As with all other methods, merge replication begins with snapshot updates on the Subscribers. The Merge Agent, which runs on the Distributor for push subscriptions and on the Subscribers for pull replication, monitors and distributes all changes on the Publisher and Subscribers after the initial data population. Since data conflicts can occur, the Merge Agent uses a conflict table located on the publication database to resolve conflicts. As with all IT efforts, proper planning is the key to successful implementation. Factors to consider when planning a replication strategy include the type of data to be published, the subscribers to the data, and the location of the subscribers.
Publications can also contain more than one article.
This flexibility provides a high degree of customization that enables DBAs to meet the needs of the subscriber communities. The DBA should select and partition data to minimize transmission times, bandwidth utilization, and storage requirements. Optimization requires thorough analysis from the beginning. These are some questions that must be answered before the DBA can deploy a successful replication strategy. SQL Server Eases Replication Setup SQL Server has taken much of the guesswork out of replication setup.