Hello,
We have a very complex environment and I was wondering if anyone out there in the SQL community had ever dealt with, or had ideas on how to deal with, this unique sort of environment. We support two "homegrown" SQL Database applications over a geographically dispersed area. The remote locations are currently connected via T1s. But, it doesn't end there... At the remote locations, there are vehicles that are often disconnected for, sometimes, months at a time, where folks on those vehicles are entering and accessing data from the applications. We currently use SQL 2008 Merge replication, and, it works... but, it, lately, has had some issues. But, it DOES work... It just doesn't feel like the ideal solution. The way we have it now, our main SQL DB is in our main datacenter... then, at each remote location, there is another SQL server that houses a copy of the database using SQL merge replication. Then, on each vehicle, we have servers that have everything on them (they are domain controllers, SQL servers and web application servers) and, also on the vehicle is a laptop set up to access the application from that server over wireless. When the server on the vehicle can see the domain and the DB server at the remote location, merge replication handles synching those two.
Does anyone have a better solution to this? I guess an example of our situation would be something like if NASA wanted to use our applications and they needed to be able to continue using the application even if they did not have internet or any, for that matter, connectivity.
Thank you in advance for any advice/ideas.
Charlie