August 28, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Here's the scenario. Our company has corporate stores with unique server names at each of our stores. Everything is great. We now are in the process of needing to replicate with our Franchise servers. The problem is that they were all setup however they wanted. We now ran into the situation where two stores have a server name of SERVER.
To setup transactional replication it requires the actual machine name, no IP address or aliases apparently. Are there ANY options other than renaming the server machine name??
August 29, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Hey--not saying it will work, but have you tried using the IP Address instead of the SERVER?
oops--sorry. On re-reading, I see you already tried that.
- john
September 4, 2008 at 9:06 am
As I understand you, because two different franchises use the same server name, you are unable to set up replication with BOTH of them. But to change the name essentially requires uninstalling and reinstalling SQL Server (see question at bottom). So, there are several steps you have to go through:
1. Talk to legal - they need to put into the franchise agreement some language that governs the name of the server franchisees must establish, to ensure smooth communication
2. Talk to your franchisee - find out WHEN their system is idle - oh, wait, what if they use a hosting company and don't own their own server? This can get terribly complicated, depending on what your (outside of control sphere) franchisee did to set up their computing...
In any event, here's the good news: IF, once the maintenance window is clearly defined for the franchisee, they can uninstall and reinstall SQL Server, that's all they have to do. As an added step, they could detach the databases first; uninstall and reinstall SS does not require any changes to the data (caveat - you may want them to backup and restore the system databases to ensure all security settings, processes etc remain intact). So I suggest the following:
1. Take full backups and make sure they are stored in a safe place OTHER than the PHYSICAL hard drive where the SS is installed, if possible. [any environment where 'SERVER' is the chosen name is not very sophisticated]
2. Make sure that the install disks are available.
3. Uninstall SS completely from their system.
4. RENAME their server.
5. Reinstall SS with a 'unique' name for your purposes.
6. Restore the system databases.
7. Reattach the other databases.
8. Test to make sure everything is working.
9. Go get something to drink (alcohol content NOT required) and take a deep sigh of relief.
The sad news - Unless you can 'cheat': rename the server with the system installed, and gently overlay all the references inside SS with the new name, I'm afraid you are SOL.
Query: What happens if you rename a machine AFTER SS is installed? Has anyone ever done this?
September 4, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Renaming a server does *NOT* necessarily requires reinstall.
How to: Rename a Computer that Hosts a Stand-Alone Instance of SQL Server 2005
* Noel
September 4, 2008 at 8:41 pm
that is correct. 2 franchise stores and only now bringing their servers onto our network. and 2 already happen to have the same terrible name of SERVER. We are aware of the level of difficulty in a name change and want that to be a last resort. that's why we were seeing if anyone else had any ideas.
September 17, 2008 at 6:25 am
just wanted to close this by saying I thought of a workaround which is working well. I setup a virtual PC session that replicates to the 2nd store with the duplicate name. I then setup the virtual PC as a publisher as well. Our main server then subscribes to the virtual PC which has a unique name.
Thanks for the suggestions.
Viewing 6 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply