Using DISTRIB.EXE or REPLMERG.EXE in SQL Express

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

RSH - 30 Nov 2005 14:06 GMT

Can I use DISTRIB.EXE or REPLMERG.EXE to force SQL Express to synchronize a
Pull Subscription on the SQL Express machine to the publisher (SQL Server)?

Reply to this Message

Raymond Mak [MSFT] - 30 Nov 2005 17:26 GMT

Yes, and doing so is not as "artificial" as it appears since these are the
same executables run by the SQL Server Agent jobs that are configured
automatically for > Express SKUs.

-Raymond

> Can I use DISTRIB.EXE or REPLMERG.EXE to force SQL Express to synchronize
> a Pull Subscription on the SQL Express machine to the publisher (SQL
> Server)?

Reply to this Message

RSH - 30 Nov 2005 17:32 GMT

I thought SQL Server Express didn't include a Replication Synchronization
engine??? Or is it just not supported in the interface??

So based on what you said here I should be able to pass through the
commandline the appropriate parameters and SQLExpress will force
synchronization with the SQL Server "mothership" even when I have set the
SQLExpress subscriber as a Pull Subscription in a Merge replication
scenerio????

> Yes, and doing so is not as "artificial" as it appears since these are the
> same executables run by the SQL Server Agent jobs that are configured
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>> synchronize a Pull Subscription on the SQL Express machine to the
>> publisher (SQL Server)?

Reply to this Message

Raymond Mak [MSFT] - 30 Nov 2005 17:42 GMT

Off the top of my head, SQLExpress does not include components that allow
you to set up your SQL Express instance as a publisher but components for
synchronizing subscriptions on SQL Express instances should be included.
This should include both the distribution agent executable (distrib.exe) and
the merge agent executable (replmerg.exe). So as long as you can figure out
the appropriate parameters for the executables, you should be goood to go.

-Raymond

>I thought SQL Server Express didn't include a Replication Synchronization
>engine??? Or is it just not supported in the interface??
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
>>> synchronize a Pull Subscription on the SQL Express machine to the
>>> publisher (SQL Server)?

Reply to this Message

RSH - 30 Nov 2005 18:17 GMT

Okay it looks like DISTRIB.EXE is going to work...but I keep getting the
error: Agent message code 21056. The subscription to publication
'TestPullReplication' has expired or does not exist.

> Can I use DISTRIB.EXE or REPLMERG.EXE to force SQL Express to synchronize
> a Pull Subscription on the SQL Express machine to the publisher (SQL
> Server)?

Reply to this Message

Raymond Mak [MSFT] - 30 Nov 2005 18:38 GMT

There are two possibilities that I can think of:

1) The publication has independent_agent set to false, and for this to work,
you should not specify the -Publication parameter on the agent command line
2) The -SubcriptionType parameter is not specified with the appropriate
value on the command line (defaults to push)

Perhaps a better way to go about doing this is to create a "similar" pull
subscription on a > Express instance, extract the command line for that from
sysjobsteps, and use that as a template.

-Raymond

> Okay it looks like DISTRIB.EXE is going to work...but I keep getting the
> error: Agent message code 21056. The subscription to publication
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>> synchronize a Pull Subscription on the SQL Express machine to the
>> publisher (SQL Server)?

Reply to this Message