• Article

Publication Properties, Subscription Options

The Subscription Options page of the Publication Properties dialog box allows you to view and set publication level properties associated with subscriptions. The properties are grouped into the following categories:

  • Properties that apply to all publications.

  • Properties that apply to snapshot and transactional publications (including those that allow updating subscriptions).

  • Properties that apply to merge publications.

Note

Some properties are read-only; the reasons are covered in the property descriptions in this topic. Some property changes require a new snapshot for the publication, and some also require that all subscriptions be reinitialized. For more information, see Changing Publication and Article Properties.

Options for all publications

Creation and Synchronization

  • Allow anonymous subscriptions
    Determines whether to allow anonymous pull subscriptions. Anonymous subscriptions are supported for Microsoft SQL Server Compact 3.5 Service Pack 1, Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Mobile Edition, Microsoft SQL Server for Windows CE, Microsoft SQL Server version 7.0, and Microsoft SQL Server 2000. To use this option for snapshot and transactional publications, the option Snapshot always available must be set to True.

  • Attachable subscription database
    Determines whether subscriptions can be created by attaching a copy of a subscription database (requires that the option Snapshot always available is set to True for snapshot and transactional publications).

    Important

    Attachable subscriptions will not be available in a future release. The feature is deprecated.

  • Allow pull subscriptions
    Determines whether to allow Subscribers to create pull subscriptions to this publication. For more information, see Subscribing to Publications.

Schema Replication

  • Replicate schema changes
    Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and later versions only. Determines whether to replicate schema changes (such as adding a column to a table or changing the data type of a column) to published objects. This option does not apply to SQL Server 2000 Publishers, which support adding and dropping columns only. For more information, see Making Schema Changes on Publication Databases.

Options for snapshot and transactional publications

Creation and Synchronization

  • Independent Distribution Agent
    Determines whether to use an agent that is independent of other publications from this database. This option is read-only; it is set to True by default for publications created with the New Publication Wizard and cannot be changed after the publication is created. For more information, see Administering Replication Agents.

  • Snapshot always available
    Determines whether snapshot files are created every time the Snapshot Agent runs (requires Independent Distribution Agent). This option is read-only; it is set to True if you select Create a snapshot immediately and keep the snapshot available to initialize subscriptions on the Snapshot Agent page of the New Publication Wizard (the default). For more information, see Creating and Applying the Snapshot.

  • Allow initialization from backup files
    SQL Server 2005 and later versions only. Determines whether to allow backup files to be used to initialize subscriptions. For more information, see Initializing a Transactional Subscription Without a Snapshot.

  • Allow non-SQL Server Subscribers
    SQL Server 2005 and later versions only. Determines whether the publication supports non-SQL Server Subscribers. Setting this option to True sets other publication properties to support non-SQL Server Subscribers. This option is read-only if subscriptions exist; it cannot be set to True if Allow immediate updating subscriptions, Allow queued updating subscriptions, or Allow peer-to-peer subscriptions is set to True. For more information, see Non-SQL Server Subscribers.

Data Transformation

  • Allow data transformations
    Determines whether to use Data Transformation Services (DTS) to transform data before distributing it to a Subscriber. This option is read-only; data transformations can be enabled only if a publication is created using stored procedures.

    Important

    Transformable subscriptions will not be available in a future release. The feature is deprecated.

Peer-to-Peer Replication

  • Allow peer-to-peer subscriptions
    Applies to only SQL Server 2005 and later versions. Determines whether the publication supports peer-to-peer replication. Setting this option to True sets other publication properties to support peer-to-peer replication. This option is read-only if subscriptions exist. This option cannot be set to True if Allow immediate updating subscriptions or Allow queued updating subscriptions, or Allow non-SQL Server Subscribers is set to True. For more information, see Peer-to-Peer Transactional Replication.

  • Allow peer-to-peer conflict detection
    Applies to only SQL Server 2008 and later versions. Specifies whether conflict detection is enabled for this publication. To use conflict detection, all nodes must be running SQL Server 2008 or a later version; and detection must be enabled for all nodes. To use conflict detection, you must also specify a value for Peer originator id. For more information, see Conflict Detection in Peer-to-Peer Replication.

  • Peer originator id
    Applies to only SQL Server 2008 and later versions. Specifies an ID for a node in a peer-to-peer topology. This ID is used for conflict detection if Allow peer-to-peer conflict detection is set to True. Specify a positive, nonzero ID that has never been used in the topology. For a list of IDs that have already been used, query the Mspeer_originatorid_history system table.

Updatable Subscriptions

  • Allow immediate updating subscriptions
    Determines whether Subscriber data changes can be immediately replicated to the Publisher. This option is read-only; updating subscriptions can be enabled only when a publication is created. For more information, see Updatable Subscriptions for Transactional Replication.

  • Allow queued updating subscriptions
    Determines whether Subscriber data changes can be queued and replicated to the Publisher at a later time. This option is read-only; updating subscriptions can be enabled only when a publication is created. For more information, see Updatable Subscriptions for Transactional Replication.

  • Report conflicts centrally
    Determines whether to report conflicting data changes only at the Publisher or at both the Publisher and the Subscriber (requires the option Allow queued updating subscriptions). This option is read-only; it is set to True by default for publications created with the New Publication Wizard and cannot be changed after the publication is created. A value of True means conflicts are reported only at the Publisher. Conflicts can be viewed only where they are reported.

  • Conflict resolution policy
    Specifies the action to take when a Subscriber change conflicts with a Publisher change (requires the option Allow queued updating subscriptions). For more information, see Queued Updating Conflict Detection and Resolution.

  • Queue type
    Determines whether to use a SQL Server queue or Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ) to queue changes at the Subscriber until they can be applied to the Publisher (requires the option Allow queued updating subscriptions). This option is relevant only for SQL Server 2000; later versions always use SQL Server tables for queuing.

Options for merge publications

Conflict Reporting

  • Report conflicts centrally
    Determines whether to report conflicting data changes only at the Publisher or at both the Publisher and the Subscriber. This option is read-only; it is set to True by default for publications created with the New Publication Wizard and cannot be changed after the publication is created. A value of True means conflicts are reported only at the Publisher. Conflicts can be viewed only where they are reported. For more information, see the "Viewing Conflicts" section of Advanced Merge Replication Conflict Detection and Resolution.

Filtering

  • Allow parameterized filters
    Set based on whether a publication uses parameterized filters. This option is always read-only. For more information, see Parameterized Row Filters.

  • Validate Subscribers
    Determines which functions to use when validating that a Subscriber has the correct partition of data. Separate multiple values by commas. For more information, see Validating Partition Information for a Merge Subscriber.

  • Precompute partitions
    SQL Server 2005 and later versions only. Determines whether to optimize synchronization by computing in advance which data rows belong in which partitions. This setting defaults to True if the publication meets the criteria for precomputed partitions. For more information, see Optimizing Parameterized Filter Performance with Precomputed Partitions.

  • Optimize synchronization
    Determines whether to optimize merge processing by storing additional metadata at each Subscriber. This optimization has been superseded by precomputed partitions; the Optimize synchronization option is only relevant if Precompute partitions is set to False. For more information, see Parameterized Row Filters.

Merge Processes

  • Limit concurrent processes
    Determines whether to limit the number of Merge Agents that can run at the same time. This is typically used if a publication has lots of push subscriptions that might be synchronizing at the same time.

  • Maximum concurrent processes
    The maximum number of Merge Agents that can run at the same time (requires Limit concurrent processes). If the number of agents synchronizing exceeds the maximum, agents are put in a queue until the number drops under the maximum.