Creating replication sets

Use this procedure to define a set of data for replication. After a replication set has been defined and its schema registered, you can schedule the running of it.

You can also create a replication set by copying from an existing one. See Copying Replication Sets.

Note: When creating new replication sets or modifying delivered replication sets, it is important to ensure that business classes and fields will have unique names. You can achieve this by using the Replicate Name field for added business classes or added fields, or by using the Name Prefix field if you add business classes in bulk.

For information on business classes (tables), see the table definition documentation for your Landmark applications on the Infor Support Portal.

Navigate to the Replication Sets form. This form is available in the Landmark Administration Console under the Database tab or you can locate it in the Infor Rich Client by searching for ReplicationSet.
Click Create.
Specify a name for the replication set, and optionally specify the history count, a description, and an export format, and click Save.

Replication Set

Specify the name of the replication set.

Last Replication

Displays the date and time this replication set was last replicated.

Maintain History Count

Specify the number of replications to maintain in history. If replications are maintained in history, you can choose to revert to one of those instances. You can view history information on the History tab for a replication set and for each business class in the replication set.

Service

If you specify an Infor Process Automation service, when the replication set completes successfully, then the service will be triggered and work units created for the processes attached to the service. For example, you could link an Infor Process Automation service to a replication set where the flow associated with the service then moved and processed FTP files that were created by the replication.
Note: The following variables are passed to the service by the replication set: ReplicationSet, LastRefreshStamp, VariationID.

Description

Specify a description for the replication set.

In Process

If checked, the replication set is in the process of being replicated to its target.

Export Format

Valid values are JSON, XML, CSV, and Columnar. If you select no value, it defaults to JSON. You must select JSON if exporting to the Infor Data Lake (via IMS). If you select Columnar, not all of the standard replication set features will be available, such as the fields for specifying destinations. For more information on columnar, see Implementing Columnar Tables.

Enable Enterprise Search

When selected and if the business classes contain text search fields, the schema will include index information.

This does not apply to replication to FTP or file directories.

Locale Set

Select an iso locale set if you want to include data translations for the iso locales in that set. For information on iso locale sets, see Creating Iso Locale Sets.

Default Locale

If you have specified an iso locale set in order to include data translations and your export format is JSON, specify a default locale. For the JSON output, the translated data only is included if it exists and the default or base data only is included if there is no translated data. For the CSV and XML outputs, the default or base data is always included.

Schema output

Select IMS, FTP, and/or Directory.

Data output

Select IMS, FTP, Directory, and/or Local. If you select Local, then you must also supply the name of a local data area (one in the same environment as the current data area) to replicate to.

Include Replication As Of Time Field

If selected, a field is added to each replicated record that contains the time the replication goes through. On an initial replication, all records in a business class will have the same timestamp. However, if there is then an incremental replication where only some records are replicated, then those records will have a different timestamp in this new field than other records in the business class.

If you modify this field after a replication has been done, you must perform a new schema registration for the replication set. This field does not apply to a business class if incremental replication has been disabled for that class.
After you have saved the base definition of the replication set, you can add business classes to it one by one or you can add multiple business classes based on criteria.

If you want to add business classes one by one:
1. On the Business Classes pane, click Create.
2. On the Replication Class form, specify this information:
  Business Class
  
  Select a business class.
  
  Delivered
  
  You cannot edit this setting. If checked, it means you are restricted from making changes to the fields from this business class that are included in the replication set, with the exception of adding fields from the business class not currently in the replication set and adding user or custom fields. To add user or custom fields, select the Custom Fields tab.
  
  Custom Fields
  
  For delivered replication sets (those with a name ending in "_ST"), a Custom Fields tab is available for adding custom fields. Click the Create button and then select the field you want to add. Provide a Replicate Name that will never conflict with current or future fields in the business class, for example by adding a prefix or suffix to ensure the name is unique.
  
  If the delivered replication set is updated in a future release, the custom fields are persisted in the replication set definition. The custom fields and the delivered ones are sent within the same payload when the replication occurs. Note that when any new fields are added to the replication set the schema must be registered again.
  
  Replicate Class
  
  In order to avoid duplicate data, you should provide an alternate name in the replicated data for the business class. The recommended approach is to prefix the name with a short text string not used in any other replication set. See also the description of the Name Prefix field.
  
  Use Columnar Variation Pattern
  
  Select this check box to improve the performance of incremental replications to a columnar table if the table holds a large amount of data and you need to do frequent incremental replications. With this selected, updated records will be inserted into the columnar table with a variation id (without deleting the previous record). Landmark views created on the columnar table will read only the latest variation of any record. External views will need to query the appropriate columnar table and use the last variation ID for the current record when data is replicated using the columnar variation pattern.
  Note: If you have an existing replication set with Use Columnar Variation Pattern selected and that replication set has been replicated, and you then deselect this check box, you will need to reset that replication set business class record and re-replicate the replication set. However, there is no special consideration for an existing replication set where you have already replicated and then choose to select the Use Columnar Variation Pattern check box. The correct incremental variation will be reflected on the columnar view list (that is, there is no need to reset and re-replicate).
  
  Disable Incremental Replication
  
  Select this if you want to replicate all records each time the replication is run, even if the records have not changed. You can only use this option if the business class has an update stamp. However, Infor recommends that you do not disable incremental replication for large data sets. For business classes without an update stamp, you must select this option. When doing a full replication, all records will be "creates." When doing incremental replication, you can expect a mix of "creates" and "updates."
  
  Data To Extract
  Select the type of data to include in the replication. Your choices are:
  
  Current Data
  
  Audit Log Entries (only valid for business classes that implement auditing)
  
  Future Effective Entries (only valid for business classes that implement effective dating)
  
  Audit and Future Entries (both audit log and future effective entries in the same replication set)
  Earliest Change Date to Include
  
  Use this field to set a date so that the replication of the business class includes only data that has been created or modified on or after that date. For more information about this field and about using it with the Backfill Data action, see Setting an earliest data inclusion date and backfilling data.
  
  Also Replicate To Columnar
  
  Select this check box to replicate the business class to a columnar table as well as to the replication set's data export type.
  
  Multi Thread Full Replications
  
  Select this check box to enable the multi-threading of full replications. This setting can also be applied to the initial replication of a replication set that will be incrementally updated in the future. You cannot use this setting on replication sets that are for backfilling of data.
  
  If you select this, you will need to specify the number of threads and the field to use to partition the data. You will only be able to choose the multi-thread field from available numeric or integer fields. The number of threads will determine the number of partitions of the data and the number of async jobs to process the replication.
  
  Condition and Additional Condition
  
  If you want to use conditions to control what is replicated, click Builder in order to define the conditions.
  
  Columnar Flatten Hierarchy
  
  For columnar tables, select this check box if the selected business class has child or parent hierarchies and you want to flatten those hierarchies. Flattening will enable the tables to be more efficiently consumed by Birst. These columnar tables will be stored in Landmark and their names will end in "_CFH".
  
  Number of Hierarchy Levels
  
  Select the number of hierarchy levels to flatten. Specify a number that is slightly higher than the number of hierarchies needed to capture the data that you need. Specifying a number of levels that is unnecessarily high will impact performance.
  
  Always Rebuild
  
  Select this check box if you want to always rebuild the columnar table on each replication. If you do not select this check box, the replication will be incrementatl. However, the system will rebuild completely if hierarchy changes make rebuilding necessary.
3. If the business class you have saved to the replication set is one for which the indicator replication is supported, two additional fields are available.
  Enable Indicator Replication
  
  For business classes that support indicator replication, this check box is selected by default. When selected, it causes incremental replication to be applied only to records where the indicator field value equals the "replicate when" value specified in the business class's LPL. After replication, the indicator field value will be changed to the "set to" value, which is also specified in the LPL, and other actions may be applied. The use of the indicator field means that incremental replication is not done based on the update stamp on records, but rather on how the application has defined that business class. Because of the way that databases use the update stamp to index and process records, using the indicator field instead can result in much better replication performance for high-volume business classes.
  
  Indicator Field
  
  Some business classes that support indicator replication have more than one indicator field. Use this field to specify which indicator field this replication set will use. One advantage to specifying different indicator fields for different replication sets that include the same business class, is that only one replication set can include that business class if it had only one indicator field available. With multiple indicator fields for a business class, it is possible to include that business class in different replication sets that serve different purposes. For backwards capability, any replication sets that were defined with only the Enable Indicator Replication check box selected will use the first indicator field defined in the business class LPL.
  
  Create Only
  When this check box is selected, any updated records are sent as Creates (deleted records are still sent as Deletes). Selecting this check box can improve replication performance, particularly for columnar replications for large business classes where the records are expected to be immutable once they have been replicated. The business class must meet several conditions:
  
  The business class records include an update stamp.
  
  The indicator pattern should specify "index update stamp set".
  
  The indicator field has auditing disabled or the business class is not audited.
  
  If the indicator field were audited, replication would cause the update stamp to be changed, which in turn would hinder performance by causing otherwise unneeded reads of the records. If the conditions for the business class are met and the Create Only check box is selected, then the incremental replication will replicate records where both the update stamp indicates they are new or modified and the "replication when" value for the indicator field is matched.
  Ignore Indicator On Full Replication
  
  When this check box is selected, for the initial replication or after a reset, the replication will pick up any records where the indicator field matches either the "replicate when" value or the "set to" value. Any that are not already set to the "set to" value will get updated. This allows re-replicating without having to reset the indicator on all records. When this check box is not selected, both full and incremental replications will only pick up records that match the "replicate when" value.
4. Click Save.
5. After you have saved the business class to the replication set, the primary set key fields are added automatically. You can then add more fields by clicking Add Fields and selecting the type of persistent fields and persistent field cube dimensions values to add. Use the Fields tab to modify the list of fields, such as by adding them individually or deleting them. If you add fields to a business class in a delivered replication set, be sure to add an alternate name via the Replicate Name field. Use the Related Replicates tab to add related records. If the related record has changed, the business class record will replicate also even if it has not changed. (You can use this tab only if you selected Current Data in the Data To Extract field.)
If you want to add a set of business classes based on criteria:
1. Click Add Business Classes.
2. On the Add Business Classes form, specify this information:
  
  Module
  
  Select one of the application modules in order to include business classes associated with that module.
  
  Owned By
  
  Select All, Application, or Framework to indicate whether you want to include business classes that belong to the application, to the framework, or to both. If you selected a module, there is no need to select a value for this field.
  
  Name Is Like
  
  Specify a character string, including asterisks to indicate any character in order to select the business classes with matching names.
  
  Name Prefix
  
  Specify a prefix to avoid duplicates in the replicated data. This is strongly recommended and necessary if multiple replication sets will include the same business class. It is also important that this prefix differ from any prefixes used by any replication sets delivered by a Landmark application.
  
  Automatically add fields?
  
  Select the types of persistent fields that you want to have added automatically to the replication sets, and select if you want to add cube dimension values for persistent fields.
Make any needed modifications to the business class fields to be replicated. For example:
- Delete fields that are not needed for your purposes.
- Change the order to the fields by clicking in the New Sort Order column for a field and specifying a number. When you click Save, the fields will be reordered.
After the definition of the replication set is complete, select Register All Schemas from the Actions menu on the Replication Set form.