Overview

Since connecting a TDO workstation over a VPN to a TDO server is not supported, in multiple-location TDO setups, TDO Replica is responsible for synchronizing the data between your offices' TDO servers in real time. Below are important items to keep in mind now that you will have your locations connected.

Requirements and Reminders

Your office locations should have fast and reliable internet connections. Having a high-speed internet connection will improve TDO Replica’s performance, including the time it takes for data to replicate. See the ’TDO Cloud Services/Replica’ section of this article for more information about Internet speed requirements.

Each location must have a server that meets the TDO hardware requirements. It is especially important that you partition enough space for your operating system drive (C:), as replication will quickly chew up space on this volume, and running out of space will cause the replica to stop working.

We require that the VPN between offices is done via routers (hardware VPN) not servers. Check with your IT person if you are not sure how your VPN between offices is setup.

Updating TDO in a replicated environment will require good planning depending on the number of satellite locations. We suggest that the update be done at the end of your work day, preferably on Friday. All the offices will be down until the replication process finishes restarting after the update. Depending on your internet connection speed and TDO database size the time could vary from 2 to 6 hours, or longer.

It’s your responsibility to check the replica status daily. If the internet connection in one of your satellite locations goes down for a longer period of time, there is a big risk of data loss in the location that was down. Reestablishing connectivity as soon as possible will minimize the risk of being down for a longer period as well.

Plan to replace your server every 3-4 years. Equipment does fail, regardless of the supplier. The server in your primary location is the heart and soul of your replication environment. Don’t wait until the equipment dies to replace it. Using the old server as an admin machine, or as file storage, are options to "recycle" the machine.

Before you replace a server, please contact us. We can check everything and coordinate with your IT to minimize your down time and make sure all the applications needed are installed on the new server ahead of time. Server upgrades can be an alternative from replacing the entire server. The process takes time and we have to do this by appointment only. The TDO support time allocated to this process can take hours, so please let us know in advance, so we can assign someone to work with your IT and office manager.

You must have a local backup of the TDO data and images running successfully each day to a computer other than the server. It is extremely important that the backup folder is not using one of the server drives or a mapped drive to the server. With a local backup of your TDO data, we can set up a different computer as a temporary server and restore your database in minutes. If you are not backing up your TDO data and images correctly, it is possible that you may lose data and/or images in the event that one of your servers goes down. In addition to the admin workstation backup, we recommend an external HDD backup that you take out of the main office each day.

If the replica becomes disabled, or you disable the replica by mistake, it may take 4-6 hours to re-enable the replication and your offices will be down for that period of time. Before choosing to use the replica make certain you understand the implications of using the replication services.

Additional Documentation

Please reference this article which also includes pricing information.

TDO Replica Information