Will SQL Server transactional replication guarantee the insert order in subscriber - sql-server

We are using SQL Server 2008 and trying to use transaction replication to reduce the pressure on DB. but we have one concern which is whether it can guarantee the same execution order between publisher and subscriber?
for example, if we run following insert in publisher DB
insert into Table A
insert into Table B
will these 2 insert be executed in the same order in subscriber DB

The answer is yes. In transactional replication, Log Reader Agent is responsible for reading the log file and transfer data which are marked for replication from publication database to distribution database. To do this, Log Reader Agent scans the Log file. Log Reader Agent is a continuous job and there is no way that it will skip some transactions and transfer some other transaction of the same table to the distributor.
On the other hand, Replication Distribution Agent transfers transactions from Distributor database to Subscriber databases. This should also happen in the order the transactions are written to the Distributor because if it is not the case there is no consistency of data.

Yes, rows will be inserted in the same order if both tables are in the same publication.
Log reader agent will read the data from transaction log in the order it was written and push to distribution database.
from there distribution agent will read and apply the commands in the same order to subscriber database.

Related

AWS DMS MSSQL Ongoing Replication Duplicate Records

I have a task to migrate a 2-3TB on-prem MSSQL database to an AWS RDS for MSSQL and would appreciate some guidance on avoiding duplicate data in the RDS instance.
DMS tasks are split into copy-only and ongoing replication
ongoing replication task is started after the copy-only task is complete
initial data copy takes at least 10 hours to complete
source database uses only CDC to capture data changes - no SQL transactional replication
source database has many tables with no primary key or unique indexes
same tables have non-unique indexes
CDC capture starts before the copy-only task starts
Given table A with no primary key or unique indexes. CDC starts capturing table A before starting the copy-only DMS task. The copy-only task begins copying table A 4hrs later. The ongoing replication task starts 10hrs later when the copy-only task completes. It seems that inserts captured by CDC before the table was copied and replayed on the target would generate duplicate records in table A.
Is it possible to mitigate duplicate records without adding a primary key or uniqueness indexes?
Is it safe to assume that CDC captures predicates for updates?
Thanks.

Transaction replication Error at the subscriber

I was working on a transaction replication on SQL server 2017.A delete command can not be replicated because there is no record that matches the delete condition on the subscriber.
Normally I solve this error with this method.
use distribution
go
sp_browsereplcmds '0x001578BC00009709000500000000','0x001578BC00009709000500000000'
In real synchronizing in SQL replication works manually syncing but not automatically. Also manually insert the missing row at the subscriber.

SQL Transactional Replication - initial snapshot places table locks?

When the initial snapshot is being generated while configuring SQL Server
Transactional Replication, does anyone know if the snapshot agent places locks on the tables (articles) you have selected? I have some tables that contain 2+ millions rows and wanted to know if SQL Server actually places table locks to prevent updates while the publishing database is online. If locks are placed, then I want to run the initial snapshot during off peak hours in production.
Thanks!
In Transactional replication or any other type of replication the starting point is a snapshot of the database. The initial step of creating the snapshot is exactly the same in any type of the replication.
SQL Server does not obtain any kind of locks at all when creating a snapshot, it literally is a snapshot of the database at a certain point in time and creating snapshot does not interfere with any transactions. Uncommitted transactions are rolled back in the snapshot once it is created.
To read more about how database snapshot works read this article from MSDN How Database Snapshots Work
If you're running on an edition of SQL Server that supports database snapshots (as in create database [foo]... as snapshot of [bar]), then you can optionally use those as the basis of the snapshot. Check the #sync_method parameter of sp_addpublication. The caveat is that you still probably want to do it during a non-busy time of the day because of how database snapshots work (i.e. copy-on-write will slow down any write activity), but you won't be contending on locks.
Starting SQL Server 2005, the default #sync_method value for sp_addpublication is "concurrent", which means the tables are not locked during snaphsot agent run. Note this is not entirely true - the snapshot agent places schema locks on the tables, but the duration of that lock is mere seconds at most.
So if you set #sync_method = "concurrent", then no, updates, in theory, will not be blocked. If #sync_method = "native" (default in SQL Server 2000) or "character", then yes, updates will be blocked.

SQL Server 2008R2 Transactional Replication - Move SubscriberDB - Push Subscription

SQL Server 2008R2 Transactional Replication - Move SubscriberDB - Push Subscription
I have a requirement to move a subscriber database to a new server outside of a system outage i.e. I cannot stop new transaction from loading into the publisher database.
So far I have attempted to stop the distribution agent and let all un-replicated commands replicate to the subscriber database at Server1. Then backup and restore the subscriber database to Server2. I have then created a new subscription from Server2 to the existing publication.
This works but only transactions created from that point forward are replicated to the Server2 subscriber database. I also require all the old transactions built up at the distributor database destined to only go to Server1.
Is there a replication command available to update the destination of existing transactions at the distributer to the new subscriber.subscriber_DB?
There is 1 publication with multiple articles. The publication is currently only subscribed to by one database at Server1.
You're working too hard. Create a subscription on the new server as though you didn't have an existing subscription at all. There are many ways to do this; pick your favorite. I see in your response to another answer that snapshots are a no-go. I have had a lot of success using the "initialize from backup" option (here, "backup" refers to a backup of the publisher). Once the subscriber is in sync after initialization, you're done. You're now clear to "migrate" to the new server.
Due to the distribution agent being specific to each subscribing server, you can't really have a new subscriber take over where an existing subscriber left off. The only way this would work is if you backup/restore to Server2, temporarily stopped transactions on the publisher, backup/restore log to Server2, create subscriptions with "replication support only", and then re-enable transactions.
Can you not just add subscriptions to the same publication for the new subscriber and kick off the snapshot agent? That will independently sync Server2 while Server1 continues to stay in sync. You should then be able to switch to Server2 seamlessly and remove the subscriptions to Server1.
One note of warning though. I would check the sync_method in syspublications table (or run sp_helppublications) of your publication database to make sure snapshots won't lock the tables in your publisher (by default with SQL Server 2005+, this shouldn't be an issue). Otherwise, what I just suggested will cause blocking on the publisher until the snapshot finishes.
Also, this is a good reference to understanding how to do snapshots one at a time if you setup replication through the GUI using default settings. This will be useful for distributing the snapshots over a larger period of time to reduce publisher server load if you have a lot of data to replicate (gigabytes rather than megabytes).
http://www.replicationanswers.com/TransactionalOptimisation.asp

What is transactional replication used for?

What is transaction replication used? I seemed to create transaction replication following this tutorial:
http://www.sql-server-performance.com/2010/transactional-replication-2008-r2/
And I know when I change some objects i.e any DML or DDL statement, those changes will be reflected to the other server where I did replication. But it's not clear to me why should we use transaction replication. Does SQL server automatically start using the 2nd server where replication was done when the main instance fails? or do we have to manually restore the database from the server where replication was done in case of failure of 1st instance?
Thanks in advance :)
You can use transactional replication to maintain a warm standby SQL server. Transactional replication replicates the data on one server (the publisher) to another server (the subscriber) with less latency than log shipping.
You can implement transactional replication at the database object level such as the table level. Therefore, Microsoft recommends that you use transactional replication when you have less data to protect, and you must have a fast data recovery plan.
This solution is vulnerable to the failure of the publisher and the subscriber at the same time. In such a scenario, you cannot protect your data. In all other scenarios such as the failure of a distributor or a subscriber, it is best to resynchronize the data in the subscriber with the data in the publisher.
You should use transactional replication to maintain a warm standby SQL server only when you do not implement schema changes or you do not implement other changes to your database such as security changes that replication does not support.
Note Replication is not designed for the maintenance of warm standby servers. With replication, you can use replicated data at the subscriber to generate reports. You can also use replication for other general uses without having to perform processing on your relatively busy publisher.
Disadvantages
Schema changes or security changes that are performed at the
publisher after establishing replication will not be available at
the subscriber. The distributor in transactional replication uses an
Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) connection or an OLE Database
(OLEDB) connection to distribute data. However, log shipping uses
the RESTORE TRANSACTION low-level Transact-SQL statement to
distribute the transaction logs. A RESTORE TRANSACTION statement is
much faster than an ODBC connection or an OLEDB connection.
Typically, switching servers erases replication configurations.
Therefore, you have to configure replication two times:
a. When you switch to the subscriber.
b. When you switch back to the publisher.
If a disaster occurs, you must manually switch servers by
redirecting all the applications to the subscriber.
Read more here http://sqlserverdatarecovery.com/transactional_replication.html

Resources