IBM DB2 Everyplace Sync Server Administration Guide Version 7 Release 2 Modification 1


Creating a data synchronization group

A data synchronization group is a collection of uniquely named users, or users that have similar data synchronization requirements. Organizing users into groups helps you minimize the effort required to deliver synchronization services to many users in a uniform way.

To allow the users assigned to a group to access the data and files that they need, you create replication subscriptions referencing the necessary data and files, collect these subscriptions into a subscription set, and assign the subscription set to the group.

To create a group:

  1. Open the Create Group notebook. (See Creating synchronization objects for more information.)
  2. Identify the group.
  3. Associate subscription sets with the group to enable its members to access the data and files they need.
  4. Optional: Filter the source data available to the group, whether to improve performance or for security reasons.
  5. Assign users to the group.
  6. Click OK.

Each of these steps is explained in more detail in this section. After you create the group, enable it for synchronization so that the group's members can synchronize data. For more information, see Enabling synchronization.

Identifying the group

When a user requests synchronization, the Sync Server authenticates the user, then determines the group to which the user belongs to begin replicating the information referenced in that group's subscriptions. For this reason, the Sync Server must be able to uniquely identify each group by name.

To name and describe a group, provide information in the following fields on the Identification page of the Create Group notebook:

Name
Provide a descriptive, unique name for the group from 1 to 18 characters. Names are case-sensitive.

Description
Optional: Type up to 128 characters of text that describes this group of users.

Enabling the group to access data and files

To enable the group to access data and files stored on a source system, you assign an subscription set to the group.

A subscription set is a collection of replication subscriptions. A replication subscription is a specification for copying changed data or files from a source system to a target system at a specified frequency. It specifies the subset of data and files that members of a group are allowed to access as well as what SQL access privileges they have for the data.

Bundling subscriptions in a subscription set makes it easier for you to assign a set of subscriptions to multiple groups if necessary. You can assign an unlimited number of subscription sets to a group.

To assign a subscription set to the group:

  1. Go to the Subscription Sets page of the Create Group notebook.
  2. In the Available subscription sets list, select the subscription set that you want to assign. To select multiple subscription sets serially, hold down the Ctrl key while selecting; To select multiple subscription sets contiguously hold down the Shift key.

    If no subscription sets are displayed in the Available subscription sets list, you can click Create to open the Create Subscription set notebook now, or you can create a subscription set later and associate the group with it later. See Enabling groups to access their data and files for more information about creating a subscription set.

  3. Click > to assign the subscription sets, or click >> to assign all available subscription sets at once. Assigned subscription sets appear in the Selected subscription sets list.

You can also associate groups with a subscription set from within the Subscription set notebook. For more information, see Making the subscription set available to a group.

Filtering the data available to the group

Suppose that you provide database administration services for several hospitals in your state. For administrative purposes, patient statistics are kept in a master table that tracks data from all hospital sites that you administer. Nurses and doctors within each hospital need access to the PATIENTS table, but they need only the rows that contains the data of the patients in their hospital. To handle the needs of each hospital, you can create a data filter that specifies the subset of data that each group can access.

A data filter is a parameter-value pair specifying a table column and its value. The filter specifies which rows of a table will be included in the synchronization request. The column and its value substitute into the WHERE clause of the SELECT statement of the subscription that the group uses. You enter this WHERE clause when you create the subscription (see Creating a DataPropagator subscription for more information). The WHERE clause is submitted to the source database during synchronization so that the DB2 Everyplace Sync Server returns only the subset of data required by a given group. More than one data filter can be applied for a specific user or group.

Because only subsets of the table are replicated, data filters help improve synchronization performance and provide security for group-specific data.

To set a data filter for your Eastside hospital, the parameter name and value might be something like this:

Parameter Name = :Hospital.
Default Value = Eastside

The data filter for Foothill hospital on the west side might look something like this:

Parameter Name = :Hospital.
Default Value = Foothill

You can also set data filters for individual users by using a DB2 variable instead of a hard-coded value for the parameter name. You then enter a data filter value when you create each user. In this case, the group filter might look something like this:

Parameter Name = :HOSPITAL.
Default Value = None

Then you would assign values for the individual user filters as explained in Filtering the data available to the user.

To define a data filter for a group:

  1. On the Data Filter page of the Create Group notebook, click Add. The Add Data Filter window opens.
  2. In the Parameter name field, type the name of the column in the table that you want to filter. The name is case-sensitive.
    Recommendation:Uniquely identify your parameter names with additional text. For example, add a colon (:) to the beginning of the Parameter name and a period (.) to the end of the Parameter name.
  3. In the Default value field, type the value that will serve as the default filter criteria.

    If you assign a data filter for an individual user in the group, the user filter values override this default. See Filtering the data available to the user for more information about how to define a data filter for an individual user.

  4. Click OK. The parameter-value pair is displayed on the Data Filter page.

Assigning users to the group

A user is a user who needs to synchronize data with an enterprise server. The user uses a mobile device capable of communicating with the DB2 Everyplace Sync Server to replicate data to and from an enterprise system. When a user requests synchronization, the user's user ID and password are authenticated against the administration control database. The Sync Server determines if the user is defined in the control database and, if so, to what group the user belongs. Data synchronization fails if the user is not assigned to a group.

A user can belong to only one group; however, you can move the user from one group to another to accommodate changes in synchronization needs.

You can assign an unlimited number of users to a group.

To assign a user to a group:

  1. Go to the Users page of the Create Group notebook.
  2. In the Available users list, select the user that you want to assign to the group. To select multiple users serially, hold down the Ctrl key while selecting; To select multiple users contiguously hold down the Shift key.

    If no users are displayed in the Available users list, you will need to create a user. You can click Create to open the Create User notebook now, or you can create a user later and assign the user to a group later. For information on creating a user, see Defining mobile users to the Sync Server.

  3. Click > to assign the users. Assigned users are displayed in the Selected users list. Click >> to assign all available users at once.

You can also assign users to a group from the Users notebook. See Assigning the user to a group for more information.


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