7
Introduction to the Replication Management Tool

The Replication Management tool is part of the Oracle Enterprise Manager Console and provides a graphical user interface (GUI) for setting up, managing, and monitoring a replication environment. The Replication Management tool includes wizards that guide you through many important operations. You can use the Replication Management tool to manage both multimaster and materialized view replication environments.

This chapter introduces you to the features of the Replication Management tool. However, the primary documentation for using this tool is the Replication Management tool online help.

This chapter contains these topics:

• Usage Scenarios for the Replication Management Tool
• Logging into the Replication Management Tool
• The Replication Management Tool Interface
• The Replication Management Tool Wizards
• Flowchart for Creating a Replication Environment

  See Also: The Replication Management tool online help for detailed instructions about using the Replication Management tool The Oracle Enterprise Manager Console documentation set and online help for information about using the Oracle Enterprise Manager Console

Usage Scenarios for the Replication Management Tool

Using the Replication Management tool, you can:

• Set up master sites and materialized view sites
• Add master sites to and remove master sites from a replication environment
• Create and manage master groups
• Monitor master sites and materialized view sites with a topology view, reports, and statistics
• Create and manage materialized view logs
• Create and manage materialized view groups
• Create and manage individual materialized views
• Create and manage refresh groups for materialized views
• Create and manage deployment templates
• Package deployment templates for offline instantiation. Note that you must use the replication management API to package deployment templates for online instantiation.
• Configure conflict resolution methods
• Create, monitor, and manage scheduled links
• Monitor and manage administrative requests
• Monitor and manage deferred transactions
• Monitor and manage error transactions
• Create, monitor, and manage local jobs

Logging into the Replication Management Tool

Assuming the Oracle Enterprise Manager Console is configured to show the databases in your replication environment, complete the following steps to log in to the Replication Management tool:

1. Open the Oracle Enterprise Manager Console.

2. Expand a database node. The Database Connect Information dialog box appears.
3. Enter the username and password for the database in the Database Connect Information dialog box.

   If you have an established replication environment, then log in as the replication administrator. If you have not set up a replication environment, then log in as SYSTEM or SYS user. Next, use the Setup Wizard to set up your master definition site and, if you want a multimaster replication environment, your other master sites.

   When setup is complete, log in to the Replication Management tool as the replication administrator you specified in the Setup Wizard. If you follow convention, then the username of the replication administrator is repadmin. You should only log in to the Replication Management tool as the replication administrator, not as any other user, after setup is complete.

4. Select Replication in the navigator pane.

   See Also: For more information on opening the Oracle Enterprise Manager Console, see the Oracle Enterprise Manager Console documentation set for information about configuring and opening the Oracle Enterprise Manager Console

The Replication Management Tool Interface

The Replication Management tool interface in the Oracle Enterprise Manager Console includes a toolbar on the far left and two panes: the navigator pane on the left and the right pane. The navigator pane displays a tree structure for your databases, and the right pane displays property sheets.

Figure 7-1 The Replication Management Tool in Oracle Enterprise Manager Console

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Navigator Pane

The navigator pane in the Oracle Enterprise Manager Console functions the same way as it does in other Oracle Enterprise Manager Console applications. That is, the navigator pane lets you:

• Access all of the nodes in your replication environment
• Expand and collapse objects and folders so that you can navigate to the object you want to monitor or manage. Examples of objects are master groups, materialized view groups, materialized views, materialized view logs, deployment templates, and so on.
• Right-click a folder or object to create a new object or perform operations on an existing object

Oracle completely redesigned the navigator tree structure in the Replication Management tool in a recent release. You begin many replication administration operations by selecting the correct object or folder in the navigator tree of the Replication Management tool.

Figure 7-2 Replication Management Tool Navigator Tree

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The following sections describe the contents of each object and folder in the tree structure.

Administration Object

The Administration object enables you to manage the entire replication site. Select the Administration object to display the following tabs in the right pane:

• Topology: Displays a graphical view of the replication environment for the selected site.
• Errors: Displays and lets you manage local errors at the selected site.
• Transactions: Displays and lets you manage the deferred transactions at the selected site.
• Schedule: Displays and lets you manage the push schedules for the database links at the selected site. Also, displays and lets you manage the purge schedule for successfully propagated deferred transactions at the selected site.
• Configuration: Displays and lets you manage configuration information at the selected site, including initialization parameters important for replication and administrative requests.
• DBMS Jobs: Displays and lets you manage the jobs created with the DBMS_JOBS package. Many of these jobs perform important replication functions, such as pushing deferred transactions and purging the deferred transactions queue.

Multimaster Replication Object

If your replication environment is configured for multimaster replication, then you use the Multimaster Replication object to set up your master sites and manage your master groups. To set up master sites with the Setup Wizard, right-click the Multimaster Replication object and select Setup Master Sites.

Master Groups Folder

The Master Groups folder contains the master groups at the selected site. When you select a master group, you can:

• Start or stop (quiesce) the master group
• View and apply administrative requests for the master group
• Purge administrative requests for the master group
• Perform DDL operations on objects in the master group
• Manage the replicated objects in a master group
• Manage the replication sites participating in the master group

To create a new master group, right-click the Master Groups folder and select Create.

Materialized View Replication Object

The Materialized View Replication object lets you administer the replication site as it relates to materialized view replication. You can administer sites that are master sites of materialized view sites, and you can administer materialized view sites themselves. To set up master sites or materialized view sites with the Setup Wizard, right-click the Materialized View Replication object and select Setup Sites.

The Materialized View Replication object contains the following objects:

• Master Site Object
• Materialized View Site Object

  Note: A replication site can be: A master site only, if it contains master groups but no materialized views. In this case, use the Master Site object to manage the site. A materialized view site only, if it contains materialized views but no master groups. In this case, use the Materialized View Site object to manage the site. Both a master site and a materialized view site, if it contains both master groups and materialized views. In this case, use both the Master Site object and the Materialized View Site object to manage the site.

Master Site Object

This object lets you manage the master groups at the replication site, and lets you manage sites that are master sites of materialized view sites. Specifically, this object lets you create, manage, and package deployment templates, and lets you create and manage materialized view logs. To set up master sites with the Setup Wizard, right-click the Master Site object and select Setup Master Sites.

The Master Site object has the following folders:

• Master Groups Folder: This folder provides the same functions as the Master Groups folder under the Multimaster Replication object. See the description of the Master Groups folder in "Multimaster Replication Object" for information.
• Materialized View Logs Folder: This folder lets you create and manage materialized view logs at the master site. To create a new materialized view log, right-click the Materialized View Logs folder and select Create.
• Templates Folder: This folder lets you create, manage, and package deployment templates at the master site. Right-click the Templates folder and select:
  • Create Using Wizard if you want to create a new deployment template with the Deployment Template Wizard
  • Copy if you want to create a local or remote copy of a deployment template with the Copy Template Wizard
  • Compare if you want to compare two local deployment templates
  • Template Script Generation if you want to package a deployment template for offline instantiation with the Template Script Generation Wizard

Materialized View Site Object

This object lets you manage materialized view sites. Specifically, this object lets you create and manage materialized view groups, materialized views, and refresh groups. To set up materialized view sites with the Setup Wizard, right-click the Materialized View Site object and select Setup Materialized View Sites.

The Materialized View Site object has the following folders:

• Materialized View Groups Folder: This folder lets you create and manage materialized view groups at the materialized view site. To create a new materialized view group with the Materialized View Group Wizard, right-click the Materialized View Groups folder and select Create Using Wizard.
• Materialized Views Folder: This folder lets you create and manage individual materialized views at the materialized view site. To create a new materialized view, right-click the Materialized Views folder and select Create.
• Refresh Groups Folder: This folder lets you create and manage refresh groups at the materialized view site. To create a new refresh group, right-click the Refresh Groups folder and select Create.

Right Pane

The right pane of the Replication Management tool enables you to monitor and manage your replication environment. Figure 7-3 shows an example of the General tab in the Master Group property sheet.

Figure 7-3 Example Property Sheet

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When you are working with a property sheet, you may click a button that opens a dialog box. For example, if you click the View Administrative Request button on the General property sheet for a master group, then the Administrative Requests dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 7-4.

Figure 7-4 Example Dialog Box

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Topology Tab

You can use the right pane of the Replication Management tool to monitor your replication environment. The Topology tab of the Administration property sheet is an example of a monitoring tool that is available to you. This tab displays a graphical representation of the nodes in your replication environment and the links between them.

Specifically, the Topology tab provides the following information:

• All of the master sites participating in replication activity for the master groups of the selected site
• The number of deferred transactions at each master site
• The destination site for deferred transactions
• The number of administrative requests at each master site
• Whether local errors exist at a master site and the number of errors
• The total number of the materialized views or materialized view groups connected to the selected master site
• Whether the master site is also functioning as a materialized view site

The Topology tab only displays values if they are greater than zero. For example, if there are zero administrative requests at a master site, then the number of administrative requests is not displayed. If you are connected to a replication site that is running Oracle9i or higher, then the Topology tab also displays a Statistics button. Click this button to view performance statistics for the replication site.

Note: If you have not created at least one master group, materialized view group, or materialized view at the selected site, the Topology tab displays a message stating that replication must be configured.

The Topology tab displays the following icons and images:

Icon/Image	Description
Text description of the illustration master.gif	Indicates a master site.
Text description of the illustration adminrea.gif	Shows the current number of administrative requests being processed at the site with which it is associated.
Text description of the illustration masterer.gif	Indicates a master site with deferred transaction errors or administrative request errors or both.
Text description of the illustration deftran.gif	Shows the current number of deferred transactions to be applied at the site to which the associated arrow is pointing.
Text description of the illustration error_de.gif	Shows the number of deferred transaction errors at the site with which it is associated.
Text description of the illustration hybrid.gif	Indicates a site that is functioning as both a master site and a materialized view site (a dual site).
Text description of the illustration hybrider.gif	Indicates a dual site with deferred transaction errors or administrative request errors or both.
Text description of the illustration regsnapg.gif	When you are connected to a master site, indicates that the master site has materialized view sites. Materialized views or materialized view groups or both may be registered at the master site.
Text description of the illustration snapshot.gif	When you are connected to a materialized view site, indicates the materialized view site.
Text description of the illustration snapshoa.gif	Indicates a materialized view site with errors.
Text description of the illustration blackarr.gif (Solid black arrow)	Indicates a working database link from the current master site to the remote master site. Note: The Replication Management tool does not test the database link at the remote site. Therefore, the database link from the remote site to the current site may be working or broken. To find out, connect to the remote site in the Oracle Enterprise Manager Console and view the Topology tab.
Text description of the illustration redarrow.gif (Dashed red arrow)	Indicates a broken database link from the current master site to the remote master site. Note: If you are not logged in as the replication administrator (typically repadmin user), then a database link may appear broken even though the link is working normally between the two sites. The link appears broken because the current user does not have a private database link between the sites, while the replication administrator does have a private database link. In this case, log in to the site as the replication administrator to see if the link is broken.
Text description of the illustration blkarrw2.gif (One way black arrow)	When you are connected to a materialized view site, indicates a database link between the materialized view site and a master site. There may or may not be a network connection currently between the two sites.
Text description of the illustration blackdot.gif (Dashed black line)	Indicates one or more database links between materialized view sites and a master site. There may or may not be a network connection currently between the sites.

Figure 7-5 Example Topology Tab in the Replication Management Tool

Text description of the illustration topology.gif

When connected to the master database orc1.world, this example Topology tab provides the following information:

• The databases orc1.world and orc2.world are master sites in the same replication environment.
• The database orc1.world is functioning only as a master site and not as a materialized view site, based on the icon for the database. The other master database (orc2.world) may be functioning only as a master site, or it may be functioning as a dual site. To find out, you can connect to orc2.world.
• The master database orc1.world has two administrative requests to process.
• The master database orc1.world has no local deferred transaction errors and no local administrative request errors.
• The master database orc2.world has no administrative requests to process.
• The master database orc2.world has no local deferred transaction errors and no local administrative request errors.
• The master database orc1.world has eight deferred transactions in its deferred transaction queue that will be applied at orc2.world.
• The master database orc2.world has three deferred transactions in its deferred transaction queue that will be applied at orc1.world.
• The master database orc1.world is the master site for one registered materialized view group and 15 registered materialized views. These registered materialized views may be spread over several materialized view sites.

The other master databases in this replication environment may also have materialized view sites, but they are only visible on the Topology tab when you are connected to those other databases. For example, to see if the master database orc2.world has any materialized view sites, connect to the orc2.world database in the Oracle Enterprise Manager Console and open the Topology tab.

The Replication Management Tool Wizards

The Replication Management tool wizards provide step-by-step guidance for tasks that require many steps. The wizards simplify complex tasks by guiding you through the task in manageable steps. The following sections describe the Replication Management tool wizards:

• Setup Wizard
• Materialized View Group Wizard
• Deployment Template Wizard
• Template Script Generation Wizard
• Copy Template Wizard

Setup Wizard

The Setup Wizard guides you through setting up master sites and materialized view sites for replication. Preparing sites for replication is a simple process using the Setup Wizard. At each site that you specify, the Setup Wizard performs the following steps:

• Creates a database account to serve as a replication administrator. By default, the Setup Wizard creates this account to serve also as the replication propagator and receiver. The default username for the replication administrator at a master site is repadmin, and the default username at a materialized view site is mvadmin. However, you can change these usernames if you wish.
• Grants the necessary privileges to the replication administrator account.
• Creates database links to correspond to new replication administrator accounts at each replication site.
• For master sites and optionally for materialized view sites, schedules a job to push changes from the master site to each other master site.
• Schedules a job to purge the deferred transaction queue of completed transactions for all sites in the system.

The Setup Wizard is slightly different for master sites than for materialized view sites. To open the Setup Wizard to set up master sites, right-click the Multimaster Replication object in the navigator pane and select Setup Master Sites.

Figure 7-6 Opening Screen of Setup Wizard for Master Sites

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See Also: The "Setup Master Sites: Overview" topic in the Replication Management tool online help for detailed information about using the Setup Wizard to set up a master site. To access this topic in the online help, open Replication > Set Up Replication Sites > Master Site in the Help Contents.

To open the Setup Wizard to set up materialized view sites, right-click the Materialized View Site object in the navigator pane and select Setup Materialized View Sites.

Note: The Setup Wizard sets up materialized view sites with untrusted security. Oracle Database Advanced Replication Management API Reference for more information about untrusted security.

Figure 7-7 Opening Screen of Setup Wizard for Materialized View Sites

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See Also: The "Set Up Materialized View Sites: Overview" topic in the Replication Management tool online help for detailed information about using the Setup Wizard to set up a materialized view site. To access this topic in the online help, open Replication > Set Up Replication Sites > Materialized View Site in the Help Contents.

See Also: Chapter 2, "Master Replication Concepts and Architecture" for more information about master sites Chapter 3, "Materialized View Concepts and Architecture" for more information about materialized view sites.

Materialized View Group Wizard

The Materialized View Group Wizard guides you through creating a group of materialized views based on a master group. Each materialized view can be a partial or complete copy of the master tables in its source master group. Materialized view groups are located at remote materialized view sites and are based on a single, target master group at a master site.

Run the Materialized View Group Wizard at the materialized view site where you want to create the materialized view group. To open the Materialized View Group Wizard, right-click the Materialized View Groups folder in the navigator pane and select Create Using Wizard.

Figure 7-8 Opening Screen of the Materialized View Group Wizard

Text description of the illustration rmsnapgr.gif

See Also: The "Create Materialized View Group: Overview" topic in the Replication Management tool online help for detailed information about using the Materialized View Group Wizard to create a materialized view group. To access this topic in the online help, open Replication > Materialized View Replication > Create in the Help Contents.

See Also: "Materialized View Groups" for more information about materialized view groups

Deployment Template Wizard

Deployment templates simplify the task of deploying and maintaining many remote materialized view sites. Using deployment templates, you can define a collection of materialized view definitions at a master site and use parameters in these definitions to customize the materialized views for individual users or types of users.

For example, you might create one template for the sales force and another template for field service representatives. In this case, a parameter value might be the sales territory or the customer support level. When a user instantiates a template by running a SQL script, the appropriate materialized views are created and populated at the remote site.

The Deployment Template Wizard guides you through creating a deployment template. Individual screens in the Deployment Template Wizard let you:

• Name the deployment template and specify whether it is public or private. If it is private, then you can specify authorized users.
• Add objects to the deployment template
• Specify parameters for the deployment template

Run the Deployment Template Wizard from the master site where you want to create the deployment template. To open the deployment template wizard, right-click the Templates folder in the navigator pane and select Create Using Wizard.

Figure 7-9 Opening Screen of the Deployment Template Wizard

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See Also: The "Overview of Creating a Deployment Template" topic in the Replication Management tool online help for detailed information about using the Deployment Template Wizard to create a deployment template. To access this topic in the online help, open Replication > Deployment Templates > Create in the Help Contents.

See Also: Chapter 4, "Deployment Templates Concepts and Architecture" for more information about deployment templates

Template Script Generation Wizard

Offline instantiation allows an end user to use a generated file to instantiate a template without being connected to the master site through a network. The Template Script Generation Wizard enables you to write all of the necessary DDL and data to a file that you then transfer and run at your materialized view site. This solution is best suited for laptop users with low-speed WAN connections, or in other cases where connectivity is unstable or slow.

The Template Script Generation Wizard guides you through packaging a deployment template for offline instantiation. The Template Script Generation Wizard generates offline instantiation files that you use to build materialized views and other objects at your materialized view sites.

Run the Template Script Generation Wizard at the master site that contains the template for which you want to generate the offline instantiation files. To run the Template Script Generation Wizard, right-click the Templates folder in the navigator pane and select Template Script Generation.

Figure 7-10 Opening Screen of the Template Script Generation Wizard

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Note: To generate online instantiation files, you must use the replication management API. See Oracle Database Advanced Replication Management API Reference for information about generating online instantiation files.

See Also: The "Package for Offline Instantiation: Overview" topic in the Replication Management tool online help for detailed information about using the Template Script Generation Wizard to package a deployment template for offline instantiation. To access this topic in the online help, open Replication > Deployment Templates > Packaging and Instantiation in the Help Contents.

See Also: "Packaging and Instantiation Process" for more information on packaging and instantiating deployment templates

Copy Template Wizard

The Copy Template Wizard guides you through copying a deployment template. You may need to copy them to multiple master sites for various reasons. For example, you may want to:

• Distribute network load: Before allowing users to instantiate the template, you need to locate the template at the master site of the target materialized view sites. If you have a large network, then you may want to copy the template definition to multiple master sites, thereby distributing the network load of multiple materialized view sites.
• Make changes to a template: After building a template, you may need to create another template that has many of the same characteristics of the first template. Instead of building an entirely new template, copy the template and modify it as necessary.

Run the Copy Template Wizard from the master site that contains the deployment template. To open the Copy Template Wizard, right-click the Templates folder in the navigator pane and select Copy.

Figure 7-11 Copy Template Wizard

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See Also: The "Copying a Template" topic in the Replication Management tool online help for detailed information about using the Copy Template Wizard to copy a deployment template. To access this topic in the online help, open Replication > Deployment Templates > Manage in the Help Contents.

Flowchart for Creating a Replication Environment

The flowchart in Figure 7-12 displays the major decisions and tasks that are involved when you create a replication environment using the Replication Management tool. The flowchart shows the major decisions and steps for building both multimaster and materialized view environments. Each task in the flowchart includes a cross reference to a section in this book that provides more information about the task. Detailed instructions about completing these tasks are in the Replication Management tool online help.

Figure 7-12 Create a Replication Environment Using the Replication Management Tool

Text description of the illustration repln084.gif