Simple Sync

Simple Sync is a product that is essentially used to make sure that directory changes you make in one directory are correctly updated in linked directories, and therefore remain in sync. The process of directory change notification updating can be:

• Full directory synchronization
• Deltas, directory changes between only two directories
• Quick synchronization on the fly directory change notification that has the advantage of being fast and does not need very much bandwidth.

Previous versions of Simple Sync

Users of the previous versions of Simple Sync will find a number of new features that makes the old version that was a good product, even better. One of the key benefits is bandwidth optimization. Users of previous versions of Simple Sync will know that it was only possible to undertake full directory synchronization with the previous versions. Using the full delta synchronization it was assumed that this saved valuable processing time and therefore was the best method.

This assumption was proved to be incorrect, in particular where bandwidth speeds were lower, such as with international connections. Furthermore, with the possibility that connections could be dropped during the synchronization process, there was always the risk of a damaged directory update and the need to roll back and start again, essentially 3 problems were present:

• Inefficiency
• Unreliability
• Time consuming and intensive

This meant that administrators were faced with the following challenges:

• Program a full synchronization process every two or three days to make sure that all delta and records were updated
• Perform an un-sync and then a re-sync routine to recover lost deltas and the lost records contained in them
• Perform a toothcomb analysis of every synchronization run to be sure that all the processing was dealt with correctly

New improvements

With the new version of the product these issues are fortunately solved. The solution is remarkably simple, by reading the whole of the entire source directory an image is created, Simple Sync then searches the destination directory looking for differences. These differences are noted and then only the information records that are different are transmitted.

This has an immediate advantage in that only the required record data is transmitted, rather than the whole directory. By processing the deltas in advance of transmission, the synchronization run is sure to be accurate and at the same time it is extremely quick.

The problem of the un-sync, re-sync is solved as there is only a one way transmission at any time;

• First, the query
• Then the response
• Then the transmission
• Then the receipt confirmation

Should there, for any reason, be a loss of connectivity, Simple Sync will switch into recovery mode. Within only two cycles it re-establishes the connection and when done completes the process without any data loss.

This is particularly important for organizations that have offices across the world. One copy of Simple Sync should be installed in the central or the largest directory. Data information will be extracted to a LDIF file, which means the format is identical to the directory itself. Simple Sync now references this LDIF file to produce the deltas information for the remote directories. Then you can finally perform the updates.