Item: SAP Replication Server
Rating: 10
Author: Gene Baker

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use SAP Rep Server to create a warm standby read only copy of our data to be used for reporting and other decision support type activities. It is used within our department and is not an enterprise solution. The Enterprise solution that is recommended is Oracle's Golden Gate. We use Replication Server because it offers guaranteed delivery and transactional consistency. It also offers low latency so we can run critical jobs against the warm standby copy knowing that copy is only ever a few seconds behind the transactional copy.

Pros and Cons

guaranteed delivery
high availability
scalable
low latency
data transformation

make implementation easier
make programming easier
offer out of the box pre-defined use cases

Return on Investment

Positive in the fact that Rep Server has prevented corruption from being propogated
Positive - we continue to see value every day from the product
Positive - we replicate our audit trail to an audit server that no one can touch - has helped to prevent and detect fraud

Alternatives Considered

Oracle GoldenGate

We use SAP ASE as our main system of record and therefore it just made sense to use SAP Rep Server. We did evaluate Golden Gate, however, GG seems to be much more complex than Rep Server. We could not easily find GG talent on the street but are able to find Rep Server talent. During our evaluation of the products, both could equally accomplish the task, so it all came down to two factors: 1. we are using ASE and 2. finding talent.

Support Rating

SAP support has been outstanding. They have quick response times and always meet their SLAs. Any time we have an issue that needs to be researched they are able to get back to us quickly with resolution.

Key Insights

Do you think SAP Replication Server delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with SAP Replication Server's feature set?

Yes

Did SAP Replication Server live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of SAP Replication Server go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy SAP Replication Server again?

Yes

Other Software Used

MongoDB, SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise, Oracle Exadata Database Machine

Likelihood to Recommend

Rep Server is great for creating a warm standby server and backup copies of data. What is great about replication server is it is replicating transactions, not disk blocks. So transactions are also consistent and no corruption is ever replicated. I have not found a situation where Rep Server can't handle what we're asking for, however, at times it can be difficult to program. Doing data transformations can be a little tricky and you need very knowledgeable DBAs and Developers that understand the product. Rep Server uses a publish and subscribe model and can do cross platform data migrations.

Replication Server offers guaranteed delivery and data protection

Overall Satisfaction with SAP Replication Server