merge replication web synchronization

  • I configured web synchronization for merge replication between SQL Server for the first time in out lab. In the lab, both the publisher and subscriber reside in the same domain. However, in production, they might be in different domains and the publisher will be in the US while the subscriber can be anywhere in the world.

    I have a couple of things I need to figure out before I can go ahead and configure web synchronization in production :

    1. Is it possible for me to run the merge agent from a third instance of SQL Server? If yes,how?

    2. I would like to make sure that no change made on the subscriber side can be implied on the publisher side if possible.

  • Do you require changes replicated between different subscribers ?

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    I am just an another naive wannabe DBA trying to learn SQL Server

  • No,I only require that the changes made on the publisher be made on all the subscribers.

  • Shouldn't you be setting up Snapshot or Transactional replication instead ?

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    I am just an another naive wannabe DBA trying to learn SQL Server

  • yes, but only merge replication allows web synchronization. I need to be replicating data over the internet between two data centers in the future and I found this is the only way.

  • For your first question I probably think its not possible because a merge agent always has to run on a subscriber.For the second one you can configure replication to mark published articles as read only.

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    I am just an another naive wannabe DBA trying to learn SQL Server

  • Something came to my mind.For your first question merge agent can run on a distributor as well for a push subscription.So if you can set up a distributor on a different server independent of the publisher you can make the merge agent run from there.

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    I am just an another naive wannabe DBA trying to learn SQL Server

  • I found out that there are two ways to make sure the subscriber is only read only. The first way is to change the job step for the SQL agent job for the merge agent. You can add the parameter : ExchangeType and give the value 2 for one sided replication. However, I noticed that this wasn't as effective for pull subscription. So, I investigate further and realized that you have the option to choose the Subscriber_upload_options while you add the articles to replication. You can give the values 0,1 or 2 for for Subscriber_upload_options depending on your requirements. I chose 2 since I only want the subscribers to be read only.

    Thanks for letting me know.

    For the 2nd question, I am required to run the merge agent on a third instance of SQL Server. I have the publisher and the distributor on the same box. The box that has IIS running is also on the same network as the publisher, while the subscriber and the other server that is supposed to be running the merge agent will be on a different network. Is that even possible.

Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply