Controlling What Gets Replicated
Replication enables Domino databases to exchange all document edits, modifications, and deletions, as well as database modifications, database access control lists and security settings, and design elements. Of course, if the databases are located on different servers, the servers must have sufficient access to share replication modifications with one another. Domino 6 has improved on replication capabilities in the areas of selective, scheduled, and streaming replication.
Replication settings should not be used as security settings when designing applications. Rather, they should be used to conserve disk space or prevent the replication of unnecessary or irrelevant documents. Replication settings are located from the pull-down menu you find under File, Replication, Settings.
 | Be sure to understand that replication settings are not considered security features and should be used to reduce database file size and minimize the number of documents replicated between replica databases. |
 | You must have Manager access to set replica settings for a replica database. |
You should be familiar with the various replication settings that are available in the Replication Settings dialog box.
The Basics Tab
On the Basics tab, you can enable/disable replication, as well as change the replication schedule. The replication schedule is important for databases that may contain time-sensitive information, reside on busy servers, or be in use by mobile users.
If the Scheduled Replication Is Enabled option is selected, clicking on the Change Schedule button displays the Replication Schedule (see Figure 2.1) dialog, which allows the user the following options:
Enable/Disable replication for the current location
Create new replicas immediately or during the next replication (this option appears only if the Replication Is Enabled for This Location option is selected)
Automatically initiate replication when Notes is started (with an option to prompt or not prompt prior to starting)
Replication Interval (hours, repeat interval, and days of week)
Additional Interval for high-priority databases (hours, repeat interval, and days of week)
Prompt to replicate when Notes shuts down (with one option appearing if anything is waiting to be sent and another if the outbox is not empty) email
Another option on the Basics tab is Replicate Using Schedule for Priority Databases. For convenience, the next scheduled replication is displayed under this option.
Under the How Much Will Be Replicated section you need to understand the options to:
Send Documents to Server— A check box that determines whether local documents (additions, modifications, or deletions) should be sent to the server during replication
Receive Documents From Server Options— A single-select drop-down list box allows users to select
The first option reduces the document information replicated to basic information, such as author, subject, and so on, and restricts replicating rich text fields that are larger that 40KB in size. The second option truncates any attachments larger than 40KB.
When users open documents that have been shortened, the text (TRUNCATED) appears in the window title. To receive the complete document, users must select Actions, Retrieve Entire Document from the drop-down menu.
Summary Only— Selecting this option replicates basic document information such as author and subject.
Smallest First— Selecting this option replicates documents in order of size (smallest documents first, then summary information of larger documents, and finally rich text of large documents).
The Space Savers Tab
On the Space Savers tab, you should be familiar with the Remove Documents Not Modified In The Last X Days option. This option enables you to set the purge interval for this replica copy. This setting controls whether documents that have not been modified within the interval specified should be automatically deleted when the database is replicated. Documents removed as a result of this setting are also purged. Therefore, no deletion stubs are created for these documents and the deletions are not propagated to other replica databases.
Because the deletion stub is also purged, you might think that this document would then reappear because the replica would assume that this is a new document. However, by setting the Only Replicate Incoming Documents Saved or Modified After: setting, you can prevent purged documents from reappearing in the database.
In addition, this setting also determines when deletion stubs are purged from the database. Because the deletion of documents needs to replicate between replica databases, deletion stubs remain after a document has been deleted and replicate to other databases. However, deletion stubs still take up space within the database and should be removed after they have been replicated to all other replica databases.
Deletion stubs are removed if they are at least as old as the number of days specific in this setting. However, Domino does not check this value every time a database is opened. Rather, the stubs are checked to see whether they should be purged at 1/3 the number of days specified. For example, if the purge interval is 150 days, when the database replicates, Domino checks to see whether deletion stubs need to be purged if it has been 50 days since the last purge. If this is the case, any deletion stubs older than 150 days are then purged.
 | The Updall task also purges deletion stubs. This task is set to run at 2:00 a.m. by default, when Domino is installed, but can be run manually by the system administrator. |
You must replicate more often than the purge interval. Otherwise, deletion stubs could be purged. Therefore, existing documents in a replica that had been deleted on another replica will be re-created. (Because the deletion stub is gone, the replica that purged the deletion stub assumes the document is a new document.)
 | Domino automatically removes deletion stubs regardless of whether the Remove Documents Not Modified in the Last x Days” check box has been selected. |
Also on the Space Savers tab, you should know about the Receive Only A Subset Of The Documents option. This option determines what documents a replica receives by specifying that only documents in a specific folder, view, or that match a specified criteria determined in the formula language are replicated.
When using @IsResponseDoc in the selection formula, all response documents will be replicated. To specify that only response documents that match the criteria specified in the formula are replicated, use the @AllChildren or @AllDescendants functions. Also, if the database setting Don't Support Specialized Response Hierarchy is selected, these functions have no effect.
The Send Tab
On the Send tab, you should be familiar with the following options:
Do Not Send Deletions Made in This Replica to Other Replicas— This option determines whether a replica can send deletions to another replica.
Do Not Send Changes in Database Title and Catalog Info to Other Replicas— This option determines whether a replica can send changes to the database title and database catalog categories to other replicas. Therefore, database titles can be specific to each database and help identify the purpose of each specific replica.
Do Not Send Changes in Local Security Property to Other Replicas— This option determines whether a replica can send changes made to the database encryption property to other replicas.
The Other Tab
On the Other tab, you should be familiar with the following options:
Temporarily Disable Replication for This Replica— This option enables you to disable replication temporarily for the current replica.
If the database is located on a cluster server, disabling replication disables scheduled replication and cluster replication.
Set Scheduled Replication Priority for This…— This option determines the replication priority (High, Medium, Low) of this database when replicating. Connection documents can then specify times to replicate databases of each respective priority.
Priority settings have no effect on replicas located on a cluster server because they will automatically replicate whenever a change occurs.
Only Replicate Incoming Documents Saved or Modified After— This option controls the date that a replica can receive new or modified documents since the threshold specified.
CD-ROM Publishing Date— This option determines the publishing date for a database distributed on a CD-ROM. Therefore, users replicate only documents that were created or modified after the date specified as replicated.
The Advanced Tab
On the Advanced tab, you should be familiar with the following options:
Receive Only a Subset of Information from Other Replicas— This option determines what documents a replica for a specific server receives by specifying that only documents in a specific folder, view, or that match a specified criteria determined in the formula language are replicated for that respective server (or all servers).
Receive These Elements from Other Replicas— This option enables you to specify which design elements replicate between databases. The elements that can be selected are
Design Elements— If selected, this prevents a replica from receiving any design modifications. This option is selected by default.
Agents— If selected, this prevents a replica from receiving any agent modifications. This option is selected by default.
Replication Formula— If selected, this ensures that replication settings do not replicate between databases. This option is not selected by default.
Access Control List— If selected, this prevents modifications to the database's ACL from replicating. Of course, the server (or client) must have Manager access to the database to modify the database's ACL settings. This option is selected by default.
Deletions— If selected, the replica can receive document deletions. This option is selected by default.
This setting can be overwritten by the Do Not Send Deletions Made in This Replica to Other Replicas setting, located on the Send panel of the Replication Settings dialog.
Fields— If selected, only the specified fields are replicated. This option is not selected by default.