Geo-replication

Geo-replication systems improve the distribution of data across geographically distributed data networks. This enables improved end user experience of data heavy applications such as web portals. Geo-replication can be achieved using software, hardware or a combination of the two.

Geo-replication software

Geo-replication software is a network performance-enhancing technology that is designed to provide improved access to portal or intranet content for uses at the most remote parts of large organizations. It is based on the principle of storing complete replicas of portal content on local servers, and then keeping the content on those servers up-to-date using heavily compressed data updates.

Portal acceleration

Geo-replication technologies are used to provide replication of the content of portals such as Microsoft SharePoint, intranets, web applications, content and data between servers, across wide area networks WAN to allow users at remote sites to access central content at LAN speeds.

Geo-replication software can dramatically increase the performance of data networks that suffer limited bandwidth, latency and periodic disconnection. Terabytes of data can be efficiently replicated over a WAN giving remote sites rapid access to web applications.

Geo-replication software solutions use a combination of data compression and content caching technologies. Differencing technologies can also be employed to dramatically reduce the volume of data that has to be transmitted to keep portal content accurate across all servers. This update compression dramatically reduces the load that portal traffic inflicts on networks, and significantly improves the end user experience of a portal by accelerating its performance.

SharePoint replication

Remote users of web portals and collaboration environments such as Microsoft SharePoint will frequently experience network bandwidth and latency problems which will slow down their experience of opening and closing files, and otherwise interacting with the portal. Geo-replication technology is deployed to accelerate the remote end user portal performance to be equivalent to that experienced by users locally accessing the portal in the central office.

Differencing engine technologies

To deliver this dramatic reduction in the size of the required data updates across a portal, geo-replication systems often use differencing engine technologies. These systems are able to difference the content of each portal server right down to the byte level. This knowledge of the content that is already on each server enables the system to rebuild any changes to the content on one server, across each of the other servers in the deployment from content already hosted on those other servers. This type of differencing system ensures that no content, at the byte level, is ever sent to a server twice.

Offline portal replication on laptops

Geo-replication systems can often also employ a further content caching technology called Web Virtualization to enable them to create replicas of server based portal content on mobile devices such as laptops, which do not have the storage capacity to create a genuine cache of the server content. Web Virtualization enables mobile users to have access to a full replica of their business portal on a standard laptop. This technology may be employed to provide in the field access to portal content by, for example, sales forces and combat forces.

Geo-replication systems

• Infonic
• Syntergy
• Colligo Contributor

References