Replica initialization transfers of a copy of the backend containing the replication domain to a target server. This should be performed after replication is enabled with the dsreplication initialize subcommand. There is no impact on the source server during this process.
Note: When enabling or initializing servers, the --topologyFilePath option can be used with dsreplication to specify a file with a series of hosts and ports available in the topology that can be used as source servers. This option is used in place of specifying host 1, port1. When the hosts file is used for an enable or initialize action, the servers in the file are tried sequentially until the new server is successfully enabled or added. The rest of the servers in the file are ignored. This ensures that a host server is always available for replication. This file is generated with the manage-topology export command.
  • dsreplication initialize. The recommended approach for replica initialization. The dsreplication initialize subcommand performs the most efficient copy of data needed to initialize one or more replicas on a target server. Any existing data on the target server replica will be lost and the backend containing the base DN will be taken offline on the target server during the initialization.
  • Binary Copy. The database copy method involves copying database backup files from the source directory server to one or more target servers. The Directory Server provides tools necessary for backing up and restoring backends. Using server-root/bin/backup, create a backup of the backend containing the replicated base DN. The backup files then need to be transferred to the target server(s) and restored individually with server-root/bin/restore. There are additional considerations when using database copy as the means to initialize a target replica:
    • If encryption is enabled on the servers, then a database bin/encryption-settings export then bin/encryption-settings importmust be performed on the encryption-settings backend.
    • When using database copy to initialize a server which has been offline longer than the replication purge delay, the database copy of the replicationChanges, schema, and adminRoot backends are required.