September 22, 2008 at 7:33 am
Hi all,
I'd like to describe my situation and have members comment on where they think my understanding of replication in SQL Server 2005 deviates from reality!
A DBA from a different part of the organisation has made available a "Snapshot of Views" publication updated daily. He's given me a SQL Server login with limited permissions to access this publication.
I've created a local subscription on my SQL Server 2005, using his SQL Server login to access the remote SQL Server and a local administrator account to run the Distribution Agent on my server.
All works fine except when I try to initialize (or reinitialize) the subscription. The job fails reporting that it couldn't access the default snapshot path: The process could not read file D:\DB_ReplData\unc\....etc.
Why is this? It's because this directory doesn't exist!
Why does the directory not exist? I'm guessing that it's because either
a) initial snapshot has not been created yet OR
b) the snapshot has been created on the Distibutor but the Distribution Agent hasn't yet given me my first snapshot to work with OR
c) I'm supposed to have read access to a directory on the Distributor containing the snapshot which I don't have.
I guess there to be two possibilities:
1) I can ask the other DBA to manually run his distribution agent to get me my first snapshot.
2) Tomorrow morning when the Publication is generated I, as a subscriber, will automatically get my first snapshot then all will continue as expected.
The DBA who set all this up is a very busy man and has admitted that he's new to Replication. This puts me in a tricky position. Should I hassle him now to do something at his end to get me my snapshot, or do I wait until tomorrow morning and see what happens, risking him having made a mistake in the setup and I never get my snapshot?
Apologies for the length of this post but I realise there are a lot of variables involved here so I wanted to be complete in my description.
So: Critique my understanding if you will!
Thanks,
Rob
September 22, 2008 at 8:38 am
If you are getting the error where I think you are in the process, the path needs to be UNC to a shared folder path. Your subscriber is looking for files on it's local D drive, but the publication has put the files on the local D drive of the publisher.
I cannot remember if this is in the publication setup or in the subscriber setup. In one of the setups, there is a replication files location that is noted in the dialog that it should be a network location using UNC. I think the wrong path was used in that dialog.
September 22, 2008 at 9:03 am
Hi Michael,
thanks for such a quick response.
The reason I didn't think this was where the solution lay was because of this quote from Books Online (Creating and Applying the snapshot):
After the snapshot is created at the Publisher and stored in a default or alternate snapshot location, the snapshot can be transferred to the Subscriber and applied. The Distribution Agent... transfers the snapshot and applies the schema and data files to the subscription database on the Subscriber during the initial synchronization.
It goes on to say that the Initialise When option controls this snapshot creation on the Subscriber. Is it possible that I need to get my colleague to change his Initialise When setting?
Can anyone confirm what Michael says? Do we need to set up a network share for the snapshot?
September 22, 2008 at 1:41 pm
You state that the 'Snapshot of Views' is updated daily. IF this is true, then the snapshot should be at the Publisher except for the moment that he's refreshing it. Question: Why are you not using his distributor?
...and a local administrator account to run the Distribution Agent on my server
Or do I understand you to be using his distributor with your login (which I doubt will work)?
I agree that the error message suggests that you are looking for the file in the wrong server. You need to be able to reference where the other DBA put the snapshot. IF he didn't tell you where he put it, or didn't give you adequate rights, start there. Without a snapshot, you have a hard time getting started.
Creating a file share could allow your DA to work, if your DA has enough rights (you should require only read privileges). I vote for a combination of incorrect 'spelling' of the UNC and perhaps missing rights to read the share, as most likely. A quick inquiry might highlight that he skipped a step, and whether you let him know today or tomorrow, you'll still need to let him know.
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