The Create Replica wizard

This topic applies to ArcGIS for Desktop Standard and ArcGIS for Desktop Advanced only.

You use the Create Replica wizard to define what data should be replicated, what kind of replica you'd like to create, and which geodatabase the data will be replicated in.

The Create Replica wizard supports both local and remote geodatabases. Remote geodatabases are accessed through geodata services published on ArcGIS for Server.

Tip:

Before creating a replica, review the preparing data for replication topic to understand data requirements and how to specify what gets replicated.

To begin, open an ArcMap document. If more than one workspace is present in the map document, you must choose which workspace to create the replica from.

You have a choice of which type of replica to create: checkout, one way, or two way.

In checkout replication, a new version is created with the name of the replica. The combination of user name and replica name must be unique. For example, user1 and user2 could each create a replica called MyReplica because the full replica names would be user1.MyReplica and user2.MyReplica. However, user1 could not create more than one replica named MyReplica because that replica name would not be unique.

The Reuse schema option, available for checkout replication only, allows you to reuse a geodatabase that contains the schema of the data you want to replicate. This reduces the amount of time required to replicate the data.

The 2nd panel of the wizard offers a choice of what to replicate and which geodatabase to check out to.

Choose Data if you want to copy the data to replicate to the child. Choose Register Only if the data to replicate already exists on the child. Having the data preloaded on the child is helpful if you need to minimize the time it takes to create the replica.

Alternatively, choose the Schema Only option if you just want to replicate the schema. Selecting this option instructs ArcGIS to copy the schema to the child, so it should not already exist on the child.

The Geodatabase option replicates to a local or remote destination geodatabase. Remote geodatabases can be accessed using geodata services running on ArcGIS for Server.

The XML Document option outputs to an XML workspace document. The XML document option works well in disconnected environments where you can send the XML workspace document to the destination and import it to complete replica creation.

Default behavior

The default behavior for each replica is as follows:

• The replica includes all the data you have permissions to edit, visible and invisible, in the active data frame for the chosen geodatabase.
• The current ArcMap view extent or boundary of a selected graphic is used to determine which features to replicate. Features falling outside these areas are not replicated unless they are directly related to features that are replicated.
• Selections and definition queries applied to the data are used to determine which features to replicate. If you currently have features in a layer selected, or if you have a definition query applied to a layer, any feature not selected or not in the definition query are not replicated unless they are directly related to features that are replicated.
• The list of layers and tables to replicate is expanded to include dependent datasets. For example, all feature classes in a topology or geometric network are included if just one feature class in the topology or geometric network is selected.
• If there are several layers representing one feature class in the document, only the top layer in the table of contents is used in the replica.
• Geometric networks, topologies, annotation and dimension feature classes, if present, are replicated.
• Versions are used to track changes to replicas.

Advanced Options

The advanced options initially reflect the current replica defaults and the expanded list of all the datasets that will be included in the replica. However, you can customize the replica using the advanced replication options.

A panel in the advanced options offers the choice between full or simple replica models for all replica types.

With the full model, all simple and complex data types, such as topologies, geometric networks, parcel fabrics, and annotation and dimension feature classes, are replicated to the child and versioned. This is the default.

The simple model does not replicate topologies, geometric networks, parcel fabrics, and annotation and dimension feature classes, nor does it version data on the child. If needed, you can version data on the child after the replica is created.

The simple model configuration provides the following benefits:

• Allows you to edit the child with simple feature editors that are not based on Esri software.

• For one-way replicas, data on the child is not versioned, allowing you to easily integrate non-Esri applications.

In the case of a topology or a geometric network, the topology and geometric network objects are excluded from the child but all participating feature classes are included. Once you've created the replica, sending changes from the child to the parent automatically maintains features on the parent. Additional processing occurs on the parent to update topology dirty areas or maintain network connectivity.

Note:

If you are creating a checkout replica, and you choose to replicate only the schema, the extent section is inactive.

The extent of the replica area may be determined by one of the following:

• The current view extent (the default)
• The full extent of the data
• The boundary of a currently selected graphic
• User-defined coordinates

The options in the grid determine how many records from each layer or table will be replicated. In addition to excluding layers and tables from the list of data to replicate, you may also override the defaults for individual layers and tables. For example, if a selection set exists for a layer, you may choose to disregard that selection for this replica. By default, all layers are filtered by geometry, selection, definition query, or a combination of these.

The default is to replicate all features in a layer. If you are interested in replicating only the schema, you can choose the Schema Only option under the Check Out column.

For tables, if no other filters have been applied (for example, a selection), the default filter is Schema Only; only the schema for the table will be replicated.

If you want to exclude a geometric network or topology from a replica, you must exclude all the participating layers; including just one layer results in the whole network or topology being replicated.

By default, related data is replicated. If you would like to turn off relationship class processing, uncheck the Replicate related data check box.

For two-way replicas, there is an additional advanced option to select whether the initial data sender is the child replica or the parent replica. This setting is only important in systems where you plan to work in a disconnected environment.

Using the keywords panel in the wizard allows you to specify the ArcSDE configuration keywords for each object involved in the replication. By default, the DEFAULTS keyword is specified.

The final panel includes options that determine what will happen to the ArcMap document when the Create Replica wizard is closed.

• No further action (the default)—The current document will not be modified, and no new documents will be created.
• Change the layers and tables to point to the replicated data—The current ArcMap document will be modified to point to the data in the relative replica geodatabase, preserving all symbology.
• Save a copy of this map document with the layers and tables pointing at the replicated data—A new ArcMap document, referencing the data in the relative replica geodatabase, again with symbology preserved, will be created.

Click the Summary button to open the Create Replica Summary dialog box. This dialog box lets you review the properties you specified for creating the replica.