Terminology
Replication terminology
This section explains the basic terms and concepts used in replication.
Replication
To replicate its configuration data, Active Roles employs the replication capabilities of Microsoft SQL Server. In SQL Server, the term replication refers to a process that copies and distributes data and database objects from one database to another and then synchronizes information between databases for consistency.
Publisher
The Publisher is a database server that makes data available for replication to other database servers. The Publisher can have one or more publications, each representing a logically related set of data. In the Active Roles replication model, the Publisher has only one publication.
Subscribers
Subscribers are database servers that receive replicated data. Depending on the type of replication, the Subscriber can propagate data changes back to the Publisher or republish the data to other Subscribers. In the Active Roles replication model, a Subscriber can propagate data changes to the Publisher and receive replicated data from the Publisher.
Distributor
The Distributor is a server that hosts the distribution database and stores history data, transactions, and metadata. In the Active Roles replication model, the same server is used as both the Publisher and Distributor.