The Real MTCS SQL Server 2008 Exam 70/432 Prep Kit- P86 ppsx

The conflict tables ■ ■ match the schema of the published tables: each published table is scripted, and then the script is used to create the conflict table in the publication database

Conflict tables are created to store conflict information The conflict tables

■

■

match the schema of the published tables: each published table is scripted,

and then the script is used to create the conflict table in the publication

database Conflict tables are named in the form dbo.MSmerge_conflict_

<Publication>_<Article>.

Components

Merge replication uses two components, Snapshot Agent and Merge Agent If the

publication is unfiltered or uses static filters, the Snapshot Agent creates a single

snapshot If the publication uses parameterized filters, the Snapshot Agent creates a

snapshot for each partition of data The Merge Agent applies the initial snapshots to

the Subscribers It also merges incremental data changes that occurred at the

Publisher or Subscribers after the initial snapshot was created, and detects and

resolves any conflicts according to rules you configure.

Replication Configuration

Though there are several replication types, which we discussed earlier, configuration

of those types are almost similar Therefore, in this chapter we will look at how to

configure Merge Replication Later we will discuss how to configure Peer-to-Peer

Replication.

Configuration of Distributor

Before configuring any replications on your server, you need to configure your

distribution If no distribution is available when configuring publication, the

publication wizard will ask for relevant information to configure the distribution.

ExERCISE 9.1

C onfiguring D istributor

1 Launch Open SQL Server Management Studio from Program Files|

SQL Server 2008.

2 Supply the correct authentication for you to login to the

SQL Server in which you are going to configure the distribution

3 In the SQL Server Management Studio, navigate to Replication

node in the Object Explorer Right-click the Replication node

and select Configure Distribution in the context menu.

4 After the start page you will be taken to the screen shown in Figure 9.2 From this screen, you can decide where your distribution server is It can be either on the same database server instance where your publication is or on some other server that must already be configured as a distributor

Figure 9.2 Configuring Distributor Server

5 Configure the snapshot folder To support both push and pull subscriptions, use a network path to refer to this folder

6 Configure the distribution database Supply the database name, database data file path and name, and database log file path and name By default the database name is distribution

7 Next you can add who can use this distributor when they become publishers

Configuration of Publisher

After configuring distribution, the next step is to configure publisher, which is the major configuration in Replication Exercise 9.2 will help you create a publisher.

ExERCISE 9.2

C onfiguring P ublisher

1 Launch Open SQL Server Management Studio from Program Files|

SQL Server 2008.

2 Supply the correct authentication for you to login to the SQL

Server in which you are going to configure the publisher

3 Navigate to Local Publication leaf under the Publication leaf and

right-click the Local Publication leaf Select New Publication….

4 After the starting screen, the next screen asks you to select the

database you want to publish All the user databases will be

listed, which means that you cannot replicate system databases

5 After selecting the database, select the Replication type you want

to implement, as seen in Figure 9.3

Figure 9.3 Selecting Publication Type

Four replication types are shown and Peer-to-Peer Replication is missing here We will see how we can configure Peer-to-Peer Replication later When configuring replication, the most difficult part is to select which replication you want Figure 9.3 gives you a short description about each replication so that you can be sure before selecting a

replication type

In this example, we are going to configure Merge Replication, so we will select the last option

6 Next, you will be asked what the database versions are for subscribers This is Merge Replication specific configuration, and will not be seen for other replication configurations In Figure 9.4, you can see that Merge Replication supports SQL Server versions after 2000

Figure 9.4 Subscriber Types

Also, in SQL Server 2000, DDL replication is not supported

7 Another important configuration is to configure Articles As you can see in Figure 9.5, you have the luxury of replicating not only tables and views, but also stored procedures and user-defined functions as well

SQL Server requires that all tables referenced by published views

and indexed views be available at the Subscriber If the referenced tables

are not published as articles in this publication, they must be created

at the Subscriber manually

In case of transactional replication you are not allowed to select

tables without primary keys to select as articles

8 The next screen is an issue screen of the previous selected articles

For example, in the case of Merge Replication, tables without

rowguid will be listed Also, if you have selected views and have

not selected referenced tables,which are referred by views again,

a warning will be raised here

9 The next screen lets you set filters (Figure 9.6) By clicking Add,

you can set filters You can create either static filters or dynamic

filters Static filters are straightforward; a simple where clause

filters data Dynamic filters filter which different subscribers

receive different portions of data For example, you may have

Figure 9.5 Publisher Articles