Patent ID: 8301593

Claim:
A method of operating a replication system that includes an asynchronous replication mode and a synchronous replication mode, the replication system replicating data associated with a plurality of transactions, the replication system including one or more target nodes and one or more originating nodes connected via communication media in a topology, each target node including a database and a plurality of appliers allocated thereto, each transaction having one or more transaction steps or operations, the method comprising: (a) allocating a first set of transaction steps or operations from one of the originating nodes to the plurality of appliers of a target node on an object-by-object basis when the replication system operates in asynchronous replication mode; and (b) allocating a second set of transaction steps or operations from the same originating node as step (a) to the plurality of appliers of the same target node as in step (a) on a transaction-by-transaction basis when the replication system operates in synchronous replication mode, wherein the replication system allows for both the asynchronous replication mode and the synchronous replication mode at the same time, thereby allowing steps (a) and (b) to occur at the same time.