Add new tables to replication

Using SQL Server 2000 with sp4, I have setup a merge replication with a snapshot, currently if we do a schema change we have to:
-break replication,
-stop the subscription,
-make our modifications to the publisher,
-then create a backup of the database,
-push the backup to all of the subscribers,
-restore the database to the subscriber,
-reinitialize the subscription and push the subscription to the subscribers without pushing the contents of the initial snapshot

the reason why we do it this way is that the various servers are located hundreds of miles apart from the publisher and even with broadband connections, re-initializing the subscription always fails.

this is incredibly cumbersome and time consuming and i know there must be a better way to do this.

i need to add two tables to an existing database that is currently being replicated via merge replication, is there an easier way to make the schema changes and have them replicate to all the subscribers?

Rather than making a schema change to an existing table article in the merge publication, it seems like you are trying to add an incremental article to an existing table article. Also from what I see in the scenario, it seems like the subscriptions are set up to be NO SYNC (SP_addmergesubscription @.sync_type='none'). The NO SYNC means you are populating the subscriber server with the initial data manually via backup/restore.

In order for you to add a new table or two to the existing merge publication you may not have to break replication. Here are some steps to try:

1) Create the new tables at the publisher. These new tables must include a rowguid column (i.e. [rowguid] uniqueidentifier ROWGUIDCOL NOT NULL) because merge will use this for change tracking. This scenario will not work without rowguid columns on the new tables.

2) Populate the table

3) Add the new table as a table article in the existing merge publication. You will be warned appropriately that the full snapshot needs to be rerun.

4) Run the full snapshot agent job.

5) BCP out the data from the new table article to a file and send it to the remote subscriber server

6) Create the new table schema at the subscriber

7) BCP in the data on the subscriber server

8) Execute the merge agent. This is required to have the merge triggers built on the subscriber for change tracking. *** Do not do any DML changes on the subscriber server until the merge agent is executed at least one time.

9) Now you should be able to execute DML on the new table at both the publisher and subscriber and sync the changes.

Try this out on a test system to verify it works. I tried on my system and it accomplished what you wanted.

Tom

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