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Publisher Information, Subscription Watch List (Snapshot Publication, SQL Server 2005 and Later)

The Subscription Watch List tab is available for Distributors running SQL Server 2005 and later versions; it is intended to display information on subscriptions from all publications available at the selected Publisher. You can filter the list of subscriptions to see errors, warnings, and any poorly performing subscriptions. This tab provides a single location for an administrator to monitor all replication activity at a Publisher: Replication Monitor displays all subscriptions that require attention, based on the selected replication type and on the option chosen in the Show drop-down list box. Because the items displayed on this tab are based on current status and performance, subscriptions are displayed on this page only if they match the option in the Show list box at the current time.

Options

For more detailed information and tasks related to a subscription, right-click the row for that subscription, and then click an option on the shortcut menu. To change the way that the grid displays data, right-click the grid, and then click one of the following options:

  • Sort: Sort on one or more columns in the Sort Columns dialog box.

  • Choose Columns to Show: Select which columns to display and the order in which to display them in the Choose Columns dialog box.

  • Filter: Filter rows in the grid based on column values in the Filter Settings dialog box.

  • Clear Filter: Clear any filter settings for the grid.

Filter settings are specific to each grid. Column selection and sorting are applied to all grids of the same type, such as the publications grid for each Publisher.

  • Show Snapshot Subscriptions
    Select the type of subscriptions (transactional, snapshot, or merge) to display for the selected Publisher.

  • Show
    Select the subscription states to display for the selected subscription type. For example, you can select to display only those subscriptions that have an error.

  • Status
    The status of each subscription, which is determined by the status of the Snapshot Agent or the Distribution Agent (the higher priority status is displayed).

    By default, the grid containing subscription information is sorted by the Status column. The following list shows the possible status values and the sort order for the values (for example, errors are always shown at the top of the grid).

    • Error

    • Expiring soon/Expired

    • Uninitialized subscription

    • Retrying failed command

    • Synchronizing

    • Not synchronizing

    The sort order also determines which value is displayed if a given subscription is in more than one state. For example, if a subscription has an error and is expiring soon, the Status column displays Error.

    The status values Expiring soon/Expired and Uninitialized subscription are warnings. When a warning is displayed, the Status column also displays if an agent is running. For example, the status could be Running, Expiring soon/Expired.

    The status value Expiring soon/Expired is displayed only if a threshold is set. For information on setting thresholds, see Setting Thresholds and Warnings in Replication Monitor.

  • Subscription
    The name of each subscription, in the form: SubscriberName: SubscriptionDatabaseName.

  • Publication
    The name of the publication with which a subscription synchronizes, in the form: PublicationDatabaseName: PublicationName.

  • Last Synchronization
    The time at which the Distribution Agent last ran. If synchronization is in progress, In progress is displayed.