Replication

Replication is an activity where data that is sent to a local storage system is also copied over a network to another storage system located somewhere far from a primary site. The goal of replication is to have an up-to-date data on two or more storage systems and geographic locations. Moreover, replication can be achieved in different ways and at various level in the technology stack of computing. Replication process can take place from one system to another system referred to as primary backup replication. Furthermore, data on an application server is sent to a distant storage system for data recovery or disaster recovery purposes. And it can also be bidirectional which occurs between two active servers known as multi-primary or multi-master replication.

There are two types of replication, namely synchronous and asynchronous replication.

• Synchronous replication: Sending data to a local and to a remote storage system are performed as a single operation, guaranteeing that data on the remote storage system is identical to data on the local storage system.
• Asynchronous replication: Sending data to the remote storage system is not kept in sync with updates on the local storage system