Recovering replication if Publisher is not available
Once the Publisher becomes unavailable, Subscribers cannot synchronize configuration data. The only way that replication can be recovered is by restoring the current Publisher or making another SQL Server the Publisher.
If the current Publisher cannot be restored, you need to transfer the Publisher role to SQL Server that holds the Subscriber role, and reconfigure the other Subscribers to use the new Publisher. This requires that you first remove all Subscribers from the replication group.
Given that the Publisher is unavailable, you can remove a Subscriber from the replication group by using the Active Roles console as follows:
- Right-click the console tree root, click Connect, and then select the Administration Service that uses the Subscriber SQL Server.
- In the console tree, expand Configuration | Server Configuration, and select Configuration Databases.
- In the details pane, right-click the Subscriber and select All Tasks | Advanced Properties.
- In the Advanced Properties window, select both the Show all possible attributes and Include attributes with empty values check boxes.
- In the list of attributes, double-click the attribute edsvaReplicationForceStandalone.
- In the Edit Attribute window, type TRUE in the Value box. Click OK.
- In the Advanced Properties window, click OK.
Once you have removed all Subscribers from the replication group, you can promote one of the former Subscribers to Publisher and add Subscribers to the new Publisher by using the Active Roles console as follows:
- Right-click the console tree root, click Connect, and then select the Administration Service whose SQL Server you want to hold the Publisher role.
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TIP: After you add a Subscriber, the configuration data stored on the Publisher will be replicated to the Subscriber, overriding the data on that Subscriber. Therefore, in order to retain your existing Active Roles configuration, assign the Publisher role to one of the former Subscribers. This ensures that each Administration Service in the new replication group inherits the configuration that was in place when you removed the Subscribers from the replication group. |
- In the console tree, expand Configuration | Server Configuration, and select Configuration Databases.
- In the details pane, right-click the database and click Promote.
- In the confirmation message box, click Yes.
- Wait while Active Roles performs the operation.
- In the details pane, right-click the Publisher, and click Add Replication Partner.
- On the Welcome page in the New Replication Partner wizard, click Next.
- On the Database Selection page, click Browse.
- Use the Connect to Administration Service dialog box to specify the Administration Service whose SQL Server is to be configured as a Subscriber to this Publisher. Click OK.
- In the New Replication Partner wizard, click Next, click Next, and then click Finish.
- Repeat Steps 6–10 for each SQL Server you want to make a Subscriber.
Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting Replication failures
If there are any replication failures in Active Roles, the Active Roles console provides a visual indication of this issue by placing a red triangle on the Server Configuration and Configuration Databases containers in the console tree. To get more information on a replication failure, you can use SQL Server Management Studio (see Monitoring replication earlier in this document).
The following sections discuss specific actions to take if you encounter a replication problem in Active Roles.
Replication Agent malfunction
Symptoms
Replication stops synchronizing changes to configuration data, that is, changes made on a replication partner are not propagated to other replication partners. Replication Monitor in SQL Server Enterprise Manager or SQL Server Management Studio does not indicate any error.
Solution
Verify that the SQL Server Agent service is started on the Publisher SQL Server:
- With SQL Server Management Studio, connect to the Publisher SQL Server.
- In the console tree, right-click SQL Server Agent, and then click Start.
If the Start command is unavailable, the SQL Server Agent service is already started.
Ensure that the Merge Agents are started on the Publisher SQL Server:
- With SQL Server Management Studio, connect to the Publisher SQL Server.
- In the console tree, right-click Replication, and click Launch Replication Monitor.
- In Replication Monitor, in the left pane, browse the My Publishers branch to select the AelitaReplica publication.
- In Replication Monitor, in the right pane, right-click a subscription and click Start Synchronizing. Perform this step for each subscription of the AelitaReplica publication.
If the Start Synchronizing command is unavailable, the agent is already started.
Verify that the replication agent schedule is correct. The Merge Agents must be configured to run continuously at the Publisher. The Snapshot Agent must be configured to start daily at 12:00 a.m. at the Publisher. For details, see Replication Agent schedule earlier in this document.