Replication

Database replication is the creation and maintenance of multiple copies of the same database. In most implementations of database replication, one database server maintains the master copy of the database and additional database servers maintain slave copies of the database. Database writes are sent to the master database server and are then replicated by the slave database servers. Database reads are divided among all of the database servers, which results in a large performance advantage due to load sharing. In addition, database replication can also improve availability because the slave database servers can be configured to take over the master role if the master database server becomes unavailable.