Setting up a dedicated Distribution Server

  • Hi,

    We have a single server loading flat files (around 1.3m rows per day across 7 tables), which then process the data (up to 500 stored procedures) and then replicate (push) the all the data to a number of subscribers (currently 4). All replications are transactional and nearly all are continuous.

    This is a lot of work for one machine, so I am considering using a spare server as a dedicated distribution agent to ease some of the work load of the above server.

    My questions are:

    The 'spare' server is an old live SQL server and still has a couple of databases on it. Do I need to remove these or even re-install SQL?

    How do I set it up? Is there anything specific I need to do for SQL to see it as a distributor?

    All servers are Windows Server 2003 running SQL server 2005 (developers edition I think).

    Unfortunately, we a only a small company and don't currently have any DBA's or associated knowledge, but i have set up a number of replications so have a little experience setting these up! 🙂

    Thanks,

    Tom

  • It depends. You said that there are couple of DBs on the old server. Is it being used quite a bit? If not, you dont have to remove the DB. You can make that as the Distributor. But if you can get that server reinstalled, it is better.

    -Roy

  • is it critical data? once in a while we have to rerun a snapshot in the day. we've upgraded our hardware in the last 2 years and have a dedicated distributor. for a 250 million row table we went from 8 hours or so for a snapshot to an hour to take the snapshot and deliver it to one of the new subscribers. the snapshot itself now takes only 5 minutes.

    disk space is another issue. depending on how often you run snapshots, it might take a lot of disk space

  • Tom West (11/25/2009)


    How do I set it up? Is there anything specific I need to do for SQL to see it as a distributor?

    All servers are Windows Server 2003 running SQL server 2005 (developers edition I think).

    Thanks,

    Tom

    Developer Edition you think or your know?

    Confirm what edition you have, and if it is developer edition, you need to upgrade that to a standard or enterprise edition.

    Run this script to find from query window.

    SELECT serverproperty('Edition')

    Developer edition is not suggested for production use.


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