What is Oracle GoldenGate?

Introduction to Oracle GoldenGate

• It is the strategic replication tool for Oracle database and also for Heterogeneous databases. It means data can be replicated to one another, independent of the database platforms.
• It is a strategic solution for Real Time Data Integration.
• It enables mission critical systems to have continuous availability and access to real-time data.
• It offers a fast and robust solution for replicating transactional data between operational and analytical systems.

Evolution of Oracle GoldenGate

• GoldenGate was founded in 1995 in San Francisco. The company was named after the famous Golden Gate Bridge by its founders, Eric Fish and Todd Davidson.
• Later In 2009, Oracle acquired the company GoldenGate and so it was called as Oracle GoldenGate.
• GoldenGate was Originally designed for the fault tolerant Tandem computers, the resilient and fast data replication solution was in demand.
• The banks initially used GoldenGate software in their ATM networks for sending transactional data from high street machines to mainframe central computers.

Key Features Of Oracle GoldenGate

• Supports Heterogenous Replication.
• High Performance. Able to replicat large volume of data very efficiently with low lag time.
• High Availability.
• Reliable and Extremely Resilient to failure and data loss.
• Zero-DownTime for Upgrades, Migrations and Maintenance
• Operational Business Intelligence (BI).
• Live Reporting System.
• Can be a Disaster Recovery.
• Flexible Architecture.
• Real Time Data Integration. Data is replicated in real-time.

Architecture / Components of Oracle GoldenGate

• Manager Process
• Extract or Capture Process
• Data Pump Process
• Collector Process
• Replicat or Apply Process
• Trail Files

Manager Process

• It is the process which manages all the sub processes of the Oracle GoldenGate.
• The Manager process should be started and running on both the Source and Target Systems.
• This is the process which should be started initially and firstly on the system before starting any other goldengate processes.
• It performs a number of functions including monitoring and starting other GoldenGate processes, managing the trail files and also reporting.

Extract or Capture Process

• Extract process runs on the Source System.
• This process is responsible of capturing changed data from the database.
• Extract is not only used for capturing DML changes but also DDL changes happening in the database.
• It performs a number of functions including monitoring and starting other GoldenGate processes, managing the trail files and also reporting.

Data Pump Process

• It is a process which exists on the Source System.
• This process is also called as Secondary Extract process.
• The main work of this process is, it reads the data from the Local Trail File and pumps to the Target System via TCP/IP.
• This process is an Optional One.

Collector Process

• It is a background process which runs on the Target System.
• It receives the changes from the Source System and writes it to the Trail File.
• This process is started automatically by the Manager process and known as Dynamic Collector.
• It can also be started manually and so called Static Collector.

Replicat or Apply Process

• The Replicat process runs on the Target System.
• This process reads the Transactional Changes as well as DDL changes and applies these changes to the Target System.
• Multiple Replicat process can be configured in order to increase the performance of the Apply.

Trail Files

• Trail files are the temporary files where the changed data are read from and written to it.
• It resides in the disk.
• Extract process writes the captured data change to the trail files.
• The Replicat process reads the changed data from the trail files.
• The files which are present in the Local or Source Systems are called Local Trails.
• The files which are present in the Remote or Target Systems are called as Remote Trails.

Supported Topologies or Architecture Flexibility

• One to One
• One to Many
• Many to One
• Cascading or Downstream
• Bi-Directional Active-Passive
• Bi-Directional Active-Active

Supported Database Platforms and Replications