Presenter: John Tkaczewski

Duration: 30 minutes

February Webinar: The Basics of Remote Data

Replication

Presenter Introduction

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John Tkaczewski• Co-Founder and President of Unlimi-Tech Software

• Oversees creative and technical vision for FileCatalyst Webmail and FileCatalyst Workflow

• Blog: http://www.filecatalyst.com/blog

• Sign up for our next user forum in London, UK next week on Monday (Feb 25th, 2013)

Agenda

• Remote data replication overview

• Remote data replication scenarios

• Data replication vs. sync

• Replication tools within FileCatalyst

• Platform specific gotchas

• Data replication across operating systems

• File system events

• HotFolder to HotFolder replication

• DEMO

• 30 day free trial and licensing options

• Questions (please type them in as we go)

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Remote data replication overview

Remote data replication

• Data replication, also known as remote folder mirroring or folder synchronization, occurs when the same folder contents is duplicated across 2 or more computers, often across wide area networks (WANs) or geographically dispersed offices

• Must support large data sets: – Complex directory tree structures

– Thousands or even millions of files

– Combination of small and very large files up-to terabyte

• Wide Area Files System, ideally must work at file system level to prevent continuous scanning of folders.

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Remote data replication scenarios

Remote data replication is often used when organizations require consistent data across multiple geographical locations.

• Possible use cases:– Remote Backups for disaster recovery

– Mirroring of Data across multiple offices (for faster data access)

– Moving the data to the edge (closer to the consumers)

– Global Content Distribution Network (CDN)

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Data replication vs. sync

• Replication (or mirroring) involves a single master node and one or multiple slave nodes

• Sync involves multiple nodes all acting as master nodes. Every node can modify any file in the folder. – Sync requires complex rules to prevent and handle collisions

– Sync across more then 2 master nodes is even more challenging

– Sync is not recommended with FileCatalyst HotFolder

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Replication tools within FileCatalyst

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HotFolder

Replication tools within FileCatalyst (Cont’d)

Hotfolder features useful for data replication:

• Scheduler for tasks and bandwidth

• File System Events

• Delta (RSYNC)

• Data-set rules

• Monitoring and notifications

• ZIP chunking

• MD5

• File transfer cache

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Platform specific gotchas

Common file attributes for all platforms:

File name, Date Created, Date Modified, Owner

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Operating System File Attributes

MacOS Extended attributes (xattr), Resource Forks, Symlinks, Permissions (Read Write Execute), Access Control Levels (ACL’s)

Windows Permissions, Attributes: Read Only – Archive - Hidden – System, Security Attributes

Linux Permissions (group, user, other)

Data replication across operating

systems

• Extended File Attributes are LOST when moving a file between operating systems.

• But it’s OK because extended attributes may not be always needed.

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File system events

The file system events provides a way for an application to ask for notification when the contents of a directory hierarchy are modified.

For example, an application can use this to quickly detect when the user modifies a file within a folder using another application.

• Avoid scanning large folders to detect changes! Use file system events

• File system events only work on local drives (no SMB or other network drive technology)

• Transfer the initial file set without file system events, THEN turn it on.

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HotFolder to HotFolder replication

• 2 Hotfolders connected to the same FileCatalyst Server

• Replication can be done between both HotFolders

• All the data will go through the server, however no data will be stored on the server

• This reduces the amount of disk space required at the server

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Demo: Acceleration with remote data

replication using FileCatalyst HotFolder

30 day free trial and licensing cost

To request free trial of FileCatalyst Direct visit http://www.filecatalyst.com/trial

Licensing Options:

• Perpetual license is about $10,000 USD (one-time fee)

• Leased license is about $500/month

• Hosted License on a shared server is about $200 per month

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Thank you for attending our February webinar!

Questions? Please type in your questions.