{"id":9259,"date":"2020-10-14T06:01:02","date_gmt":"2020-10-14T13:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.couchbase.com\/blog\/?p=9259"},"modified":"2025-06-13T23:42:31","modified_gmt":"2025-06-14T06:42:31","slug":"announcing-couchbase-for-mobile-and-edge-computing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.couchbase.com\/blog\/announcing-couchbase-for-mobile-and-edge-computing\/","title":{"rendered":"Advanced Sync with Couchbase 2.8 for Mobile and the Edge"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re pleased to announce the General Availability (GA) of the Couchbase Lite 2.8 and Sync Gateway 2.8 platforms. This groundbreaking release introduces significant enhancements to our sync technology for disconnected and distributed cloud deployments. You can learn more about the emergence of edge computing and edge architectures in this related whitepaper<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On the Sync Gateway, we\u2019ve introduced enterprise-grade inter-Sync Gateway replication for secure cloud-to-edge data sync at scale. On Couchbase Lite, we\u2019ve introduced out-of-the-box support for enterprise-grade peer-to-peer data sync in IP-based networks that enables clients to securely sync data with each other without the need for a centralized control point.<\/p>\n

In this post I\u2019ll discuss the main features in the 2.8 release of Couchbase Lite and Sync Gateway. To learn about the numerous bug fixes and minor enhancements, you can read our platform-specific release notes.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how you can start using the new features in Couchbase Lite and Sync Gateway 2.8:
\n– Download Sync Gateway 2.8<\/a>
\n– Get the Sync Gateway 2.8 Docker Image<\/a>
\n– Download Couchbase Lite 2.8<\/a><\/p>\n

Sync Gateway<\/h2>\n

Inter-Sync Gateway Replication<\/h3>\n

This release of Sync Gateway introduces support for enterprise-grade Inter-Sync Gateway replication protocol for data sync between Sync Gateway clusters in the cloud or between clusters in the cloud and edge data centers. The protocol, based on WebSockets, replaces the current 1.x version of the SG-Replicate protocol.<\/p>\n

The new version supports a number of enterprise-grade features including automatic load balancing of replications across Sync Gateway nodes, built-in high availability (HA), delta sync to reduce data transfer cost, automatic data conflict resolution that includes built-in conflict resolvers as well as the ability for developers to define their own conflict resolvers, dedicated REST endpoint for remote administration and much more.<\/p>\n

Learn more:
\n– Blog: Inter Sync Gateway Replication for Cloud-to-Edge Sync<\/a>
\n– Documentation<\/a>
\n– Webinar including demonstration of capability<\/a>
\n– Edge Computing solutions page<\/a><\/p>\n

OIDC Enhancements<\/h3>\n

In this release we\u2019ve updated our OIDC library and broadened our support of OIDC token providers for token-based user authentication. We\u2019ve also introduced a new configuration option<\/a> that allows developers to specify the token attribute to be used as the Sync Gateway user\u2019s \u201cusername\u201d instead of restricting it to the subject\/issuer token attributes.<\/p>\n

Read more:
\n– Documentation<\/a><\/p>\n

Prometheus Monitoring Support (Developer Preview)<\/h3>\n

In 2.8 we have a new metrics endpoint that exposes stats in a\u00a0Prometheus<\/a> compatible format. This is in addition to the JSON format that is already supported. Adopted by the CNCF foundation<\/a>, Prometheus is an open source systems monitoring and alerting solution that is quickly becoming the de facto monitoring platform of choice, especially in cloud-native deployments. Now you can directly integrate Sync Gateway with the Prometheus platform without an external exporter<\/a> for transforming the stats from JSON to Prometheus format.<\/p>\n

Read more:
\n– Documentation<\/a><\/p>\n

Couchbase Lite<\/h2>\n

Inter-Device Sync With Peer-to-Peer Replication<\/h3>\n

In 2.8 we\u2019re introducing an out-of-the-box solution for peer-to-peer sync that makes it extremely easy for developers to implement secure data sync in IP networks with just a few lines of code. The sync technology includes a number of features essential for business-critical, offline-first applications, such as built-in support for TLS encryption and authentication, enhanced data conflict resolution that supports automatic and custom conflict resolution, network resiliency, delta sync support, and more. This solution complements the existing peer-to-peer capability that allows developers to bring in their own custom communications framework or leverage third-party frameworks for non-IP based networks.<\/p>\n

Learn more:
\n– Blog: Peer-to-Peer Sync With Couchbase Lite<\/a>
\n– Documentation<\/a>
\n– Webinar with demonstration of capability<\/a>
\n– Peer-to-Peer Sync solutions page<\/a><\/p>\n

API Enhancements<\/h3>\n

The Couchbase Lite API continues to evolve, making it simpler for developers to integrate their apps with the database. This release includes API enhancements that allow apps to track documents that are pending push. A typical use case is for an application to track if all pending changes have been synced and to provide a visual indicator to the app user on the status of the sync. The app user can then decide when it is safe to exit the app. In addition, the database delete and close APIs have been enhanced to take care of cleaning up open replicators, listeners, live queries, etc., which makes implementation of log-out workflows significantly easier.<\/p>\n

Read more:
\n– Documentation<\/a><\/p>\n

Resources<\/h2>\n

Here are direct links to a few helpful resources. You can learn more on our What\u2019s New<\/strong><\/a> page.<\/p>\n