June 3, 2010 at 5:09 am
I have two sql servers that need to be replicated under Merge replication. The publisher is SQL 2005 and the subscriber is SQL 2000. Replication is to be made through a dial-up line. As the line drops during the inital push of the snapshot to the subscriber, I would like to know if there is a way to put the snapshop on a laptop and load it into the subscriber or any other way to by pass the dial-up line for initial loading of the sanpshot by the subscriber. If yes, how to do that.
Thank you
Patrick
June 3, 2010 at 8:40 am
Patrick,
How frequently does the data change? If the data is fairly static you could create a full database backup of the publication database, manually restore this on to the subscriber server, setup merge replication on the publication server and uncheck the "create snapshot now" option.
www.sqlAssociates.co.uk
June 3, 2010 at 10:59 pm
Hi Chris,
As the company has two sites, data are changed daily.
From what I understand, you mean that if database exist on both sides, I could avoid creation of the snapshot ? What will happen if I need to add a column to a table ?
Thank you
Patrick
June 4, 2010 at 1:59 am
Hi Patrick,
That is pretty much correct, as well as having the database on both sides the table schemas must also match.
When a snapshot is created/executed the process creates multiple files per object in a sub directory on the OS each containing the syntax to create the object, indexes/constraints and for the table objects there is data file for each object. All this information is written out from the Publisher and then executed one-by-one on the Subscriber.
I personally think you are stuck between a rock and a hard place on this one, if daily data changes are made on both sites and it is not possible to have an outage to backup the database on the Publisher and manually restore it on the Subscriber to ensure consistency and avoid the initial snapshot, then this sounds like quite an important system, in which case why is there only dial-up connectivity between the two sites?
However you look at this you've got to get some form of initial snapshot over to the Subscriber whether it is a replication snapshot or a full database backup.
Is the system 24/7? What type of data changes occur on the Publisher - are they small but frequent or large bulk/batch data changes? If there are a small and frequent you could look to use a data comparison tool to sync the two databases and then setup the replication process.
With regards to schema changes, this adds a new layer of complexity to the process - if a change is made to a table then the replication process must also be changed.
Hope that is of some help,
Chris
www.sqlAssociates.co.uk
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