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Fast Data Replication (FDR)

Near real-time orchestration for multi-tenant enterprise data

Solution type
Use case
Destinations
C2S data replication platform
Historical loads and continuous incremental synchronization
Azure SQL, Databricks, BigQuery and lakehouse platforms

Business Context

A multi-tenant enterprise environment used CDC and ETL to move data across approximately 1,500 tables. Existing processes required weekend downtime, extensive manual coordination and long CDC retention, while strict tenant separation had to be maintained.

Program Objectives

  • Replace slow, operationally intensive data movement with a configuration-driven platform.
  • Support historical data loads and continuous CDC/CT processing.
  • Reduce source-system impact and improve recovery.
  • Enable multiple cloud and analytics destinations.

Key Challenges

  • Approximately 1,500 tables across multiple multi-tenant SQL Server environments.
  • Strict separation of customer data.
  • Complete weekend downtime and significant support-team coordination.
  • Seven to ten days of CDC retention under the previous approach.

C2S Solution

C2S developed FDR as a lightweight, distributed and configuration-driven service built on SQL Server CDC and Change Tracking.

Phase 1: Bulk Historical Load

  • Migrates a full snapshot to establish the target baseline.

Phase 2: CDC Catch-Up

  • Replays changes generated during the bulk-load window to close the gap.

Phase 3: Near Real-Time Synchronization

  • Continuously applies incremental changes using watermark-based processing.

Operational Reliability

  • Uses retry, recovery, replay and monitoring capabilities.
  • Applies hot/cold table management and batching to control resource usage.

Key Deliverables

  • FDR service deployment and configuration.
  • Source-to-target replication pipelines.
  • Monitoring dashboards and infrastructure alerts.
  • Standard operating procedures and recovery runbooks.
Scale and Performance
Environment scale
~1,500 tables
Delivery model
At-least-once delivery with replay support
CDC retention target
2 days in the improved model
Benchmark example
214,548 rows × 243 columns inserted in approximately 10 minutes

Business Impact

Outcome
Business Value
Predictable performance
Prioritizes high-value tables while controlling CPU and memory usage.
Reliability
Watermarks, retries and replay reduce risk of missed changes.
Operational continuity
Supports migration with materially less downtime and manual coordination.
Extensibility
Allows replication to SQL, Databricks, BigQuery and lakehouse targets.

Technology Stack

  • SQL Server CDC
  • Change Tracking
  • Azure SQL
  • Databricks
  • BigQuery
  • Azure Monitor

Testimonial

“The C2S FDR platform improved the speed, control and reliability of our data synchronization. It reduced operational effort and gave us a flexible path to support multiple analytics destinations.”
Customer