Control agent properties

Control agent properties define to the server which agents it can contact, where it can contact them, and how the agents should perform.

The properties are specified after the [control-agent.name] directive in the source properties file. The value of name must match exactly one of the names specified for the control-agents property under the [server] directive. If you run two agents, you need a [control.agent.name] directive for each of the agents.

Property names and values are separated by an equal sign (for example, name=agent1).

Note: When you add comments to a properties file, place them on a new line that begins with the pound sign (#). Do not specify a comment on the same line as a property value definition.

The following table provides a list of control agent properties and their values.

Table 1. Control agent properties
Property name Value Description
connect-timeout seconds

Specifies the value used by the replication server to determine the number of retries and timeout interval when establishing a network connection to the replication agent.

The determined number of retries, and timeout interval vary depending on the connection type.

For more information, see Connect-timeout property.
critical 0 | 1 Specifies whether the replication agent is critical.

If the replication server cannot connect to, or loses connection with, a critical replication agent, then the replication server shuts down.

Only the first replication agent in the transition-to-agents list can be a critical replication agent. There can be at most one critical replication agent.

Possible values are:

  • 1—The replication agent is critical. This is the default value..
  • 0—The replication agent is not critical.
database db-name Specifies the replication target database name.
host IP-address|hostname Specifies the host name that the replication agent will run on.
ipver ipv4 | ipv6

Specifies whether the replication server uses IPv4 or IPv6 for network communication with the replication agent.

Possible values are:
  • ipv4—IPv4 is used for network communication with the replication agent. This is the default value.
  • ipv6—IPv6 is used for network communication with the replication agent.
Note: If the source database broker is using IPv6, OpenEdge Replication must also use IPv6.
name agent-name

Specifies the replication agent name.

By convention, the agent-name must match the name specified in the replication target database properties file.

ALL is not allowed as a replication agent name. Each replication agent must have a unique name.
Note: The agent-name property has a 15-character maximum limit.
port service-name | port-num

Specifies the port number the replication server should use to contact the target database during replication network connection.

The port number specified must be the same port specified with the -S parameter when the target database broker was started.
replication-method async Specifies the type of replication, asynchronous (async).
Note: The value is case-sensitive. Use async , not Async.
request-agent-ack 0 | 1 Specifies the use of the -asc1 parameter by the replication agent.
Possible values are:
  • 0—Do not use the -asc parameter with the replication agent. This is the default value.
  • 1—Use the -asc parameter with the replication agent.
Note: If request-agent-ack=0, the setting of the request-agent-ack-interval property is ignored.
request-agent-ack- interval integer Specifies the interval of AIBLOCK messages that are sent with an acknowledgment request to the replication agent.

Valid values for this property range between 1 and 499, inclusive. The default is 10.

Values outside of the valid range disable the use of request-agent-ack, which is equivalent to setting the value of request-agent-ack to 0.
1 The -asc parameter is the replication agent acknowledgement startup parameter which is specific to OpenEdge Replication. It controls the number of AI blocks sent to the target database before an acknowledgement is sent back from the replication agent to the replication server, potentially addressing performance issues. Prior to OpenEdge release 12, the -asc parameter settings would apply to all connected replication agents identically. For OpenEdge release 12.0 and later, the -asc parameter has been retired, and two new replication properties—request-agent-ack and request-agent-ack-interval— have been added to the [control-agent] section of the repl.properties file, allowing you to individually configure the -asc parameter settings for each connected replication agent. For more information on the -asc parameter, refer to the Progress Technical Support Knowledge Base articles.