Mobile Users: Follow the steps below to create a client replica for your Backdrop database.
Follow these steps to configure the replication client to receive updates from the SDE geodatabase. A configured, read-only sample is installed here: Program Files\Miner and Miner\ArcFM Solution\Bin\XML\Sample.Client.ReplicationConsole.exe.config. An empty version of ReplicationConsole.exe.config resides in the Bin directory. Whether you modify the sample or use the empty config file, it MUST have the name ReplicationConsole.exe.config and it MUST reside in the ArcFM Solution\Bin directory. A replication file by any other name will not be recognized.
Before You Begin:
Copy the geodatabase(s) to be replicated (one for each replica) to the following locations on the replication client machine (Mobile users: copy to the client administrator machine).
- Administrator Machine (field): Place a copy on your client machine (or administrator machine) in the Client Base Path directory. You may wish to create a sub-directory in the Client Base Path directory on your administrator machine.
- All Field Machines: Geodatabase Replication will replicate the geodatabase to the Client Base Path directory on the client machine(s). So there's no need to copy the geodatabase to client machines individually. Copy it ONLY to your administrator machine.
Create Replica
Next, follow the steps below to create a replica for each geodatabase you wish to replicate (e.g., Backdrop).
- On the client machine, open the ArcFM Geodatabase Replication Administrator (Start menu | ArcFM Solution | ArcFM Geodatabase Replication).
- You may create a new configuration file or use the empty file provided in the ArcFM Solution\Bin\XML directory. Regardless, this file MUST be named ReplicationConsole.exe.config and reside at this location: Program Files\Miner and Miner\ArcFM Solution\Bin\.
- To Create a new configuration file, right-click the ArcFM Geodatabase Replication node and select New Configuration File. Select the configuration node. The ConfigurationFile field to the right establishes the name and location of your configuration file. Browse to the location in which your configuration file should be stored (see Step 2). Name the file ReplicationConsole.exe.config and click Save.
- To Open an existing configuration file, click the Open Existing Configuration File
button and browse to the ReplicationConsole.exe.config file.
Each configuration file has three sections: Client, Server, Web Service. Each section must be created on its corresponding machine and in the appropriate file. The Server and client sections reside in the ReplicationConsole.exe.config file. The web section resides in the Web.config file.
The following settings are used by the replication client to determine how updates are requested from the Web Service.
- Right click the configuration node and select New > Client. This creates a Client node and a category.
- Select the Client node and browse to the Base Directory (e.g., ClientBase, ReplicationField). This is the directory created on the Create Client Base Path page and should be a local directory. Mobile Users: This path was created in the Set Up Directory Structure step.
Categories: You may right-click the Client node and select New > Category to create additional categories. Create as many categories as necessary to organize your replicas (e.g., by zip code). Right-click the category and select Rename or enter a new name in the Category Name at the right. This applies to client, server, and web categories.
- Right-click the category and select New > File Geodatabase Replica Client or New > Personal Geodatabase Replica Client. You may add as many replicas as necessary to each category.
- Select the geodatabase and set values for the settings to the right.
General
- Replica Name: Assign a name to the replica. This name must contain fewer than 50 characters and it must be the same for the corresponding replica in the Server and Web Service sections.
- Enabled: This setting allows you to turn off a replica if necessary. If the value is set to True, the replica will run. Set it to False to prevent the replica from running.
- File/Personal Geodatabase Name: Browse to the geodatabase (file or personal) that requires the update. You may be prompted to enter login information to access the geodatabase.
- Maintain Local Backup: This option is available only for file geodatabase and directory replicas. When this value is set to True, the database is copied to another directory during replication. This means a slower replication time, but the database is available during replication. If this value is set to False, the database is kept in its current location during replication. This means the replication will go faster, but the database will be unavailable during replication. By default, this field is set to False.
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Transport Method: This is the method used to copy the delta file from the server to the client. There are two options: Bits and UncCopy (these values are case sensitive).
- Bits: This is a Microsoft technology that is used to transmit the delta file to the client. If the transfer is interrupted, the Bits technology picks up where it left off and completes the transfer. If you wish to use bits, the Replication Server must use Windows Server 2003 or later.
- UncCopy: This option copies the delta file to the client. However, should the transmission be interrupted, the delta will NOT be copied to the client and the update will have to be performed again. UncCopy may be used with a server running on Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP or later.
Replica Update Settings
- Update Interval: This value indicates how often (in minutes) updates are applied to the client geodatabase. A value of 0 indicates that only one update should occur and subsequent updates must be initiated manually by the user.
- Number Of Retries: This value indicates the number of times to retry an update that has failed.
- Number of Retries for Full Downloads: If the transfer should fail, Geodatabase Replication will attempt to copy the entire extracted database to the client (rather than just the delta file). This value indicates how many attempts the Web Service should make to copy the full database. Full databases will be placed in the Client Base Path in a folder called FullDatabases. This folder could grow to an enormous size if full databases are retrieved very often. Be sure to clean this directory regularly.
- Retry Interval: This value indicates the frequency (in minutes) with which retries are performed should an update fail.
Replica Web Service Settings
- Web Service URL: This field determines the URL for the Geodatabase Replication Web Service. Point this URL to the server on which the Web Service is installed. This setting will be the same on the server and on the client.
- Web Service Timeout: The value in this field determines after what amount of time the web service times out. The default value is 5 minutes.
- When you've finished configuration, select File | Save Configuration File. You may also click the red X button in the top right corner. In this case you will be prompted to save changes.
An asterisk (*) next to "ArcFM Geodatabase Replication Administrator" in the titlebar indicates that modifications have been made since the last save.
If the Replication Server resides on the same machine, configure it using the same ReplicationConsole.exe.config file.
