Building N-way replication is about making sure it is exactly what you need. Misusing N-way replication as a Failover technology is a trap that you need to avoid at all cost. Remember, replication is about distributing data while Failover (technology) is about disaster recovery.

Planning for N-way replication starts with conflict resolution. Working with your Business Units is a must, and setting and managing expectations needs to be done before any discussion of implementation. The use of Use Case scenarios driven down to transactions, then to tables involved in those transactions is one method to promote discussions with the Business Units.

Document your solution prior to implementation. Use the documentation as your implementation plan. Implementing N-way replication is easy when you are organized and have the steps defined and in order ahead of time. As part of the documentation/implementation plan, we recommend the use of a simple table, such as the Setup Table, and deciding ahead of time the order of implementation. This answers the question of "Where do we start and what next?" So, identify which host to start with and the order of implementation is important to avoid confusion during implementation.

Now, go and take a break before going into Chapter 6, Get Fancy with Streams Advanced Configurations, which looks at advanced configurations.