Thorsten,

I think you need to reconsider your argument for master-master replication.
First, if you've got a "real slow connection" between the sites, your
replication is going to be hopelessly backlogged.  Viewing HTML of a single
ticket is -far less data- than replicating every change made into every
table from every site.  Further, if the internet connection is down -forget
about replication- because when mysql becomes desynched it basically does a
full resync which takes HOURS on a full speed line.  I have experience with
mysql one-way replication and this is tedious on its own.   We experimented
with master-master replication on dedicated t1 lines and we had so many
problems that we changed our model to a single-master and used the
replicated nodes as read-only nodes (queueing the updates back to the master
with a special api).  

If your headquarters does not have a reliable internet connection, you
should consider hosting the application with an ISP that guarantees uptime.
If your branch locations are without internet, they are going to be down
anyway.  With no connectivity to the other master databases you're going to
have unresolvable synch issues where two people change the same ticket --
whose data is correct?  

You are expecting the OTRS application to "just work" in a master-master
situation across slow or disconnected lines, let me assure you, if the OTRS
programmers havent specifically built the software to work master-master in
this situation, you're going to find that it screws up constantly.  Take the
issue of creating a new record number.  Typically this process, which is
what links all related tables and records together, needs to have a
guaranteed unique number across the board.  Without a connection, a
disconnected master doesn't know what numbers have been used up.  If two
"record 1000's" are created in a master-master situation, you've got an
unresolvable conflict.  You would have to uniquely identify every site with
a unique prefix, and then only allocate numbers with those prefixes.  This
logic would need to apply to every table where records can be added..
Users/groups/tickets/followups/customers... Practically every table.  This
is not "typical" design requirement.  

Finally, as far as intranet/extranet this is a non-issue.  You secure the
site at the ISP with a private cert and install a client cert onto every
branch-office computer that allows them to access the site.  It secures the
connection and prevents access outside the company without being issued a
client cert.

Master-master replication is not a magic bullet to fix problems.  It’s a
very complex environment that is useful in specific cases where the need for
master-master outweighs the downsides of its implementations.  Your
requirements and your situation screams out for a single hosted application
at a secure location shared by your branch locations.   In the case of an
outage, cellular wifi internet will cut it for the simple html pages served
up by OTRS.

I have experience doing master-master replication back in the dos days
before mysql.  We wrote our own software to replicate changes across a 56k
dedicated line between New York and California.  There is a lot behind
making master-master work with any level of reliability.  Its imperitive to
never lose a customer's data because of replication overwrites or conflicts.
This is difficult stuff to do and requires a level of granularity not
typical for every-day applications.   Microsoft Active Directory, for
example, manages master-master replication because every field in every
record is timestamped and clocks are guaranteed to be synched across the
domain.  Microsoft uses a special technique of generating a GUID that is
unique to a particular object so there are no conflicts.  These are concepts
just outside the scope of OTRS and how it was intended to be used.  Again
you are assuming these issues will just magically resolve themselves by
turning on master-master replication in MYSQL or PostgreSQL and I think
you'll find this is just not the case.

Good luck with your endeavor,

Ron


-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2007 9:29 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: AW: [otrs] Database replication

Well what I try to accomplish is that every location has access to the same
datasource to share information about the solutions. The main problem is
that not all of our location are on the same network. And I really don't
want to place the OTRS-System in the DMZ because we want to use it as an
internal helpdesk tool. So yes we want to have an installation on every site
but with the same (replicated) Database. We need to have the database on
every location as some of them have a real slow connection to our
headquarter. And my colleagues around the world should still be able to work
with the system if there internet connection is down. But I will try it with
the master-master replication and see if this will do for us.

Regards
Thorsten

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Im Auftrag von
Peter van Beugen
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 22. August 2007 22:35
An: User questions and discussions about OTRS.org
Betreff: RE: [otrs] Database replication


I use MySQL (5.0.x) master-slave replication and it does a great job. But I
use the slave as a backup server. MySQL 5.1 even promises better
replication. check:
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/mysql-nutshell.html

But I do not understand what you want to accomplish with replicated
databases as OTRS is pure browser based. IMHO: put the webserver very close
to the database server and you will have the best performance.
Or are you going tu use multiple distributed webservers?

regards,
Peter van Beugen



-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Van: [EMAIL PROTECTED] namens [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Verzonden: wo 22-8-2007 19:06
Aan: [email protected]
Onderwerp: [otrs] Database replication
 
Hi,
 
i'm working for an international operating company and we want to use otrs
as our global helpdesk-system. So I need a way to replicate the databases to
different location so that every location has the same view, or at least
almost. Has anybody done this before and give me a little hint how to
accomplish this.
 
Many thanks in Advance
 
Thorsten

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