Synchronization

The synchronization tool compares two RAPID-N installation versions (source and target) and determines files that are added to, updated in, or deleted from the source installation. Differences between the installations are reported by filename and status.

The primary aim of the tool is to facilitate the deployment of release versions of the system to the main application server.

Added or deleted files are found by comparing the directory listing of the installation versions. Updated files are determined by calculating and comparing MD5 hashes of the files having the same path and filename. Files and folders that should be excluded from the comparison, such as setting files or folders containing temporary files, can be explicitly specified. Because MD5 hash calculation is a time and proc-essor intensive operation, certain folders can also be exempted from this step. Files in such folders are compared only by file size. Files with the same name, but with different sizes are assumed to be up-dated. Folders holding large files, such as hazard maps, are recommended to be exempted from the MD5 calculation (Figure 1).

In order to obtain a synchronization report for two installation versions, first the tool should be run at the source installation by selecting the action as "Create Data". Once the tool is run, the system will create a synchronization data file that includes information on synchronization settings and checksum data for each file in the installation. Then, the tool should be run at the target installation by selecting the action as "Upload Data" and uploading the synchronization data file created previously. The tool will examine the target installation with the same synchronization settings indicated in the data file and cre-ate a synchronization report similar to the one given in Figure 2. Based on the report, the system ad-ministrator should upload newly added or updated files to the target installation and remove the ones that are deleted from the source installation by using an external FTP-client.