Replication concepts

Replication technology can be confusing. You might be forgiven for thinking that people have a reason to keep it that way. My observation is that there are many techniques, each with their own advocates, and the strengths and weaknesses are often hotly debated.

There are some simple underlying concepts that can help you understand the various options available. The terms used here are designed to avoid favoring any particular technique, and we've used standard industry terms whenever available.

Topics

Database replication is the term we use to describe the technology used to maintain a copy of a set of data on a remote system.

There are usually two main reasons for you wanting to do this, and those...