STARQUEST DATA REPLICATOR v3.41 June 2008 (c)Copyright 1994-2008 StarQuest Ventures, Inc. All Rights Reserved. StarQuest Ventures, Inc. PO Box 1076 Point Reyes Station, CA 94956 Telephone: 415-669-9619 FAX: 415-669-9629 Sales & Support: contact@starquest.com URL: http://www.starquest.com StarQuest Data Replicator (SQDR) is a replication software product that allows you to copy data between IBM DB2, Oracle, and Microsoft SQL Server database environments. You can replicate any table, portion of a table, or view. You can schedule replications to take place at specified intervals or on demand. Replicating data from one database management system to another allows you to: o make the same data available to users of different database systems o make the same data available to multiple sites o balance network and database server loads by making the data available from two or more database servers o create backup copies of data StarQuest Data Replicator provides: * incremental replication from supported host databases * full refresh replication, which copies all the source data that you specify for replication, regardless of when that data was last replicated. This provides a "snapshot" of the specified source data at the time of replication. Review the information in this Readme before you install the Data Replicator software. After you install the software, refer to the online help for information about configuring and using Data Replicator. Press F1 or click the Help button in a dialog or on the toolbar to display the online help. --------------- Readme Contents --------------- This ReadMe.txt file contains important information about installing the StarQuest Data Replicator v3.1. It provides information about: o System Requirements o What's New in This Release o Upgrading from an Earlier Version of StarQuest Data Replicator o Installing StarQuest Data Replicator v3 o Contacting StarQuest Technical Support o Known Issues ---------------------------------- What's New in Data Replicator v3.4 ---------------------------------- o Support for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 o Support for i5/OS v6r1 o Improved support for using database systems with mixed case names (such as SQL Server 2005 configured for mixed case database and table names) as a replication source o Enhanced diagnostic tools ------------------- System Requirements ------------------- You can install and run the StarQuest Data Replicator on any computer that is capable of running SQL Server, such as: o Windows Server 2008 o Windows Vista o Windows Server 2003 o Windows XP Professional or Home Edition o Windows 2000 Professional or Server The Data Replicator requires a control database in which to store definitions for sources, destinations, and subscriptions. You can use either of the following editions of SQL Server for the SQDR control database. If you do not already have a SQL Server installation, you can obtain the Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE 2000) free of charge from www.microsoft.com/sql/msde/downloads to use as a control database for the Data Replicator. o SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE 2000) Release A, or MSDE 2000 SP3a o SQL Server 2000 with SP3a If you are using Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008, you should use SQL Server 2005 sp2 or the SQL Server 2005 Express Edition sp2 for the SQDR control database. Note that SQL Server 2005 Express does not include the SQL Server Agent component, which is what allows SQDR subscriptions to run automatically. Use the MSDE 2000 version or one of the full SQL Server products for the SQDR control database if you want to schedule subscriptions to run automatically. You can replicate data to and from any of the following database systems: o DB2 for OS/390 v5.1 and later o DB2/400 (DB2 UDB for iSeries) OS/400 v3r2 and later o DB2 Universal Database (UDB) v6.x and later for UNIX and Windows o SQL/DS (DB2 for VM & VSE) v3.3 and later o SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE 2000) Release A, or MSDE 2000 SP3a o SQL Server 2000 with SP3a o SQL Server v7.0 with at least SP1 (v7.00.699), although SP4 or the current service pack is recommended o Oracle 8i or later Access to DB2 databases requires the StarSQL ODBC/DRDA driver, v5.10 or later. Access to Oracle databases requires the Oracle Client software, including the ODBC driver from either Oracle or Microsoft. In addition, you can use Data Replicator with other databases if they can be accessed through an ODBC driver that complies with Level 2 of the ODBC 3.51 specification. ----------------------------------------- Upgrading from an Earlier Version of SQDR ----------------------------------------- If you are using StarQuest Data Replicator v2.0 or earlier you must obtain a new license key to run replications using v3. Contact StarQuest, as described later in this ReadMe file, to obtain a valid license key for SQDR v3. Or, you can install the Data Replicator software and then use the online licensing feature of the License Configuration utility to request a license key. Before you install the v3 Data Replicator software, back up your existing SQDR control database and the following key from the Windows registry. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\StarQuest\SQDRSVC (for SQDR v2.5) HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSSQLServer\SQDRSVC (for SQDR v1.6 or v2.01) The installation program for SQDR implements the Microsoft Best Practices for installing Windows products. If you are upgrading from v2.5, the installation program for Data Replicator v3 automatically checks for a prior version of Data Replicator software and prompts for approval to remove it. If you are upgrading from v1.6 or v2.01, un-install the existing version before you install v3. To remove v1.6 or v2.01, select Setup.exe from the StarQuest Data Replicator program group and select the Remove option. When you remove a previous version of Data Replicator, a prompt appears asking whether you want to remove the prior control tables (definitions of sources, destinations, and subscriptions) and replications that are scheduled to run automatically (scheduled SQL Server tasks). Select No in response to the question about removing these if you want to use the prior control database with the new release of Data Replicator. From the last pane of the InstallShield Wizard for v3 you have a choice to run the Data Replicator Configuration Wizard when you click Finish. Even if you have an existing SQDR control database you must configure it for use with v3. After you configure Data Replicator and start the Replicator Manager, review the Replicator Service properties. You may want to compare the values of the previous \SQDRSVC key that you backed up from the Windows Registry to the values that are set for the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ StarQuest\SQDRSVC key by SQDR v3. However, make changes to the values of this key only by running the Configuration Wizard or editing the Service Properties dialogs. Refer to the online help for more information about the Service Properites. Be sure to upgrade all instances of Data Replicator. The Replicator Manager and Replicator Service must be of the same version release to communicate. You cannot manage v3 components using a prior release of Data Replicator. As a result of the architectural changes implemented for Data Replicator v3 (see the What's New in This Release section above), customers of prior versions should be aware of the following changes in functionality: o SQL Server v7 is no longer supported for use as a SQDR Control Database. Although you can replicate data to or from v7, you must use SQL Server 2000 or SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE) as described in the System Requirements section. o Removing the dependency on the ODS Gateway, which Microsoft is no longer supporting, removes the ability to manage a Replicator Service from a remote computer. The Replicator Service and Replicator Manager must be installed on the same computer. o Implementation of the COM interface for v3 removes the ability to interface with Data Replicator using RPCs. You can still run scheduled subscriptions using stored procedure calls, as described in the online help. o You can no longer specify that a subscription use separate execution threads for fetch and insert operations. To improve the performance of replication operations, use the new Groups feature to run multiple subscriptions concurrently. ----------------------------- Installing Data Replicator v3 ----------------------------- To install SQDR v3, execute the Setup.exe program from the distributed software image. The InstallShield Wizard presents a series of dialogs to lead you through the process of installing the StarQuest Data Replicator software to a location you specify. The last Wizard panel provides an opportunity to start the Windows ODBC Administrator and/or the Data Replicator Configuration Wizard when you click Finish. Start the Windows ODBC Administrator if you need to define an ODBC Data Source Name (DSN) that connects to the database you will use for the Data Replicator control tables. Start the Configuration Wizard to configure the SQDR Control Database. After you install and configure the Data Replicator software, start the Data Replicator Manager. If a valid license for using Data Replicator is not found, the License Configuration dialog automatically appears so you can enter a license key or request a key using the Internet. Refer to the online help system for information about configuring and using the Data Replicator software. -------------------- Contacting StarQuest -------------------- Please use the following methods to contact StarQuest Ventures if you need to obtain a license key, or have suggestions or need information about StarQuest products. If you need to obtain a license key and have access to the Internet, the License Configuration utility included with Data Replicator offers an online licensing feature. StarQuest Ventures, Inc. PO Box 1076 Point Reyes Station, CA 94956 Telephone: 415-669-9619 FAX: 415-669-9629 Email: contact@starquest.com Web: http://www.starquest.com ------------------------ Known Issues for SQDR v3 ------------------------ -Saving Subscriptions to AS/400 Member Files- If you encounter a subscription validation error while saving a new subscription that will replicate to a member of a physical file on an AS/400, you may need to cancel the subscription wizard and completely redefine the subscription in order to specify a member for the destination file. -Mapping NCHAR and NVARCHAR Column Types- If you create a subscription that maps SQL Server 7.0 NCHAR or NVARCHAR column types to CHAR or VARCHAR types on a DB2 or Oracle destination, you must take an extra step to ensure that the destination column type is assigned the correct Precision: After specifying the information requested on the Columns screen of the Add Subscription Wizard, select each NCHAR or NVARCHAR source column, then click the Modify Column button to display the Column Properties dialog box. Click OK to return to the Columns wizard screen. When you have done this for each NCHAR or NVARCHAR source column, click Next to proceed to the next wizard screen. If you omit this step, the Columns wizard screen will display the correct Precision values for the applicable destination columns, but those columns will be created with double the displayed Precision values. -Precision Limitation for Oracle CHAR and RAW Column Types- The Oracle driver and the Microsoft ODBC for Oracle driver have a limitation that affects replicating from SQL Server or DB2 columns to an Oracle column of data type CHAR or RAW. Although the Oracle CHAR and RAW data types allow larger values, you must set the precision for the destination column that uses these types to 255 or less. If the source column precision is greater than 255, you can avoid data truncation by changing the destination column to a data type that allows a larger precision value. For character data, change the Oracle destination column data type to VARCHAR or LONG. For binary data, change the data type to LONG RAW. - BCP error when replicating to SQL Server Replication to SQL Server may fail in certain situations, e.g. where there is at least one LOB in the source table and more than one 'text'/'image' column exists in target table. Workaround: use ODBC rather than BCP replication - Memory usage of Service increases when communicating with Manager Leaving the Data Replicator Manager running for extended periods of time could cause a memory management problem in the Replicator Service. To avoid this, we recommend running the Replicator Manager only when you need to configure the service or subscriptions or monitor the replication operations. In addition, the Replication Manager will automatically exit after running for twelve hours. Incremental Replication ======================= Use of SQDR for incremental replication from an AS/400 database requires the companion product SQDR Plus for iSeries to be installed on the AS/400. When using SQDR for incremental replication from the AS/400, set the BinaryCCSID Advanced Setting in the StarSQL datasource to 0. In addition, the isolation level in the SQL Options pane of the StarSQL datasource should be set to "Read Committed". Use of SQDR for incremental replication from a DB2 UDB for Windows or UNIX database requires the companion product SQDR Plus for DB2 UDB to be installed on the database system. ============== CHANGE HISTORY ============== V.3.41.0605 10411 Add 12 hour timeout to SQDR RM sessions 3.40.0421 4/21/08 10332 Installer: support Windows Server 2008 and Vista 10360 Installer: more changes for Windows Server 2008 and Vista 10357 unable to create incremental subscription with iSeries Access v6r1 10359 Move Crash Dumps directory to COMMON_DOCUMENTS 10363 Documentation: recommend SQL Server 2005 Express sp2 in addition to MSDE 2000 10371 Add event log extract and crashdump copy to WRITEDB.CMD 10373 Unable to get table list in sub wizard from case-sensitive SQL Server 9740 Config: SET AUTO_CLOSE OFF when creating new ControlDB on SQL2005 3.35.0128 1/28/08 10316 Text(SQL Server) to LOB (UDB) results in invalid CREATE TABLE (must specifiy NOT LOGGED) 10320 Default mapping for SQL_GUID should be binary, not char 10324 wrap capture SQL with case logic for null columns in ADD, DELETE record types 3.34.0402 4/2/07 10033 Extended Stored Proc should block after starting replication 10034 WRITEDB.CMD enhancements 9981 Email notification should not send bare linefeeds 10036 Installer: add 64 bit sqdrxp.dll & instructions 3.33.0124 1/24/07 9972 Scheduled IR group run should work like menu command Run Group 3.32.1304 1/4/07 9925 last baseline statistic not showing up under I/R group/subscription member display 9937 SQDR RM - If you don't view properties of the GROUP - force use of RRN is not set 3.31.1130 11/30/06 9932 Treat I/R Group target DBMS outage as polling error