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Home > Archive > Commerce Server Catalog > May 2004 > Catalog database replication and catalog schema changes
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Catalog database replication and catalog schema changes
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| Zoe Hart [MVP] 2004-04-27, 12:36 pm |
| We have several sites deployed, each with a staging server (combined web and
data server), one or more production web servers, and one or more production
data servers. Following recommendations in the Commerce Server documentation
and/or white papers, we have set up database replication to move product
catalog data from the staging catalog database to the production catalog
database. In general it works well.
The problem is that it makes the process of modifying the catalog schema
complicated and costly. First of all, you can't modify the schema while
replication is in place. Replication won't let you modify a table that's
being replicated. So, when we want to make a change we have to turn off
replication. From that point on, until we implement and test our changes,
we've lost our means of updating production. So if we need to change the
inventory status on a product or fix a typo in some copy, we can't do it.
Then, when we do finish implementing and testing our changes, the process of
re-establishing database replication involves recreating the production
tables and therefore interrupting the site.
SQL Server 2000 provides some ability to modify database replication without
having to disable and re-establish it with the resultant site interruption.
But that process, as I understand it, involves using SQL statements to both
modify the replication and modify the replicated table. I'm concerned that
if we tried to use that process we'd be bypassing the BizDesk Catalog
Definition Designer and maybe miss some metadata that the designer maintains
automatically.
With all that said, is there a recommended/supported means of maintaining
the product catalog in conjunction with SQL Server database replication
other than stop replication, make changes, re-establish replication?
Thanks,
Zoe
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| Maria Quian [MSFT] 2004-05-30, 10:45 am |
| Thank you for using Microsoft Newsgroups.
For a long term solution, I would recommend reviewing the Feature Pack
added functionality of using Application Center to update the catalog. You
will still need to update the schema but it will help with replication the
catalog data. You can replicate the full catalog, incremental or selected
products and categories subsets.
You can download Feature Pack at:
http://www.microsoft.com/commerceserver/featurepack1/.
Maria Quian
Microsoft Technical Support
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
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