Chapter 2: Setup and Configuration

Using the ra utility

The Sybase Replication Agent ra utility provides the following functions:

See “Using the ra_admin utility” for information about creating a Replication Agent instance.

To run the ra utility, invoke it as a command at the operating system prompt.

ra [-help | -i inst_name [-state] | -v]

-help

The option that returns command usage information.

You can also invoke ra with no option specified to return command usage information.

-i inst_name

The option that specifies a Replication Agent instance to start, where inst_name is the name of an existing Replication Agent instance.

-state

The keyword that specifies a start-up state for the Replication Agent instance.

Valid -state values are:
- -admin – starts the Replication Agent instance in Admin state. (This is the default start-up state.)
- -replicate – starts the Replication Agent instance in Replicating state.

-v

To start a Replication Agent instance named “my_ra” in Replicating state, enter the following command at the operating system prompt:

ra -i my_ra -replicate

See “Starting the Sybase Replication Agent” for more information about starting a Replication Agent instance.

See “Understanding Replication Agent states” for more information about Admin and Replicating states.

Start-up errors

If the Replication Agent instance encounters start-up errors:

On Microsoft Windows platforms, start-up errors are displayed in the operating system command window.
On UNIX platforms, start-up errors are displayed in the operating system command window and recorded in the Replication Agent system log.