Patent ID: 7853561

Claim:
A method for synchronizing a target database with a source database and replicating the source database to the target database in a database replication system, wherein the source database is on-line during the synchronization, the source database being located at a first node of the system, and the target database being located at a second node of the system, the method comprising: (a) replicating changes in the source database to the target database by sending a replication stream from the first node to the second node; (b) sending successive blocks of data from the first node to the target database to synchronize or resynchronize the target database with the source database, each block of data including one or more rows of data; (c) inserting the successively sent blocks of data into the replication stream at a point when the respective blocks of data are current or consistent in the source database; and (d) posting the replication stream to the target database, the method thereby allowing synchronization or resynchronization to occur simultaneously with replication.