Replicating Workflow Manager Repositories

This topic applies to ArcEditor and ArcInfo only.

Key Concepts

ArcGIS Workflow Manager repository replication is designed to allow organizations to maintain multiple Workflow Manager repositories locally in different geographic regions for performance reasons, while the users at each location continue to work on the same set of jobs.

You will define a collection of Workflow Manager repositories that you want to have identical Workflow Manager contents. This collection of repositories is known as a repository cluster.

One Workflow Manager Repository is designated as the parent repository and is tasked with coordinating the synchronization between each repository. After the parent repository has been specified, each child repository is added. The child repositories can be designated as either connected repositories, where the synchronization will happen automatically, or offline repositories, where the synchronization occurs by creating files which can be manually imported.

• Repository Cluster—A cluster is a collection of Workflow Manager repositories that will participate in repository replication. Each repository is identified as a node. Nodes could be added to the cluster at any time. For example, a cluster might be created for the Workflow Manager repositories at Redlands, California; Washington, D.C.; St. Louis, Missouri; and Denver, Colorado. The repositories at these locations have ArcGIS Workflow Manager installed, and the postinstallation must have been executed to create the tables needed. In this example, the minimum configuration could be imported.
• Parent Node—Each cluster must have a parent node. The parent node initiates all replication and synchronization processes. Following the example above, Redlands is the parent repository. You may choose to define all your job types and create jobs that you want to distribute to users in the other locations.
• Child Node—A cluster can have more than one child node. Above, there are three children that will have identical elements when the changes are pushed out.
• Elements—Elements are considered as configuration items like job types and step types. However, they are not limited to just configuration items. Your jobs are also elements, and they all get replicated and synchronized.
  Note:

  Workflow Manager replication does not replicate and synchronize data workspaces and spatial notification rules between repositories.

• Last Sync Date—This date is a property of each node in the cluster. It is used when you are creating a replica or synchronizing changes. As changes are made to each of your elements, the date and time that it occurred are updated. If there is an element with a newer date and time stamp, the application will import that to the parent and push out this change to all the children in the cluster.
• Connected or Not—This is basically the status of the node. A connected node means that it is online, and the replication and synchronization changes will be immediately relayed. If the node is disconnected, then you will have to specify a file location to export the configuration file and manually import later using tools available in the Workflow Manager geoprocessing toolbox.

Creating the Workflow Manager repositories

You have to run the postinstallation for all the repositories that will be participating in your cluster.

Steps:

1. From the Start menu, navigate to the ArcGIS Workflow Manager menu and launch Workflow Manager Post Installation.

   See the Workflow Manager Post Installation topic for more details.

2. Note the Repository Name on the last page of the Post Installation Utility.
3. Repeat the steps for all the repositories participating in the cluster.
   Note:

   The Windows login for the user that will create the initial replica from the parent repository must be added to all the child repositories. The user should be granted Administrator Access or given the Manage Replication privilege.

Creating Workflow Manager Server Objects

You have to create Workflow Manager Server objects for all the repositories that will be participating in your cluster. The Workflow Manager Server objects will be defined using the repository connection files (.jtc) for each repository in the cluster.

Steps:

1. Open ArcCatalog and add the Workflow Manager Server.
2. Repeat this to add all the other Workflow Manager Servers in the cluster.
3. Create a Workflow Manager Server objectusing the connection files for the parent repository.
4. Create a Workflow Manager Server object for all the child repositories that are participating in your cluster.

Creating and adding nodes to the cluster

Clusters are created through the Administrator on the parent repository. You can use the Manage replication tools for adding the nodes.

Steps:

1. Open the Workflow Manager Administrator and connect to the parent repository.
2. Right-click the database connection and click Manage Replication in the menu.

   The Repository Name for the parent is already filled in on the Manage Replication dialog box.

3. By default, the Connected flag is checked. You can uncheck this for disconnected repositories.
4. Specify the Workflow Manager Server URL that you have configured in the steps above. For example, - http://yourserver/ArcGIS/Services/Parent/WMServer.

   The Last Sync column is empty if there hasn't been any replica created yet.

5. Click the Add button to add a new child to the cluster.
6. Specify the repository name and repeat steps 4 and 5.
   Note:

   Use the Save button to store the information entered anytime.

7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 for all the other nodes.
8. After adding all the nodes in the cluster, click Save.

   

Creating new replicas

The Create New Replica button will send the contents of the parent repository to all the other nodes in the cluster. This operation will wipe out the contents of all the child nodes. It is suggested that you use this to run initially when defining the cluster.

Steps:

1. Open the Workflow Manager Administrator and connect to the parent repository.
2. Right-click the database connection and click Manage Replication in the menu.
3. Click Create New Replica.

   This process might run for several minutes, depending on the size of the configuration files.

4. Click OK when replication is complete.

Synchronizing Replicas

The synchronize tools will compare the differences between all the children in the cluster, import them to the parent node, then send out the changes to all the other nodes in the cluster.

Steps:

1. Open the Workflow Manager Administrator and connect to the parent repository.
2. Right-click the database connection and click Manage Replication in the menu.
3. Click Synchronize Replicas.

   This process might run for several minutes, depending on the size of the configuration files.

4. Click OK when synchronization is complete.

Deleting nodes from a cluster

Nodes added to the cluster can also be deleted using the tools available in the Workflow Manager Administrator. When a node is deleted, a message is sent to the parent and other nodes to make sure that the existing relationship is cleared out from the system tables.

Steps:

1. Open the Workflow Manager Administrator and connect to the parent repository.
2. Right-click the database connection and click Manage Replication in the menu.
3. Click the Delete button.

There are geoprocessing tools available in the Workflow Manager toolbox that will create replicas, synchronize replicas, delete nodes, and export and import data. This gives you the option to run these as scheduled tasks through a python script. See the Geoprocessing Tools section of the user guide .