Copying a NAV table via SQL Server

Chris-Acon

Dear all!

I need to solve the following business case:
We have several decentralized NAV databases on SQL-Server. Now we want to implement a common master data management process across all business units. Therefore, we plan to implement a few NAV tables which should be sychronized automatically across all SQL-Servers (same information in all databases).

Idea:
I thought about the problem and the easiest solution to me seems to do it vial the SQL Sever functions. I read about a SQL-Transaction synchronization which seems to be useful.

What do you think? Is this the right approach? We need an easy to handle and implement solution. Can someone of you help??

Thanks!
Chris

bbrown

What NAV client version?

Are these separate databases or just different companies in same DB?

If separate databases, are they different servers and how far apart are they? Same LAN or over WAN (public or private)?

Are these tables updated from a single database/company or all of them?

Replication may be a viable solution in some situations but it's not a one-size-fits-all. Also I'm not sure I would classify it as "easy".

Marije_Brummel

I would recomend Ifacto integration framework. They have done this on multiple sites.

Navision is not unicode and if some databases have different collations you end up in an endless nightmare trying to cast views.

Chris-Acon

Some additional information below:

We have NAV 3.7 and 4.0 clients in use. The database versions are 2.6, 3.6, 3.7 and 4.0.

Some of the companies are in the same database and some of them at different sites which are connected via VPN-tunnels. Hence, they are in the same network and relatively stable connected.

Up to now the question if they relationship is one subscriber to many publishers or many publishers to many subscribers is not 100% decided. But I tend to prefer option one because it seems much easier to me.

The Ifacto integration framework sounds interesting. Do you know a price range?

Waldo

The "relatively stable connected" is stomething you have to take into account.

Like Mark said, we did it with our own framework a couple of times (it's a very easy-to-use developer-tool). When we do it, we call it something like "CDM - Central Data Management". Just a matter of defining a master company, and synching the tables to the other companies, no matter where they are (same database, other db, over webservices, over file system, VPN, ftp, blabla, ... ).

When going for a SQL Server solution, there are indeed the collation issues, but also, there is the timestamp-issue that is not going to allow full replication. I'm not fully aware of all this, but include Microsoft when you want to go that way.

p.willemse6

To increase also offers a similar solution... has been implemented a lot of times. Expandit also...