Create a replica from a server

Available with Standard or Advanced license.

Geodata services are useful in situations in which you need to access geodatabases in remote locations. Publishing a geodata service involves referencing a file geodatabase or enterprise geodatabase that you want to publish as a service.

You can use the Create Replica From Server geoprocessing tool to create a replica using a specified list of feature classes, layers, feature datasets, or tables from a remote geodatabase using a geodata service published on ArcGIS Server. You can access this tool from the Manage Replicas menu in the Manage Replicas pane or open it from the Geoprocessing pane in ArcGIS AllSource.

In the diagram above, a company may want to set up enterprise geodatabases to manage data between its Los Angeles and New York offices. The replica was first created by publishing the Los Angeles geodatabase as a geodata service with the Replication operation allowed. An administrator in New York then accessed this geodata service over the internet and used the Create Replica From Server tool to create a replica. Once this replica was created, editors perform updates to each enterprise geodatabase locally. The administrator in New York periodically runs a geoprocessing model to connect to the geodata service in Los Angeles and synchronize changes in both directions over the internet. This keeps the geodatabases synchronized, allowing users to access the same information at either location.

If you plan to use geodata services for geodatabase replication, you must ensure that the data is configured properly and is from an enterprise geodatabase. To review the data requirements before getting started, see Prepare data for replication.

For a list of data types supported with geodatabase replication in ArcGIS AllSource, see Replication and geodatabase compatibility.

Follow these steps to create a replica from a server:

1. Start ArcGIS AllSource and open an existing ArcGIS AllSource project, or begin without a template.
2. Connect to the ArcGIS Server site containing the geodata service from which you want to create a replica.
3. Access the Manage Replicas pane from one of the following:
   • From the Catalog view, follow these steps to access the Manage Replicas pane using the Manage Replicas button on the Manage contextual tab.

     

   • In the Catalog pane, right-click an existing geodatabase connection, point to Distributed Geodatabase, and click Manage Replicas to open the Manage Replicas pane.

     

4. From the Geodatabase Replicas tab on the Manage Replicas pane, click the Manage Replicas menu and click Create Replica from Server .

   

   The Create Replica From Server geoprocessing tool dialog box appears with default settings.

   

5. For the Geodata Service parameter, browse to the geodata service representing the geodatabase from which the replica will be created and supply the server credentials when prompted.

   Note:

   • The geodatabase referenced by the geodata service must be an enterprise geodatabase.
   • A geodata service published from ArcMap is based on the ArcMap service runtime. Beginning with the ArcGIS Server 11 release, the ArcMap service runtime is no longer supported. See Services and the ArcGIS AllSource service runtime for information about service runtimes and how to migrate a geodata service that is using the ArcMap service runtime to use the ArcGIS AllSource service runtime. After the service is migrated to the ArcGIS AllSource service runtime, you can use it in the Create Replica From Server geoprocessing tool and other geodatabase replication workflows.

6. Select the data from the list of feature datasets, stand-alone feature classes, tables, and stand-alone attributed relationship classes from the geodata service to replicate.

   Note:

   The data to be replicated must be registered as traditional versioned but not with the option to move edits to base.

7. From the Replica Type drop-down menu, select one of the following:
   • Two way replica
   • One way replica
   • Check out replica
   • One way child to parent replica
8. For Geodatabase to replicate data to, click the browse button to browse to the local or remote geodatabase that will host the child replica.

   Tip:

   • For a two-way replica, the underlying child replica geodatabase must be an enterprise geodatabase.
   • For a one-way replica, the underlying child replica geodatabase can be a file or enterprise geodatabase.
   • For a check-out replica, the underlying child replica geodatabase can be a file or enterprise geodatabase.
   • For a one-way child replica to parent replica, the underlying child replica geodatabase must be an enterprise geodatabase.

9. For Replica Name, type a name to identify the replica.

   The name of each replica must be unique to the user creating the replica.

   Note:

   When deciding on a replica name, make note of these additional rules:

   • Names must begin with a letter, not a number or special character such as an asterisk or percent sign.
   • Names cannot contain spaces. If you have a two-part name for the replica, connect the words with an underscore.
   • The length of a replica's name is limited to 128 characters.
   • Names cannot contain reserved words, such as select or add. Reserved words for object names are specific to the database where the geodatabase resides; therefore, consult the database documentation for additional reserved words.

   See Name and Alias for more information regarding rules for geodatabase objects.
10. Click Advanced Setting to expand additional options if you want to override the default replication options. If you are not changing the default options, skip to step 15.

    

11. Under Advanced Setting, for Replica Access Type, choose Full or Simple for the geodatabase model.

    Learn more about the replica access type options

12. Optionally, for Initial Data Sender, specify which replica can send changes when in disconnected mode.
    • Child data sender—The child replica is the initial data sender. This is the default.
    • Parent data sender—The parent replica is the initial data sender.
13. Optionally, from Expand Feature Classes and Tables, select one of the following four options:
    • Use defaults—The replica will include the tables that are part of any extended dataset type—such as a topology, relationship class, or network—in which the feature classes or tables in the replica participate. The default for feature classes is to replicate all features intersecting the spatial filter. If no spatial filter has been provided, all features are included. The default for tables is to replicate the schema only.
    • Add with schema only—Adds the schemas of the feature classes and tables in the extended datasets but not the data for them.
    • All rows—Adds all rows for the feature classes and tables in the extended datasets.
    • Do not add—Adds the datasets you chose in step 6, but does not add the feature classes and tables from the extended dataset types in which the datasets participate.
14. Optionally, for Re-use Schema, choose from one of the two available options, Reuse or Do not reuse, which is the default setting.

    The Reuse schema option creates a replica using a template, allowing you to reuse a geodatabase that contains the schema of the data you want to replicate. This reduces the amount of time required to replicate the data.

    The Reuse schema option is intended for an empty schema on the child. You must delete the data from the child replica prior to using the reuse schema option.

    Note:

    This option is available for checkout replicas only and can only be performed when replicating to a file geodatabase.

    

15. Optionally, from the Replicate Related Data drop-down menu, choose Get related or Do not get related to specify whether to replicate rows related to rows already in the replica.

    Get related is the default setting.

    Note:

    See Replication and related data to learn more about how this setting works when replicating data.

16. Optionally, specify a feature layer in the Replica Geometry Features field to define the replica geometry:
    • The replica geometry features can be a feature layer with points, lines, or polygons.
    • A feature layer used for the replica geometry features can contain one or more features. If there is more than one, the geometries are merged, and only data that intersects the merged geometries will be replicated.
    • If filters (such as a definition query) have been defined on the replica geometry features, only features that satisfy these filters will be used to define the replica geometry.
    • You can also use the Extent environment setting to define the replica geometry:
      • If Replica Geometry Features is set, it is used as the replica geometry.
      • If Replica Geometry Features is not set, the Extent environment is used as the replica geometry.
      • If both Replica Geometry Features and the Extent environment are set, the Replica Geometry Features setting is used.
      • If neither Replica Geometry Features nor the Extent environment is specified, the full extent of the data is used.
17. Optionally, check Use archiving to track changes for 1 way replication at the bottom of the tool's dialog box to enable this option.

    This option specifies whether the archive class will be used to track changes instead of the versioning delta tables. To use archiving for one-way replicas, the parent workspace must be connected to the default version. For one-way child-to-parent replicas, the child workspace must also be connected to the default version.

18. Optionally, use All records for tables to specify whether all records or only the schema will be copied to the child geodatabase for tables that do not have filters applied (such as selections or definition queries).
    • Checked—For tables with no applied filters, all records will be copied to the child geodatabase for tables. This option will override the Expand Feature Classes and Tables parameter value.
    • Unchecked—For tables with no applied filters, only the schema will be copied to the child geodatabase for tables. Tables with applied filters will be honored. This is the default.
19. Click Run to create the replica.

    Note:

    You can click the Run drop-down menu and select Schedule Run to run the tool at a later date and time and, optionally, with recurrence.

    

    Learn more about scheduling geoprocessing tools