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Data Distribution offers the chance to distribute the desired data in stores. The distribution lets you control the distribution of data from Head Office to the stores. For example, the distribution of offers can be defined in such a way that certain offers are only available in a certain number of stores.
In order to set up the Data Distribution, the following setup is required:
Table Distribution
Table Distribution is used to specify the Data Distribution type used for individual tables in the system. It is only required if data should not be sent to all locations.
For more information see: Table Distribution
Distribution Groups
A Distribution Group defines how data is distributed across locations. It groups together Distribution Locations (head office, stores, POS terminals) to simplify replication.
There are two levels:
- Distribution groups.
- Subgroups
- Subgroups allow finer control, for example, separating EAST and WEST regions, as explained in the example included later in the documentation.
For more information see: Distribution Groups
Distribution Locations
A Distribution Location is the actual source or destination database in replication. By default, these are the Head Office, stores and POS terminals or other databases as well. It contains connection details (server, credentials, network setup), used to send data into or read data from database.
For more information see: Distribution Locations
Distribution List
The Distribution List specifies where individual records should be distributed. It works at the record level and complements Table Distribution, which defines how entire tables replicate. This ensures that only relevant data (such as items, customers, or price groups) is replicated to the correct destinations and it is only required if table distribution or sending data to all locations is not used.
For more information see: Table Distribution
On a distributed environment, the Data Distribution should be one of the first things to set up when setting up a new system.
- The distribution must be set up before users start entering data into the system.
- Data entered before the distribution is set up may or may not be distributed correctly.
Distribution setups can vary from one organization to the other.
- A chain of supermarkets would probably need a full setup for all tables used in the system.
- A small single location store would need a simpler setup, since it does not have to distribute data to other stores.
See also