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06 Jan 2009

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	DataSync can mirror your databases fast and easy.
Posted By: Support KFC On: 25 Jun 2007 12:00 PM

Details DataSync is a feature very useful to people who need to back up and to mirror multiple sizable database across the Internet or corporate networks.

SyncEXPnet - Synchronize file, folder and database across the Internet and your own networks.
Platform: Windows XP / NT / 2000 / 2003
Email: hotline [ at ] syncexp.com
Web Site: http://syncexp.com

------------------------------------ About DataSync ------------------------------------

DataSync is a feature very useful to people who need to back up and to mirror multiple sizable database across the Internet or corporate networks.

This feature is built-in the SyncEXPnet, which is freely downloadable from < http://syncexp.com >.

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Please read this file if you will use the database synchronization (DataSync) function.

1. Basics

Dataset - Your targeted data to be synchronized. In a database, a table is a dataset;

Record - Data entries forming a dataset, the same concept as on database. A database can have multiple tables. A table with fewer than a thousand records is considered "small" in SyncEXPnet.

Field - Different attributes of data, the same concept as on a database.

Key Field - A specific Field in which its value is unique within a table. Key Field value should be characters or convertible strings. Once a record is written its value should not be changed. Key Field does NOT support Unicode. Table's Key Field can be used for our synchronization purpose. To speed up the sync speed this Key Field is preferably indexed. SyncEXPnet uses Key Field to identify a record, so it is fundamentally important when using the program.

Modified Time - It is one of the fields in a table. It tracks when a record was last changed. SyncEXPnet uses this field to decide if a record is ever needed to be processed. This field is useful even for tables not supposed to be updated in any time, because the field helps speeding up data scanning. If this field is not found in a table all data within a record will be scanned thoroughly and compared bit by bit -- it is fine for a small table (less than a thousand records), but it could hang your machine on big boys. SyncEXPnet supports this field in both DateTime and Date formats. An index for that field is desirable for an efficient sync task.

SyncEXPnet has an option for you to control how old (in terms of day) are the records you want to compare and sync. If you define it as 300 days, records older than 301 days will be ignored. It is means to help you on processing efficiently some grandpa age and big size databases which freshness of older data is never of your interest.

Deletion Tag - It is one of the fields in a table. Typically it is a binary field with only true/false options. When a record is decided to be deleted, SyncEXPnet will tag the field as "true" instead of physically remove the record. By our experience, a straight deletion of record can create chaos when a host database is being synchronized to multiple mirror sites which are all changing independently. This Deletion Tag helps a sync task be done much more accurately and reliably. The only drawback is that one needs to manually delete true-tagged records from time to time, or to add a module in your database application to purge them automatically.

2. Operational Structure

SyncEXPnet
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Data Access Interface (wDataAcc.dll)
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ODBC
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Database

3. How to Use

3.1 Add ODBC data source

You can add your database easily by using Windows built-in ODBC management tool odbcad32.exe. You should classify your database as "user database" or "system database". The former allows only you, the current log in user, to access; while the latter allow all other users with respective admin right to access.

For example, you have a Microsoft Access database file namely d:\abc.mdb, you will be adding the file to SyncEXPnet in following steps:

i) Go to Windows "Start" button on your screen's bottom left, click "Run", enter odbcad32.exe and click "Ok".
ii) On run of odbcad32.exe, select "System DSN" tab, click Add, and select "Microsoft Access Driver(*.mdb)", click "Finish".
iii) In "Data Source Name" type whatever you like such as ABC, click "Select" button and pick "d:\abc.mdb", click "Confirm". For other types of databases, such as MySQL and DB2, you may need to add more details (such as driver type) for the ODBC to function.

3.2 Data Access Interface Setting

Data Access Interface file wDataAcc.dll adopt data from file DataSync.ini as your local configuration. SyncEXPnet has attached an independent executable IniAdmin.exe to automatically add your local data to DataSync.ini. If you are an expert in manipulating database structure you can even edit your DataSync.ini directly using Notepad.

3.3 The SEServer.exe

Use this server side program to define who can access which database(s) and in what extend, the access rights.

3.4 The SEClient.exe

Use this client side program to define task for each table. A database can have multiple tables, and you can define independent task(s) to each and every single table within a database.

If you are not familiar to possibilities in defining a sync task in SyncEXPnet, it is advisable for you to get yourself fluent in using the "FileSync" function before you will entering this "DataSync" one. Once you get use to the host-mirror data exchange concepts, DataSync is just another piece of cake.

4. Supplementary Information on ODBC

Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) provides a standard software API method for using database management systems (DBMS). The designers of ODBC aimed to make it independent of programming languages, database systems, and operating systems.

Microsoft ODBC - Microsoft released the first ODBC product as a set of DLLs for Microsoft Windows. As of 2006, Microsoft ships its own ODBC with every supported version of Windows.

5. Feedback

Please submit a ticket at our Support Desk for any bug report and comment.

http://support.syncexp.com