To configure SharePlex to replicate data, you create a configuration file. This is an ASCII text file in which you specify:

• The data that you want SharePlex to replicate, including any filtering or partitioning of rows or columns
• The target name and type
• The system (and database if applicable) to which the data must be delivered.

Only a SharePlex Administrator or operator has the authority to create a configuration file.

When your configuration file is completed, you activate the configuration with the activate config command to begin replication. For more information, see Start replication on your production systems.

You can create a configuration file by hand in sp_ctrl or, if your data structure supports it, you can automate the creation of a configuration file with a script.

Create the configuration file on the system from which data is to be replicated, typically the source system, but strategies such as active-active replication require configuration files on more than one system.

To create a configuration file in sp_ctrl

1. Run sp_ctrl from the bin sub-directory of the SharePlex product directory.

2. In sp_ctrl, issue the create config command.

   sp_ctrl> create config config_name

   This command opens a file in the default text editor that is set for the operating system. Note: You can change the default editor that sp_ctrl uses. For more information, see Set a default editor for sp_ctrl.

3. Complete the configuration file. For more information, see Structure of a configuration file.

   Important! All configurations must reside in the config sub-directory of the SharePlex variable-data directory. Configuration files outside this directory cannot be activated. SharePlex places configurations in this directory by default when you create them through the sp_ctrl interface with the create config command. If you create the configuration directly through a text editor, make certain to save it to the config sub-directory.

To build a configuration file with a script

Note: Valid for Oracle only

SharePlex provides the following scripts that can be used to automate the building of your configuration file if the source and target object names are identical. These scripts support Oracle Database source and targets only.

Option	Description	To get more information
config.sql	Builds a configuration file that includes all tables and sequences that are in the database. Source and target object names must be identical.	See Configuration Scripts in the SharePlex Reference Guide.
build_config.sql	Builds a configuration file that includes all tables in a schema. Source and target object names must be identical.	See Configuration Scripts in the SharePlex Reference Guide.

Structure of a configuration file

A basic configuration file looks like the following:

# comment: basic SharePlex configuration file
datasource_specification
#source specification	target specification	routing map
source_owner.object1	target_owner.object1	routing_map
source_owner.object2	target_owner.object2	routing_map
source_owner.object3	target_owner.object3	routing_map

The basic components of a configuration file are as follows.

Component	Description	Syntax examples
# Comments	Lines that describe the file or provide other information about the contents to viewers, but are not used by SharePlex. Precede each comment line with a pound (#) sign. Comments may be entered anywhere in the configuration file.	# This is a comment.
Datasource specification	Syntax that specifies the source database. This component must always be the first non-commented line of a configuration file. It has the following syntax elements, all on the same line with no spaces: The keyword Datasource followed by a colon (:). The word "Datasource" is not case-sensitive. The database specification. For more information, see Database specifications in a configuration file.	Datasource:o.SID
Source specification	The fully qualified name of a supported source object, in the form of owner.object. The owner can be a schema or a database, depending on how the database stores objects logically. See: How to qualify object names How to specify case-sensitive names You can use wildcards to specify multiple objects. Owner names cannot be wildcarded. For more information, see Use Wildcards to specify multiple objects.	src_owner.table src_owner.sequence
Target specification	The target to which the replicated data is applied. Targets supported by SharePlex are: The fully qualified name of a table (or tables) in a relational database. You can use wildcards to specify multiple objects. Owner names cannot be wildcarded. For more information, see: How to qualify object names How to specify case-sensitive names Use Wildcards to specify multiple objects Target specifications in a configuration file on page 1 An Oracle sequence (or wildcard specification). A file that contains XML or SQL records. A JMS queue or topic. A Kafka topic. A change-history table that maintains a record of all changes made to a source table (also known as change data capture)	tgt_owner.table tgt_owner.sequence !file[:tgt_owner.table] !jms[:tgt_owner.table] !kafka[:tgt_owner.table] !cdc:tgt_owner.table
Routing map	One or more routes that send the data to the system that contains the target object specified with the target specification. A route consists of the following: The name of the machine that hosts the target. (Database targets only) The @ symbol followed by the target database specification. For more information, see Database specifications in a configuration file. The database specification is absent if the target is JMS, Kafka, or a file. There can be no spaces between any characters in the routing map. For more information, see Routing specifications in a configuration file.	host@o.SID host@o.PDBalias host@o.tns_alias host@r.database_name host host@c.SID Compound routing map: host@o.SID+host@r.database[...]