What is the purpose of replication in data management?

Replication in data management serves the crucial purpose of creating a copy of a database on a separate server. This process is essential for ensuring data availability, reliability, and consistency across multiple locations. By replicating data, organizations can protect their information against server failures, disasters, or data loss, allowing for continued access and operation even if one server encounters issues.

In addition, replication facilitates load balancing by distributing database requests across multiple servers, thereby enhancing performance and response time for users. It also aids in disaster recovery situations, enabling organizations to restore data from the replicated source if primary data becomes corrupted or compromised.

The other options, while related to data management practices, do not encompass the core functionality of replication. Backing up files on local storage focuses on securing individual files rather than maintaining a synchronized database environment. Archiving outdated data is about storage management and does not involve active data replication. Deleting unnecessary files pertains to data maintenance and management, which differs significantly from the ongoing process and objectives of replication in maintaining data integrity and availability.