no waiting.

    The following example alters an active database (master1) of an active standby pair to set a return service wait time of 25 seconds:

    Command> ALTER ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR
     > ALTER STORE master1 SET RETURN WAIT TIME 25;
    
  • Specifying a different return service timeout period programmatically by calling the ttRepSyncSet built-in procedure on either the active database (in an active standby pair) or the master database (in a classic replication scheme) with a new timeout value for the returnWait parameter.

    The following example demonstrates how to set the return service wait time to 25 seconds using ttRepSyncSet:

    Command> CALL ttRepSyncSet (0x01, 25, 1);
    

Once the timeout is set, the timeout period applies to all subsequent return service transactions until you either reset the timeout period or terminate the application session. For a classic replication scheme, the timeout setting applies to all return services for all subscribers.

Note:

You can set other STORE attributes to establish policies that automatically disable return service blocking in the event of excessive timeouts and re-enable return service blocking when conditions improve. See "Managing return service timeout errors and replication state changes".

Example 4-12 Setting the timeout period for both databases in bidirectional (classic) replication scheme

To set the timeout period to 30 seconds for both bidirectionally replicated databases, databaseA and databaseB, in the bidirect replication scheme, the CREATE REPLICATION statement might look like the following:

CREATE REPLICATION bidirect
ELEMENT a DATASTORE
    MASTER databaseA ON "system1"
    SUBSCRIBER databaseB ON "system2"
      RETURN TWOSAFE
ELEMENT b DATASTORE
    MASTER databaseB ON "system2"
    SUBSCRIBER databaseA ON "system1"
      RETURN TWOSAFE
STORE databaseA RETURN WAIT TIME 30
STORE databaseB RETURN WAIT TIME 30;

Example 4-13 Resetting the timeout period

Use the ttRepSyncSet built-in procedure to reset the timeout period to 45 seconds. To avoid resetting the requestReturn and localAction values, specify NULL:

Command> CALL ttRepSyncSet(NULL, 45, NULL);

Managing return service timeout errors and replication state changes

The following sections describe how to detect and respond to timeouts on return service transactions:

Note:

One response to a timeout is to disable the return service. You can determine if the return service is enabled or disabled with either the ttRepSyncSubscriberStatus built-in procedure or the ttRepReturnTransitionTrap SNMP trap. For more information, see "Determine if return service is disabled".
Disabling return service blocking manually

You may want to react if replication is stopped or return service timeout failures begin to adversely impact the performance of your replicated system. Your "tolerance threshold" for return service timeouts may depend on the historical frequency of timeouts and the performance/availability equation for your particular application, both of which should be factored into your response to the problem.

When using the return receipt service, you can manually respond by:

  • Using the ALTER ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR or ALTER REPLICATION statements to disable return receipt blocking. If you decide to disable return receipt blocking, your decision to re-enable it depends on your confidence level that the return receipt transaction is no longer likely to time out.

    The following example uses the ALTER ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR statement to disable return receipt after 10 failures:

    Command> ALTER ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR
     > ALTER STORE master1 SET DISABLE RETURN ALL 10;
    
  • Calling the ttDurableCommit built-in procedure to durably commit transactions on the active or master database that you can no longer verify as being received by the standby or subscriber database.

Establishing return service failure/recovery policies

An alternative to manually responding to return service timeout failures is to establish return service failure and recovery policies in the replication scheme. These policies direct the replication agents to detect changes to the replication state and to keep track of return service timeouts and then automatically respond in a predefined manner.

The following attributes in the CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR, ALTER ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR, CREATE REPLICATION, or ALTER REPLICATION statements set the failure and recovery policies when using a RETURN RECEIPT or RETURN TWOSAFE service:

The policies set by these attributes are applicable until changed. Except for DURABLE COMMIT, the replication agent must be running to enforce these policies.

RETURN SERVICES {ON | OFF} WHEN [REPLICATION] STOPPED

The RETURN SERVICES {ON | OFF} WHEN [REPLICATION] STOPPED attribute determines whether a return receipt or return twosafe service continues to be enabled or is disabled when replication is stopped.

  • In an active standby pair, "stopped" means either the active replication agent is stopped (for example, by ttAdmin -repStop active) or the replication state of the standby database is set to stop or pause with respect to the active database (for example, by ttRepAdmin -state stop standby). A failed standby database that has exceeded the specified FAILTHRESHOLD value is set to the failed state, but is eventually set to the stop state by the replication agent on the active database.

  • In a classic replication scheme, "stopped" means either the master replication agent is stopped (for example, by ttAdmin -repStop master) or the replication state of the subscriber database is set to stop or pause with respect to the master database (for example, by ttRepAdmin -state stop subscriber). A failed subscriber that has exceeded the specified FAILTHRESHOLD value is set to the failed state, but is eventually set to the stop state by the master replication agent.

Note:

A standby or subscriber database may become unavailable for a period of time that exceeds the timeout period specified by RETURN WAIT TIME, yet still be considered by the master replication agent to be in the start state. Failure policies related to timeouts are set by the DISABLE RETURN attribute.
  • RETURN SERVICES OFF WHEN REPLICATION STOPPED disables the return service when replication is stopped and is the default when using the RETURN RECEIPT service.

  • RETURN SERVICES ON WHEN REPLICATION STOPPED enables the return service to continue to be enabled when replication is stopped and is the default when using the RETURN TWOSAFE service.

Example 4-14 RETURN SERVICES ON WHEN REPLICATION STOPPED for an active standby pair

The following example creates an active standby pair with RETURN TWOSAFE return service and defines that the return service is to be disabled when replication is stopped (which is opposite of the default).

Command> CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR 
 > master1, 
 > master2 
 > RETURN TWOSAFE 
 > STORE master2 RETURN SERVICES OFF WHEN REPLICATION STOPPED;

While the application is committing updates to the active database master1, ttRepAdmin is used to set the standby database master2 to the stop state:

ttRepAdmin -receiver -name master2 -state stop master1

The application continues to wait for return receipt acknowledgements from master2 until the replication state is reset to start and it receives the acknowledgment:

ttRepAdmin -receiver -name master2 -state start master1

Example 4-15 RETURN SERVICES ON WHEN REPLICATION STOPPED for a classic replication scheme

Configure the CREATE REPLICATION statement to replicate updates from the masterds database to the subscriber1 database. The CREATE REPLICATION statement specifies the use of RETURN RECEIPT and RETURN SERVICES ON WHEN REPLICATION STOPPED.

CREATE REPLICATION myscheme
 ELEMENT e TABLE tab
  MASTER masterds ON "server1"
  SUBSCRIBER subscriber1 ON "server2"
  RETURN RECEIPT
  STORE masterds ON "server1"
    RETURN SERVICES ON WHEN REPLICATION STOPPED;

While the application is committing updates to the master, ttRepAdmin is used to set subscriber1 to the stop state:

ttRepAdmin -receiver -name subscriber1 -state stop masterds

The application continues to wait for return receipt acknowledgements from subscriber1 until the replication state is reset to start and it receives the acknowledgment:

ttRepAdmin -receiver -name subscriber1 -state start masterds
DISABLE RETURN

When a DISABLE RETURN value is set, the database keeps track of the number of return receipt or return twosafe transactions that have exceeded the timeout period set by RETURN WAIT TIME. If the number of timeouts exceeds the maximum value set by DISABLE RETURN, the application reverts to a default replication cycle in which it no longer waits for the standby or subscriber to acknowledge the replicated updates.

When return service blocking is disabled, the applications on the active or master database no longer block execution while waiting to receive acknowledgements from the standby or subscribers that they received or committed the replicated updates. Transactions are still replicated to the standby or subscriber, whether the return service is enabled or disabled. When the return service is disabled, the transactions are sent in asynchronous mode; the active or master database continues to listen for an acknowledgement of each batch of replicated updates from standby or subscriber databases.

Configure DISABLE RETURN as follows:

  • For an active standby pair, specifying SUBSCRIBER is the same as specifying ALL. Both settings refer to the standby database.

  • For a classic replication scheme, you can set DISABLE RETURN SUBSCRIBER to establish a failure policy to disable return service blocking for only those subscribers that have timed out, or DISABLE RETURN ALL to establish a policy to disable return service blocking for all subscribers.

Note:

You can use the ttRepSyncSubscriberStatus built-in procedure or the ttRepReturnTransitionTrap SNMP trap to determine whether the standby database or a particular subscriber has been disabled by the DISABLE RETURN failure policy.

The DISABLE RETURN failure policy is only enabled when the replication agent is running. If DISABLE RETURN is specified without RESUME RETURN, the return services remain off until the replication agent for the database has been restarted.

  • For an active standby pair, you can cancel this failure policy by stopping the replication agent and specifying DISABLE RETURN with a zero value for NumFailures.

  • For a classic replication scheme, you can cancel this failure policy by stopping the replication agent and specifying either DISABLE RETURN SUBSCRIBER or DISABLE RETURN ALL with a zero value for NumFailures.

    DISABLE RETURN maintains a cumulative timeout count for each subscriber. If there are multiple subscribers and you set DISABLE RETURN SUBSCRIBER, the replication agent disables return service blocking for the first subscriber that reaches the timeout threshold. If one of the other subscribers later reaches the timeout threshold, the replication agent disables return service blocking for that subscriber also.

The count of timeouts to trigger the failure policy is reset either when you restart the replication agent, when you set the DISABLE RETURN value to 0, or when return service blocking is re-enabled by RESUME RETURN.

Example 4-16 DISABLE RETURN for an active standby pair

Configure the CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR statement to replicate updates from the active database master1 to the standby database master2. The CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR statement specifies the use of RETURN RECEIPT and DISABLE RETURN ALL with a NumFailures value of 5. The RETURN WAIT TIME is set to 30 seconds.

CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR 
   master1, 
   master2 
   RETURN RECEIPT 
   STORE master1 
   DISABLE RETURN ALL 5
   RETURN WAIT TIME 30;

While the application is committing updates to the active database, the standby database (master2) experiences problems and fails to acknowledge a replicated transaction update. The application is blocked for 30 seconds after which it commits its next update to the active database master1. Over the course of the application session, this commit/timeout cycle repeats 4 more times until DISABLE RETURN disables return receipt blocking for master2.

For another example that sets the DISABLE RETURN attribute for an active standby pair, see Example 4-18.

Example 4-17 DISABLE RETURN SUBSCRIBER for a classic replication scheme

Configure the CREATE REPLICATION statement to replicate updates from the masterds master database to the subscriber databases: subscriber1 and subscriber2. The CREATE REPLICATION statement specifies the use of RETURN RECEIPT and DISABLE RETURN SUBSCRIBER with a NumFailures value of 5. The RETURN WAIT TIME is set to 30 seconds.

CREATE REPLICATION myscheme
 ELEMENT e TABLE tab
   MASTER masterds ON "server1"
   SUBSCRIBER subscriber1 ON "server2",
             subscriber2 ON "server3"
 RETURN RECEIPT
 STORE masterds ON "server1"
   DISABLE RETURN SUBSCRIBER 5
   RETURN WAIT TIME 30;

While the application is committing updates to the master, subscriber1 experiences problems and fails to acknowledge a replicated transaction update. The application is blocked for 30 seconds after which it commits its next update to the master database masterds. Over the course of the application session, this commit/timeout cycle repeats 4 more times until DISABLE RETURN disables return receipt blocking for subscriber1. The application continues to wait for return-receipt acknowledgements from subscriber2, but not from subscriber1.

For another example that sets the DISABLE RETURN attribute for a classic replication scheme, see Example 4-19.

RESUME RETURN

If DISABLE RETURN has disabled return service blocking, the RESUME RETURN attribute sets the policy for re-enabling the return service. You can establish a return service recovery policy by setting the RESUME RETURN attribute and specifying a resume latency value.

If return service blocking has been disabled for the standby or subscriber database and a latency time has been defined for RESUME RETURN, the following occurs:

  • The applications on the active or master database no longer block execution while waiting to receive acknowledgements from the standby or subscribers. Transactions continue to be replicated to the standby or subscriber in asynchronous mode. The active or master databases continue to listen for an acknowledgement of each batch of replicated updates from standby or subscriber databases.

  • If the return service blocking is disabled, RESUME RETURN evaluates the commit-to-acknowledge time for the last transaction to see if the latency is less than the latency limit configured by the RESUME RETURN. If the commit-to-acknowledge time latency is less than the latency limit set by RESUME RETURN, TimesTen re-enables the return receipt or return twosafe services.

    Note:

    The commit-to-acknowledge time latency is the time elapsed between when the application issues a commit and when the active or master database receives acknowledgement from the standby or subscriber.

    TimesTen evaluates the latency of the last acknowledged transaction before the current transaction is replicated to the standby or subscriber. The return service is re-enabled before the sending of the current transaction after evaluating the latency from the last transaction.

The RESUME RETURN policy is enabled only when the replication agent is running. You can cancel a return receipt resume policy by stopping the replication agent and then using ALTER ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR or ALTER REPLICATION statements to set RESUME RETURN to zero.

Example 4-18 RESUME RETURN for an active standby pair

If return receipt blocking has been disabled for master2 and if RESUME RETURN is set to 8 milliseconds, then return receipt blocking is re-enabled for master2 the instant the active receives an acknowledgement of the update from the standby, as long as the acknowledgement is received within the specified latency 8 milliseconds from when it was committed by the application on the active database.

Command> CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR 
 > master1, 
 > master2 
 > RETURN RECEIPT
 > STORE master1
 > DISABLE RETURN ALL 5
 > RESUME RETURN 8;

Example 4-19 RESUME RETURN for a classic replication scheme

If return receipt blocking has been disabled for subscriber1 and if RESUME RETURN is set to 8 milliseconds, then return receipt blocking is re-enabled for subscriber1 the instant the master receives an acknowledgement of the update from the subscriber, as long as the acknowledgement is received within the specified latency 8 milliseconds from when it was committed by the application on the master database.

CREATE REPLICATION myscheme
 ELEMENT e TABLE ttuser.tab
   MASTER masterds ON "server1"
   SUBSCRIBER subscriber1 ON "server2",
             subscriber2 ON "server3"
 RETURN RECEIPT
 STORE masterds ON "server1"
   DISABLE RETURN SUBSCRIBER 5
   RESUME RETURN 8;
DURABLE COMMIT

You can set the DURABLE COMMIT attribute to specify the durable commit policy for applications that have return service blocking disabled by DISABLE RETURN. When DURABLE COMMIT is set to ON, it overrides the DurableCommits general connection attribute on the active or master database and forces durable commits for those transactions that have had return service blocking disabled.

In addition, when DURABLE COMMIT is set to ON, durable commits are issued when return service blocking is disabled regardless of whether the replication agent is running or stopped. They are also issued when the ttRepStateSave built-in procedure has marked the standby or subscriber database as failed.

For a classic replication scheme, DURABLE COMMIT is useful if you have only one subscriber. However, if you are replicating the same data to two subscribers and you disable return service blocking to one subscriber, then you achieve better performance if you rely on the other subscriber than you would if you enable durable commits.

Example 4-20 DURABLE COMMIT ON with an active standby pair

Set DURABLE COMMIT ON when establishing a DISABLE RETURN ALL policy to disable return-receipt blocking for all subscribers. If return-receipt blocking is disabled, commits are durably committed to disk to provide redundancy.

Command> CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR 
 > master1, 
 > master2 
 > RETURN RECEIPT
 > STORE master1
 > DISABLE RETURN ALL 5
 > DURABLE COMMIT ON
 > RESUME RETURN 8;

Example 4-21 DURABLE COMMIT ON with a classic replication scheme

Set DURABLE COMMIT ON when establishing a DISABLE RETURN ALL policy to disable return-receipt blocking for all subscribers. If return-receipt blocking is disabled, commits are durably committed to disk to provide redundancy.

CREATE REPLICATION myscheme
 ELEMENT e TABLE tab
   MASTER masterds ON "server1"
   SUBSCRIBER subscriber ON "server2",
             subscriber2 ON "server3"
 RETURN RECEIPT
STORE masterds ON "server1"
   DISABLE RETURN ALL 5
   DURABLE COMMIT ON
   RESUME RETURN 8;
LOCAL COMMIT ACTION

When you are using the return twosafe service, you can specify how the active or master replication agent responds to timeouts by setting LOCAL COMMIT ACTION. You can override this setting for specific transactions with the localAction parameter of the ttRepSyncSet built-in procedure.

The possible actions upon receiving a timeout during replication of a twosafe transaction are:

  • COMMIT - On timeout, the commit function attempts to perform a commit to end the transaction locally. No more operations are possible on the same transaction.

  • NO ACTION - On timeout, the commit function returns to the application, leaving the transaction in the same state it was in when it entered the commit call, with the exception that the application is not able to update any replicated tables. The application can reissue the commit. This is the default.

If the call returns with an error, you can use the ttRepXactStatus procedure described in "Check the status of return service transactions" to check the status of the transaction. Depending on the error, your application can choose to:

  • Reissue the commit call - This repeats the entire return twosafe replication cycle, so that the commit call returns when the success or failure of the replicated commit on the subscriber is known or if the timeout period expires.

  • Roll back the transaction - If the call returns with an error related to applying the transaction on the standby or subscriber, such as primary key lookup failure, you can roll back the transaction on the active or master database.

Column definition options for replicated tables

The definition for the columns of replicated tables participating in the replication scheme do not necessarily need to be identical.

  • If the TABLE DEFINITION CHECKING value is set to EXACT, the column definitions must be identical on the active and standby databases. This attribute enables replication of tables that are identical in their physical structure.

  • If the TABLE DEFINITION CHECKING value is set to RELAXED (the default), the column definitions of the replicated tables do not need to be identical. When using RELAXED, the replicated tables must have the same key definition, number of columns, column names, and column data types.

    Table definition checking occurs on the standby database. Setting this attribute to RELAXED for both active and standby databases has the same effect as setting it for only the standby database.

Note:

For more details on TABLE DEFINITION CHECKING, see "CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR" or "CREATE REPLICATION" in the Oracle TimesTen In-Memory Database SQL Reference.

The TABLE DEFINITION CHECKING RELAXED attribute does not require that the physical structure of the table be identical on both master databases. For example, if tables have columns in a different order or have a different number of partitions, the data can still be replicated when using the RELAXED attribute. Thus, if you are altering your table by adding or dropping columns, you should use the RELAXED attribute. As noted in "ALTER TABLE" in the Oracle TimesTen In-Memory Database SQL Reference, adding columns when altering a table creates additional partitions. Dropping columns does not automatically free up the space. We recommend that any DML statement that alters the table should be executed on the master and then replicated to any standby database and subscribers.

The RELAXED setting can result in slightly slower performance if it is compensating for a different physical structure. If the tables are identical in physical structure, then there is no performance impact. You can eliminate any performance issues (caused by a different physical structure, additional partitions, or extraneous space) by using the ttMigrate -r -relaxedUpgrade (only valid on databases where the table definition checking is set to RELAXED) to coalesce all additional partitions of a table into a single partition and eliminate extraneous space caused by dropped columns. If you perform this on all databases involved in the replication scheme, the resulting physical structure is identical resulting in the best performance potential.

Note:

See Example 4-18 and "Check partition counts for the tables" in Oracle TimesTen In-Memory Database Troubleshooting Guide for information on how to check the partitions in use for each table.

For performance considerations of both the EXACT and RELAXED attributes for TABLE DEFINITION CHECKING, see "Performance considerations when altering tables that are replicated".

To ensure that table definition checking is set to RELAXED, stop the replication agent on the active or master database and then execute an ALTER ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR or ALTER REPLICATION statement to set the table definition checking to RELAXED. Finally, use the ttRepAdmin -duplicate command to roll out these changes to the standby database and any subscribers. For more information, see "ALTER ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR" and "ALTER REPLICATION" in the Oracle TimesTen In-Memory Database SQL Reference.

The following sections provide examples for setting the table definition checking to relaxed:

Examples for an active standby pair replicating tables with table definition checking set to relaxed

The following examples demonstrate the effect of setting the TABLE DEFINITION CHECKING attribute to either EXACT or RELAXED in an active standby pair replication scheme.

Example 4-22 Replicating tables that are identical in an active standby pair

Create table t1 in master1 database:

CREATE TABLE t1 (a INT PRIMARY KEY, b INT, c INT);

Create an active standby pair replication scheme. Set TABLE DEFINITION CHECKING to EXACT for the master2 standby database.

Command> CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR master1, master2
       > STORE master2 TABLE DEFINITION CHECKING EXACT;

Perform the rest of the steps to duplicate the active database to the standby database, start the replication agents on both databases, and set the state of the active database (as described in Chapter 2, "Getting Started".

Insert a row into t1 on master1.

Command> INSERT INTO t1 VALUES (4,5,6);
1 row inserted.

Verify the results on t1 on master2.

Command> SELECT * FROM t1;
< 4, 5, 6>
1 row found.

Example 4-23 Altering the table definition checking to relaxed in an active standby pair

You can alter the table definition checking for the active standby pair replication scheme to be relaxed. First, stop the replication agent on the active database before altering the active database. The following alters the dsn1 active database so the table definition checking is set to relaxed:

ALTER ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR
  ALTER STORE master1 SET TABLE DEFINITION CHECKING RELAXED;

After execution completes, use duplicate to roll out the changes to the standby database. Lastly, use duplicate to roll out the changes to any subscribers.

Examples for classic replication scheme with table definition checking set to relaxed

The following examples demonstrate the effect of setting the TABLE DEFINITION CHECKING attribute to either EXACT or RELAXED in a classic replication scheme.

Example 4-24 Replicating tables that are identical in a classic replication scheme

Create table t1 in dsn1 database:

CREATE TABLE ttuser.t1 (a INT PRIMARY KEY, b INT, c INT);

Create ttuser.t1 table in the dsn2 database exactly the same as in the dsn1 database.

Create replication scheme ttuser.rep1. Set TABLE DEFINITION CHECKING to EXACT for the subscriber, dsn2.

CREATE REPLICATION ttuser.rep1
       ELEMENT e1 TABLE ttuser.t1
       MASTER dsn1
       SUBSCRIBER dsn2
       STORE dsn2 TABLE DEFINITION CHECKING EXACT;

Start the replication agent for both databases. Insert a row into ttuser.t1 on dsn1.

Command> INSERT INTO ttuser.t1 VALUES (4,5,6);
1 row inserted.

Verify the results on ttuser.t1 on dsn2.

Command> SELECT * FROM ttuser.t1;
< 4, 5, 6>
1 row found.

Example 4-25 Replicating tables with columns in different positions in a classic replication scheme

Create table t1 in dsn1 database:

CREATE TABLE ttuser.t1 (a INT PRIMARY KEY, b INT, c INT);

Create table ttuser.t1 in dsn2 database with the columns in a different order than the columns in ttuser.t1 in dsn1 database. Note that the column names and data types are the same in both tables and a is the primary key in both tables.

CREATE TABLE ttuser.t1 (c INT, a INT PRIMARY KEY, b INT);

Create replication scheme ttuser.rep1. Set TABLE DEFINITION CHECKING to RELAXED for the subscriber, dsn2.

CREATE REPLICATION ttuser.rep1
       ELEMENT e1 TABLE ttuser.t1
       MASTER dsn1
       SUBSCRIBER dsn2
       STORE dsn2 TABLE DEFINITION CHECKING RELAXED;

Start the replication agent for both databases. Insert a row into ttuser.t1 on dsn1.

Command> INSERT INTO ttuser.t1 VALUES (4,5,6);
1 row inserted.

Verify the results on ttuser.t1 on dsn2.

Command> SELECT * FROM ttuser.t1;
< 5, 6, 4 >
1 row found.

Example 4-26 Replicating tables with a different number of partitions in a classic replication scheme

When you alter a table to add columns, it increases the number of partitions in the table, even if you subsequently drop the new columns. You can use the RELAXED setting for TABLE DEFINITION CHECKING to replicate tables that have different number of partitions.

Create table ttuser.t3 on dsn1 with two columns.

CREATE TABLE ttuser.t3 (a INT PRIMARY KEY, b INT);

Create table ttuser.t3 on dsn2 with one column that is the primary key.

CREATE TABLE ttuser.t3 (a INT PRIMARY KEY);

Add a column to the table on dsn2. This increases the number of partitions to two, while the table on dsn1 has one partition.

ALTER TABLE ttuser.t3 ADD COLUMN b INT;

Create the replication scheme on both databases.

CREATE REPLICATION reppart
       ELEMENT e2 TABLE ttuser.t3
       MASTER dsn1
       SUBSCRIBER dsn2
       STORE dsn2 TABLE DEFINITION CHECKING RELAXED;

Start the replication agent for both databases. Insert a row into ttuser.t3 on dsn1.

Command> INSERT INTO ttuser.t3 VALUES (1,2);
1 row inserted.

Verify the results in ttuser.t3 on dsn2.

Command> SELECT * FROM ttuser.t3;
< 1, 2 >
1 row found.

Example 4-27 Altering the table definition checking to relaxed in a classic replication scheme

You can alter the table definition checking for a classic replication scheme to be relaxed. First, stop the replication agent on the master database before altering the replication scheme on it. The following alters the dsn1 master database so the table definition checking is set to relaxed:

ALTER REPLICATION reppart
  ALTER STORE dsn1 SET TABLE DEFINITION CHECKING RELAXED;

After execution completes, use duplicate to roll out the changes to the standby master. Lastly, use duplicate to roll out the changes to any subscribers.

Compressing replicated traffic

If you are replicating over a low-bandwidth network, or if you are replicating massive amounts of data, you can set the COMPRESS TRAFFIC attribute to reduce the amount of bandwidth required for replication. The COMPRESS TRAFFIC attribute compresses the replicated data from the database specified by the STORE parameter in the CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR, ALTER ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR, CREATE REPLICATION or ALTER REPLICATION statements. TimesTen does not compress traffic from other databases.

Though the compression algorithm is optimized for speed, enabling the COMPRESS TRAFFIC attribute affects replication throughput and latency.

Example 4-28 Compressing traffic from an active database in an active standby pair

For example, to compress replicated traffic from active database dsn1 and leave the replicated traffic from standby database dsn2 uncompressed, the CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR statement looks like:

CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR dsn1 ON "host1", dsn2 ON "host2"
  SUBSCRIBER dsn3 ON "host3"
  STORE dsn1 ON "host1" COMPRESS TRAFFIC ON;

Example 4-29 Compressing traffic from both active and standby databases

To compress the replicated traffic from the dsn1 and dsn2 databases, use:

CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR dsn1 ON "host1", dsn2 ON "host2"
   SUBSCRIBER dsn3 ON "host3"
 STORE dsn1 ON "host1" COMPRESS TRAFFIC ON
 STORE dsn2 ON "host2" COMPRESS TRAFFIC ON;

Example 4-30 Compressing traffic from one database in a classic replication scheme

To compress replicated traffic from database dsn1 and leave the replicated traffic from dsn2 uncompressed, the CREATE REPLICATION statement looks like:

CREATE REPLICATION repscheme
 ELEMENT d1 DATASTORE
    MASTER dsn1 ON host1
    SUBSCRIBER dsn2 ON host2
 ELEMENT d2 DATASTORE
    MASTER dsn2 ON host2
    SUBSCRIBER dsn1 ON host1
 STORE dsn1 ON host1 COMPRESS TRAFFIC ON;

Example 4-31 Compressing traffic between both databases in a classic replication scheme

To compress the replicated traffic between both the dsn1 and dsn2 databases, use:

CREATE REPLICATION scheme
 ELEMENT d1 DATASTORE
    MASTER dsn1 ON host1
    SUBSCRIBER dsn2 ON host2
 ELEMENT d2 DATASTORE
    MASTER dsn2 ON host2
    SUBSCRIBER dsn1 ON host1
 STORE dsn1 ON host1 COMPRESS TRAFFIC ON
 STORE dsn2 ON host2 COMPRESS TRAFFIC ON;

Port assignments

The PORT parameter for the STORE attribute of the CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR and CREATE REPLICATION statements set the port number used by a database to listen for updates from another database.

  • In an active standby pair, the standby database listens for updates from the active database. Read-only subscribers listen for updates from the standby database.

  • In a classic replication scheme, the subscribers listen for updates from the master database. Setting the PORT attribute for one classic replication scheme sets it for all classic replication schemes.

Static port assignments are recommended. If no PORT attribute is specified, the TimesTen daemon dynamically selects the port. When ports are assigned dynamically for the replication agents, then the ports of the TimesTen daemons have to match as well.

Note:

You must assign static ports if you want to do online upgrades.

When statically assigning ports, it is important to specify the full host name, DSN and port in the STORE attribute.

Example 4-32 Assigning static ports for an active standby pair

CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR dsn1 ON "host1", dsn2 ON "host2"
   SUBSCRIBER dsn3 ON "host3"
 STORE dsn1 ON "host1" PORT 16080
 STORE dsn2 ON "host2" PORT 16083
 STORE dsn3 ON "host3" PORT 16084;

Example 4-33 Assigning static ports for a classic replication scheme

CREATE REPLICATION repscheme
 ELEMENT el1 TABLE ttuser.tab
    MASTER dsn1 ON host1
    SUBSCRIBER dsn2 ON host2
 ELEMENT el2 TABLE ttuser.tab
    MASTER dsn2 ON host2
    SUBSCRIBER dsn1 ON host1
 STORE dsn1 ON host1 PORT 16080
 STORE dsn2 ON host2 PORT 16083;

Setting wait timeout for response from remote replication agents

The TIMEOUT store attribute sets the maximum number of seconds that the replication agent waits for a response from any remote replication agents.

We recommend that the default timeout (120 seconds) is used if you have any large transactions. The replication agent scales the timeout based on the size of the transaction in order to accommodate any large transactions that could potentially cause a delayed response from the remote replication agent. Automatic scaling by the replication agent is disabled if the user sets the TIMEOUT to less than or equal to 60 seconds.

Note:

If you experience repeated timeouts and the error log shows that multiple transmitter and receiver threads restart, then the transaction may be larger than can be scaled by the replication agent with the current timeout value. Continue to increase the timeout value until replication can progress for the transaction.

The following example creates an active standby pair whose master databases are rep1 and rep2. There is one subscriber, rep3. The type of replication is RETURN RECEIPT. The statement also sets PORT and TIMEOUT attributes for the master databases. The TIMEOUT attribute is set to 80 seconds for both the active and standby masters.

CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR rep1, rep2 RETURN RECEIPT 
   SUBSCRIBER rep3
 STORE rep1 PORT 21000 TIMEOUT 80
 STORE rep2 PORT 22000 TIMEOUT 80;

Setting the transaction log failure threshold

You can establish a threshold value that, when exceeded, sets an unavailable database to the failed state before the available transaction log space is exhausted, as follows:

  • In an active standby pair, if the transaction log threshold is exceeded, sets an unavailable standby database or a read-only subscriber to the failed state before the available transaction log space is exhausted. Set the transaction log threshold by specifying the STORE clause with a FAILTHRESHOLD value in the CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR or ALTER ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR statements.

    If an active database sets the standby or read-only subscriber database to the failed state, it drops all of the data for the failed database from its transaction log and transmits a message to the failed database. If the active replication agent can communicate with the replication agent of the failed database, then the message is transmitted immediately. Otherwise, the message is transmitted when the connection is reestablished.

  • In a classic replication scheme, if the transaction log threshold is exceeded, sets an unavailable subscriber to the failed state before the available transaction log space is exhausted. Set the transaction log threshold by specifying the STORE clause with a FAILTHRESHOLD value in the CREATE REPLICATION or ALTER REPLICATION statements. For an example, see Example 9-5.

    If a master database sets the subscriber database to the failed state, it drops all of the data for the failed subscriber from its transaction log and transmits a message to the failed subscriber database. If the master replication agent can communicate with the subscriber replication agent, then the message is transmitted immediately. Otherwise, the message is transmitted when the connection is reestablished.

    However, after receiving the message from the master, if the subscriber is configured for bidirectional replication or to propagate updates to other subscribers, it does not transmit any further updates, because its replication state has been compromised.

The default threshold value is 0, which means "no limit." See "Setting connection attributes for logging" for details about transaction log failure threshold values.

Any application that connects to the failed database receives a tt_ErrReplicationInvalid (8025) warning indicating that the database has been marked failed by a replication peer. Once the database has been informed of its failed status, its state on the active or master database is changed from failed to stop.

Note:

For more information about database states, see Table 11-1, "Database states" .

An application can use the ODBC SQLGetInfo function to check if the database the application is connected to has been set to the failed state, as described in "Subscriber failures".

Suspending or resuming classic replication in response to conflicts

With classic replication, you can specify the number of replication conflicts per second at the table level at which conflict reporting is suspended and the number of conflicts per second at which conflict reporting resumes with the CONFLICT REPORTING SUSPEND and CONFLICT REPORTING RESUME attributes. For a full description, see Chapter 13, "Resolving Replication Conflicts".

Configuring the network

The following sections describe some of the issues to consider when replicating TimesTen data over a network.

Network bandwidth requirements

The network bandwidth required for TimesTen replication depends on the bulk and frequency of the data being replicated. This discussion explores the types of transactions that characterize the high and low ends of the data range and the network bandwidth required to replicate the data between TimesTen databases.

Table 4-1 provides guidelines for calculating the size of replicated records.

Table 4-1 Replicated record sizes

Record Type Size

Begin transaction

48 bytes

Update

116 bytes

+ 18 bytes per column updated

+ size of old column values

+ size of new column values

+ size of the primary key or unique key

Delete

104 bytes

+ size of the primary key or unique key

Insert

104 bytes

+ size of the primary key or unique key

+ size of inserted row


Transactions are sent between replicated databases in batches. A batch is created whenever there is no more data in the transaction log buffer in the master database, or when the current batch is roughly 256 KB. See "Copying updates between databases" for more information.

Replication in a WAN environment

TimesTen replication uses the TCP/IP protocol, which is not optimized for a WAN environment. You can improve replication performance over a WAN by installing a third-party "TCP stack" product. If replacing the TCP stack is not a feasible solution, you can reduce the amount of network traffic that the TCP/IP protocol has to deal with by setting the COMPRESS TRAFFIC attribute in the CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR or CREATE REPLICATION statement. See "Compressing replicated traffic" for details.

See installation information for either the AIX or Linux platforms in "AIX prerequisites" or "Linux prerequisites" in the Oracle TimesTen In-Memory Database Installation Guide for information about changing TCP/IP kernel parameters for better performance.

Configuring network interfaces with the ROUTE clause

In a replication scheme, you need to identify the name of the host on which your database resides. The operating system translates this host name to one or more IP addresses.

When specifying the host for a database in a replication element, you should always use the name returned by the hostname command, as replication uses the same host name to verify that the current host is involved in the replication scheme. Replication schemes may not be created that do not include the current host.

While you must specify the host name returned by the operating system's hostname command when you specify the database name, you can configure replication to send or receive traffic over a different interface (other than the default) using the ROUTE clause.

If a host contains multiple network interfaces (with different IP addresses), you should specify which interfaces are to be used by replication using the ROUTE clause, unless you want replication to use the default interface. You must specify a priority for each interface. Replication tries to first connect using the address with the highest priority, and if a connection cannot be established, it tries the remaining addresses in order of priority until a connection is established. If a connection to a host fails while using one IP address, replication attempts to re-connect (or fall back) to another IP address, if more than one address has been specified in the ROUTE clause.

The syntax of the ROUTE clause is:

ROUTE MASTER FullDatabaseName SUBSCRIBER FullDatabaseName
  {{MASTERIP MasterHost | SUBSCRIBERIP SubscriberHost}
    PRIORITY Priority} [...]

Note:

Addresses for the ROUTE clause may be specified as either host names or IP addresses. However, if your host has more than one IP address configured for a given host name, you should only configure the ROUTE clause using the IP addresses, in order to ensure that replication uses only the IP addresses that you intend.
  • When using the ROUTE clause in an active standby pair, each master database is a subscriber of the other master database and each read-only subscriber is a subscriber of both master databases. This means that the CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR statement should include ROUTE clauses in multiples of two to specify a route in both directions.

  • When using the ROUTE clause in a classic replication scheme that defines dual masters, each master database is a subscriber of the other master database. This means that the CREATE REPLICATION statement should include ROUTE clauses in multiples of two to specify a route in both directions.

Example 4-34 Configuring multiple network interfaces for an active standby pair

If host1 host is configured with a second interface accessible by the host1fast host name, and host2 is configured with a second interface at IP address 192.168.1.100, you may specify that the secondary interfaces are used with the replication scheme.

CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR dns1, dsn2
 ROUTE MASTER dsn1 ON "host1" SUBSCRIBER dsn2 ON "host2"
    MASTERIP "host1fast" PRIORITY 1
    SUBSCRIBERIP "192.168.1.100" PRIORITY 1
 ROUTE MASTER dsn2 ON "host2" SUBSCRIBER dsn1 ON "host1"
    MASTERIP "192.168.1.100" PRIORITY 1
    SUBSCRIBERIP "host1fast" PRIORITY 1;

Example 4-35 Configuring multiple network interfaces for a classic replication scheme

If host1 host is configured with a second interface accessible by the host1fast host name, and host2 is configured with a second interface at IP address 192.168.1.100, you may specify that the secondary interfaces are used with the replication scheme.

CREATE REPLICATION repscheme
 ELEMENT e1 TABLE ttuser.tab
    MASTER dsn1 ON host1
    SUBSCRIBER dsn2 ON host2
 ELEMENT e2 TABLE ttuser.tab
    MASTER dsn2 ON host2
    SUBSCRIBER dsn1 ON host1
 ROUTE MASTER dsn1 ON host1 SUBSCRIBER dsn2 ON host2
    MASTERIP host1fast PRIORITY 1
    SUBSCRIBERIP "192.168.1.100" PRIORITY 1
 ROUTE MASTER dsn2 ON host2 SUBSCRIBER dsn1 ON host1
    MASTERIP "192.168.1.100" PRIORITY 1
    SUBSCRIBERIP host1fast PRIORITY 1;

Alternately, on a replication host with more than one interface, you may want to configure replication to use one or more interfaces as backups, in case the primary interface fails or the connection from it to the receiving host is broken. You can use the ROUTE clause to specify two or more interfaces for each master or subscriber that are used by replication in order of priority.

If replication on the master host is unable to bind to the MASTERIP with the highest priority, it tries to connect using subsequent MASTERIP addresses in order of priority immediately. However, if the connection to the subscriber fails for any other reason, replication tries to connect using each of the SUBSCRIBERIP addresses in order of priority before it tries the MASTERIP address with the next highest priority.

Example 4-36 Configuring network priority on an active standby pair

If the host1 host is configured with two network interfaces at IP addresses 192.168.1.100 and 192.168.1.101, and the host2 host is configured with two interfaces at IP addresses 192.168.1.200 and 192.168.1.201, you may specify that replication use IP addresses 192.168.1.100 and 192.168.200 to transmit and receive traffic first, and to try IP addresses 192.168.1.101 or 192.168.1.201 if the first connection fails.

CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR dns1, dns2
 ROUTE MASTER dsn1 ON "host1" SUBSCRIBER dsn2 ON "host2"
   MASTERIP "192.168.1.100" PRIORITY 1
   MASTERIP "192.168.1.101" PRIORITY 2
   SUBSCRIBERIP "192.168.1.200" PRIORITY 1
   SUBSCRIBERIP "192.168.1.201" PRIORITY 2;

Example 4-37 Configuring network priority for a classic replication scheme

If the host1 host is configured with two network interfaces at IP addresses 192.168.1.100 and 192.168.1.101, and the host2 host is configured with two interfaces at IP addresses 192.168.1.200 and 192.168.1.201, you may specify that replication use IP addresses 192.168.1.100 and 192.168.200 to transmit and receive traffic first, and to try IP addresses 192.168.1.101 or 192.168.1.201 if the first connection fails.

CREATE REPLICATION repscheme
 ELEMENT e TABLE ttuser.tab
   MASTER dsn1 ON host1
   SUBSCRIBER dsn2 ON host2
 ROUTE MASTER dsn1 ON host1 SUBSCRIBER dsn2 ON host2
   MASTERIP "192.168.1.100" PRIORITY 1
   MASTERIP "192.168.1.101" PRIORITY 2
   SUBSCRIBERIP "192.168.1.200" PRIORITY 1
   SUBSCRIBERIP "192.168.1.201" PRIORITY 2;

Configuring network interfaces when not using the ROUTE clause

The following sections describe how to configure replication so that it uses the correct host names and IP addresses for each host when not using the ROUTE clause.

Identifying database hosts on UNIX without using the ROUTE clause

When possible, you should use the ROUTE clause of a replication scheme to identify database hosts and the network interfaces to use for replication. However, if you have a replication scheme configuration that does not use the ROUTE clause, this section explains how to configure operating system and DNS files for a replication host with multiple network interfaces.

If a host contains multiple network interfaces (with different IP addresses) and replication is not configured with a ROUTE clause, TimesTen replication tries to connect to the IP addresses in the same order as returned by the gethostbyname call. It tries to connect using the first address; if a connection cannot be established, it tries the remaining addresses in order until a connection is established. TimesTen replication uses this same sequence each time it establishes a new connection to a host. If a connection to a host fails on one IP address, TimesTen replication attempts to re-connect (or fall back) to another IP address for the host in the same manner described above.

There are two basic ways you can configure a host to use multiple IP addresses on UNIX platforms: DNS or the /etc/hosts file.

Note:

If you have multiple network interface cards (NICs), be sure that "multi on" is specified in the /etc/host.conf file. Otherwise, gethostbyname cannot return multiple addresses.

For example, if your machine has two NICs, use the following syntax for your /etc/hosts file:

127.0.0.1  localhost
IP_address_for_NIC_1  official_hostname optional_alias
IP_address_for_NIC_2  official_hostname optional_alias

The host name official_hostname is the name returned by the hostname command.

When editing the /etc/hosts file, keep in mind that:

  • You must log in as root to change the /etc/hosts file.

  • There should only be one line per IP address.

  • There can be multiple alias names on each line.

  • When there are multiple IP addresses for the same host name, they must be on consecutive lines.

  • The host name can be up to 30 characters long.

For example, the following entry in the /etc/hosts file on a UNIX platform describes a server named Host1 with two IP addresses:

127.0.0.1        localhost
10.10.98.102     Host1
192.168.1.102    Host1

To specify the same configuration for DNS, your entry in the domain zone file would look like:

Host1     IN     A     10.10.98.102
          IN     A     192.168.1.102

In either case, you only need to specify Host1 as the host name in your replication scheme and replication uses the first available IP address when establishing a connection.

In an environment in which multiple IP addresses are used, you can also assign multiple host names to a single IP address in order to restrict a replication connection to a specific IP address. For example, you might have an entry in your /etc/hosts file that looks like:

127.0.0.1        localhost
10.10.98.102     Host1
192.168.1.102    Host1 RepHost1

or a DNS zone file that looks like:

Host1     IN     A     10.10.98.102
          IN     A     192.168.1.102
RepHost1  IN     A     192.168.1.102

If you want to restrict replication connections to IP address 192.168.1.102 for this host, you can specify RepHost1 as the host name in your replication scheme. Another option is to simply specify the IP address as the host name in either the CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR or CREATE REPLICATION statements used to configure your replication scheme.

Host name resolution on Windows

If a replication configuration is specified using host names rather than IP addresses, replication must be able to translate host names of peers into IP addresses. For this to happen efficiently on Windows, make sure each Windows machine is set up to query either a valid WINS server or a valid DNS server that has correct information about the hosts on the network. In the absence of such servers, static host-to-IP entries can be entered in either:

%windir%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

or

%windir%\system32\drivers\etc\lmhosts

Without any of these options, a Windows machine resorts to broadcasting to detect peer nodes, which is extremely slow.

You may also encounter extremely slow host name resolution if the Windows machine cannot communicate with the defined WINS servers or DNS servers, or if the host name resolution set up is incorrect on those servers. Use the ping command to test whether a host can be efficiently located. The ping command responds immediately if host name resolution is set up properly.

Note:

You must be consistent in identifying a database host in a replication scheme. Do not identify a host using its IP address for one database and then use its host name for the same or another database.

User-specified addresses for TimesTen daemons and subdaemons

By default, the TimesTen main daemon, all subdaemons, and all agents use any available address to listen on a socket for requests. You can modify the ttendaemon.options file to specify an address for communication among the agents and daemons by including a -listenaddr option. See "Managing TimesTen daemon options" in Oracle TimesTen In-Memory Database Operations Guide for details.

Suppose that your machine has two NICs whose addresses are 10.10.10.100 and 10.10.11.200. The loopback address is 127.0.0.1. Then keep in mind the following as it applies to the replication agent:

  • If you do not set the -listenaddr option in the ttendaemon.options file, then any process can talk to the daemons and agents.

  • If you set -listenaddr to 10.10.10.100, then any process on the local host or the 10.10.10 net can talk to daemons and agents on 10.10.10.100. No processes on the 10.10.11 net can talk to the daemons and agents on 10.10.10.100.

  • If you set -listenaddr to 127.0.0.1, then only processes on the local host can talk to the daemons and agents. No processes on other hosts can talk the daemons and agents.

Identifying the local host of a replicated database

Ordinarily, TimesTen replication is able to identify the hosts involved in a replication configuration using normal operating system host name resolution methods. However, in some rare instances, if the host has an unusual host name configuration, TimesTen is unable to determine that the local host matches the host name as specified in the replication scheme. When this occurs, you receive error 8191, "This store is not involved in a replication scheme," when attempting to start replication using ttRepStart or ttAdmin -repStart. The ttHostNameSet built-in procedure may be used in this instance to explicitly indicate to TimesTen that the current database is in fact the database specified in the replication scheme. See "ttHostNameSet" in Oracle TimesTen In-Memory Database Reference for more information.