Transactional Replication:

Beyond The Basics

Spotlight Session – 90 mins
Kendal Van Dyke
 Session Goals
• Understand transactional replication
fundamentals

• Learn advanced monitoring techniques

• Learn how to tune replication performance

• Learn how to troubleshoot and fix common

problems

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

 About Me
• SQL Server DBA 10+ years
• 7 years experience w\ multi-datacenter, high
volume transactional replication

Blog: http://www.kendalvandyke.com
Twitter: @SQLDBA
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/kendalvandyke

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

 Agenda
• Mechanics
• Configuration
• Monitoring
• Tuning
• Troubleshooting
• Q&A

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

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DBA390S • Transactional Replication
Mechanics
 Vernacular

Publisher • Source of data to be replicated to other servers

Publication • Collection of articles in a database on publisher

Article • Object to be replicated

• Point-in-time copy of the schema and data for

Snapshot articles in a publication

Subscriber • Instance which receives replicated data

• Stores all data changes to be replicated between

Distributor publishers & subscribers in a distribution database

• Performs replication related tasks (e.g.delivering

Agent changes to subscribers)

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

 Topologies: Central Publisher

Subscriber

Publisher Distributor

Subscriber

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

 Topologies: Central Subscriber

Publisher Distributor

Subscriber

Publisher Distributor

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

 Topologies: Republishing Subscriber

Subscriber

Publisher Distributor Subscriber\ Distributor

Publisher

Subscriber

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

 Snapshot Process

Snapshot Files

Snapshot Dist.
Agent Agent
snapshot.exe distrib.exe
distribution

Publisher Distributor Subscriber

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

 Command Delivery

Cleanup
Agents
(SQL Jobs)

Log
Distrib.
Reader
Agent
Agent distrib.exe
logread.exe distribution
Transaction
Log

Publisher Distributor Subscriber

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

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Configuration

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

 What Can Be Replicated
• Tables
• Stored Procedures (Definition & Execution)
• User Defined Functions (Definition)
• Views (Definition)
• Indexed Views (Definition)
• Indexed Views (As Table)
• DDL Commands

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

 Publications
• Article properties
• Article filters
• Schema changes
• Synchronization mode
• Recovery model

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

 Subscriptions
• Push vs. Pull
• Push = Distribution agent runs on distributor
• Pull = Distribution agent runs on subscriber

• Synchronization Types
• „none‟ (deprecated)
• „automatic‟ (default)
• „replication support only‟
• „initialize with backup‟

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

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DBA390S • Transactional Replication
Monitoring
 Replication Monitor

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

 Tracer Tokens

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

 Alerts

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

 Alerts

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

 System Stored Procedures
• Run At Publisher
• sp_helppublication
• sp_helparticle
• sp_replcounters

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

 System Stored Procedures
• Run At Distributor
• SQL 2000 and up
• sp_MSenum_snapshot
• sp_MSenum_logreader
• sp_MSenum_distribution

• SQL 2005 and up

• sp_replmonitorhelppublisher
• sp_replmonitorhelppublication
• sp_replmonitorhelpsubscription
• sp_replmonitorsubscriptionpendingcmds

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

 Perfmon Counters
• SQLServer: Replication Agents
• SQLServer: Replication Dist.
• SQLServer: Replication Logreader
• SQLServer: Replication Snapshot

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

 Distribution DB – Tables of interest
• Configuration
• MSarticles
• MSpublications
• MSsubscriptions
• MSagent_profiles
• MSdistribution_agents
• MSlogreader_agents
• History
• MSdistribution_history
• MSlogreader_history

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

 Custom Queries
• Publications, Articles, & Subscriptions
• Agent profiles by subscriber
• Log Reader Volume
• Distribution Agent Volume

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

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DBA390S • Transactional Replication
Tuning
 Agents
• Delivery Schedule
• Profiles

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

 SubscriptionStreams

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

 Output Logging

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

 Distribution DB
• Physical Location
• Command Retention
• Duplicate Articles
• Partial Subscriptions

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

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Troubleshooting

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

 Data Consistency Errors

“The row was not found at the Subscriber when

applying the replicated command”

Solution:
• Set distribution agent to continue on data consistency
errors …or…
• Use sp_browsereplcmds to view failing command and
fix accordingly

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

 Missing Objects

“Could not find stored procedure „spMSins_...”

Solution:
• Use sp_scriptpublicationcustomprocs to
generate stored procedures for publication

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

 Nothing’s Happening…

Distribution agents won‟t start or don‟t appear to do

anything

Solution:
• Possible issue with non-interactive desktop heap
• Requires registry change
• Microsoft KB article 824422

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

 Timeouts & Retries

Snapshot agent cannot complete or distribution

agents frequently retry

Solution:
• Possible network issue – check speed and duplex on
network cards for publisher, distributor, & subscriber

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

 Everything’s Behind

All subscriptions show the same latency value

Solution:
• Log Reader Agent may be behind. Use DBCC commands
to view transaction log status on publisher
• DBCC SQLPERF(logspace)
• DBCC LOGINFO

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

 I Said NOT To Replicate Deletes!

Delete commands replicate even though they were

set not to

• Solution:
• Management Studio UI bug
• Script publication
• Verify @del_cmd = N’NONE’

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

 Additional Resources
Books
• Books Online
• Pro SQL Server 2008 Replication, Sujoy Paul
Forums
• MSDN
• SQL Server Central
Websites & Blogs
• http://blogs.msdn.com/b/repltalk
• http://kendalvandyke.blogspot.com
• http://www.replicationanswers.com
Twitter - #sqlhelp

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

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Questions?

DBA390S • Transactional Replication

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DBA390S • Transactional Replication

Thank you
for attending this session and the
2010 PASS Summit in Seattle