“A Better Solution has again raised the bar by providing additional features over Multisite and done so with less end-user cost.  Per-branching replication is a sure win for the customer and addresses many security concerns. The enhanced 'Deployment' features add something that has long been missing in ClearCase” -- ClearVision

ClearReplica’s flexibility transcends as an alternative to Multisite in a number of ways, some are outlined here:

* ClearReplica is much more cost effective. Multisite is licensed per user of a replicated VOB so the cost increases when user and VOB usage grows, replicating a single VOB with Multisite that has 100 users in "Atlanta" and 30 users in "India" requires 130 licenses of Multisite, to start. ClearReplica is licensed per "location" so two licenses of ClearReplica and ClearTrigger are needed (one of each at each site). Doubling the number of users of Multisite replicated VOBs doubles the cost of "replication", while doubling the number of users of ClearReplica replicated VOBs adds no additional cost.

* Parallel and distributed shippers and receivers (Added in 6.0) You can run multiple ClearReplica Shippers and Receivers in parallel, even across distributed machines from heterogeneous architectures. This enhancement leads to faster performance for packet creation and processing.
 
* ClearReplica allows more control over what is data is replicated.  (enhanced in 6.0) ClearReplica allows you to replicate the whole VOB, a portion of the VOB or even a single or select files.  ClearReplica even allows for replication of a single or select branches if desired. Save corporate bandwidth (and bandwidth costs) by “replicating” only the data you need to.

* Enhanced "Deployment" capabilities.  Use ClearReplica “deploy” from ClearCase VOBs to regular flat file systems on local machines or remote machines around the world. ClearReplica “deployment” only requires the license at the “shipper” site. Now updates to a ClearCase VOB can be pushed as regular directories on countless machines making deployment of documents, web pages, patches, registry updates or even ClearCase triggers a snap. ClearReplica produces logs of what is sent and received so you know what has been deployed.
 
* Enhanced “Replication Triggers” allow further automation and notification to your “replication” or “deployment” process.  Use ClearReplica “Replication Triggers” to automatically run scripts before or after either sending or receiving “Replication” packets. . Now you can use any in-house script to perform custom logging, send email notification, install/execute deployed files, lock VOBs or even redirect packets by just adding a ClearReplica replication trigger. ClearReplica has pre_ships, post_ship, pre_receive and post_receive triggers help you manage your distributed environment. No more checking log files for certain events, have them email you when events happen or have ClearReplica automatically perform the post deployment scripts. The machines deployed to do not even need to have ClearCase installed.
 
* Enhanced “Replication” and “Deployment” capabilities to disconnected machines or those without a static IP address.  ClearReplica facilitates the transfer of ClearReplica data between two ClearReplica servers that do not have direct access to each other, but share access to one or more machines between them that can be used as a ClearReplica 'proxy' machines. The machines used in the transfer that are not actually the source or destination ClearReplica Server constitute the 'proxy chain' of machines. ClearReplica can also facilitate the transfer of data between machines that do not have a static IP address (i.e salesman laptops) so that either “replication” or “deployment” data can be sent to those machines anytime they are connected to the web.
 
* Nearly free "disaster recovery", "backup sites" or "distribution hubs".  ClearReplica "replication" to read-only VOB sites only require the license at the "shipper" site. Backup hundreds of VOBs to several locations or across the hall with only ONE ClearReplica license.
 
* Confirmation of packet delivery (automatic packet recovery).   Dropped or lost packets are automatically recovered.

* ClearReplica has relaxed mastership. Users of ClearReplica VOBs can actually work on the "same" branch in different replicas and see each other's changes immediately. Now any of the "replica" sites can make an element because there is no mastership to get in the way of either site changing the /main branch to make the new element.

* Automatic data encryption. All data packets sent via ClearReplica are encrypted and compressed.

* Relaxed Replica Management.  You can stop "sending" or "receiving" VOB packets at any time without having to "remove replica", a site can "opt-out" of replication at any time without having to coordinate with other replicas or worry about braking other replicas because they had mastership of shared data. You can "opt-in" at any later time and quickly get back in sync or just choose to continue from the current point.
 
Read about all of the new features here:
http://www.abs-consulting.com/products_clearreplica.shtml

Installing ClearReplica 6.0 is easy and straightforward. Version 6.0 began shipping on February 2nd, 2008.
 
ClearReplica is licensed so you need in most cases only 1 or 2 licenses of the product even if you have hundreds of licenses of Rational ClearCase and hundreds of ClearCase VOBs. You can “replicate”  or "deploy" all VOBs in your organization for around the cost of a single license of ClearCase. For detailed information on these tools, visit us at:
http://www.abs-consulting.com/products_clearreplica.shtml.

About A Better Solution, Inc.

Founded by Charles Clarke, III in 1996, he saw the need for a CM consulting company from his early experiences with Atria (the original makers of ClearCase). To this end ABS has assembled some of the best software minds in the country to bring the experiences of many minds in many development shops together to aid in implementation of Rational ClearCase. ABS also provides custom training plans to suit an organizations need for Rational ClearCase user or administrator training. visit http://www.abs-consulting.com for more details.

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