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Synchronous Replication GCP | What is it?

In the Google Cloud Platform, synchronous replication refers to a data replication technique. This technique ensures the consistency and durability of data across multiple locations. In fact, it is a key feature for maintaining high availability and data integrity in distributed systems.

It involves writing data to multiple locations at the same time and confirming the write operation only after the data has been successfully replicated to all locations. This ensures that the data is consistent across all replicas and eliminates the risk of data loss in case of failure.

Synchronous replication requires the bandwidth of a LAN between the servers, possibly with an extended LAN in two geographically remote computer zones.

The native SQL Server AlwaysOn mirroring replicates synchronously. It can work between two SQL Servers Enterprise in an on-premises network or between two EC2 SQL Servers Enterprise in the same AWS region. It supports Active-Active failover as well.

Advantages of Synchronous Replication

The key advantage of synchronous replication is that the data is replicated to a secondary remote location at the same time as the new data is being created or updated in the primary data center. In other words, the replication is nearly instant and enables us to have data replicas that are just a few minutes apart from the source material.

Disadvantages of Synchronous Replication

Unfortunately, synchronous replication is more expensive than other forms of data replication. Additionally, it introduces latency and only works for distances of up to 300 km as well.

According to our experts, we should use synchronous replication in a database in certain scenarios. For instance, when we have high-end transactional applications that need instant failover in case the primary node fails.

Furthermore, it is not often used in network-attached storage unless the NAS device can also function as block-based storage for those high-end transactional applications.

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Conclusion

To conclude, our Support Techs introduced us to Synchronous Replication GCP and its pros and cons.