Novell EDIRECTORY 8.8 - GUIDE, Manual, Page: 129 / 574

Managing Partitions and Replicas
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Managing Partitions and Replicas
Partitions are logical divisions of the Novell
®
eDirectory
TM
database that form a distinct unit of data
in the eDirectory tree for administrators to store and replicate eDirectory information. Each partition
consists of a container object, all objects contained in it, and the information about those objects.
Partitions do not include any information about the file system or the directories and files contained
there.
Instead of storing a copy of the entire eDirectory database on each server, you can make a copy of
the eDirectory partition and store it on many servers across the network. Each copy of the partition
is known as a replica. You can create any number of replicas for each eDirectory partition and store
them on any server. The types of replicas include master, read/write, read-only, subordinate
references, filtered read/write, and filtered read-only.
The following table describes the replica types.
This chapter describes how to manage partitions and replicas.
• Section 5.1, “Creating a Partition,” on page 130
• Section 5.2, “Merging a Partition,” on page 131
• Section 5.3, “Moving Partitions,” on page 132
• Section 5.4, “Cancelling Create or Merge Partition Operations,” on page 133
Replica Description
Master, read/write, and read-only Contain all objects and attributes for a particular partition.
Subordinate references Used for tree connectivity.
Filtered replicas Contains a subset of information from the entire partition, consisting
of only the desired classes and attributes—which are defined by the
server's replication filter. This filter is used to identify the classes
and attributes allowed to pass during inbound synchronization and
local changes.
Filtered replicas allow administrators to create sparse and fractional
replicas.
• Sparse replicas contain only the object classes that you
specify.
• Fractional replicas contain only the attributes you specify.
The functionality of filtered replicas enables fast response when the
data stored in eDirectory is procured by applications. Filtered
replicas also allow more replicas to be stored on a single server.
Read/write filtered replicas Allows local modifications to classes and attributes that are a subset
of the server's replication filter. However, these replicas can create
objects only if all mandatory attributes for the class are within the
replication filter.
Read-only filtered replicas Does not allow local modifications.