Publication Information, Warnings and Agents (Transactional Publication, SQL Server 2005 and Later)

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The Warnings and Agents tab is available for Distributors running SQL Server 2005 and later versions; the Agents tab is available for previous versions. The Warnings and Agents tab allows you to perform the following tasks for the selected publication:

  • Enable warnings to be displayed in Replication Monitor.
  • Specify thresholds associated with warnings.
  • Define alerts associated with warnings.
  • View summary information on the agents associated with the publication.
    Information on the Snapshot Agent and Log Reader Agent is displayed for all transactional publications. Information on the Queue Reader Agent is displayed for those transactional publications that have queued updating subscriptions.
  • Access more detailed information about each agent.

Warnings, Thresholds, and Alerts

By default, Replication Monitor displays warnings for uninitialized subscriptions: a status of Uninitialized subscription is displayed as a warning in the Status column of pages that include subscription information. For transactional publications, you can specify whether these additional conditions result in warnings:

  • Imminent subscription expiration.
    This corresponds to the option Warn if a subscription will expire within the threshold. If the specified threshold is met or exceeded, the subscription status is displayed as Expiring soon/Expired (unless an issue with a higher priority needs to be displayed).
  • Exceeding the specified latency, which is the amount of time that elapses between a transaction being committed at the Publisher and the corresponding transaction being committed at the Subscriber.
    This corresponds to the option Warn if latency exceeds the threshold. If the specified threshold is met or exceeded, the subscription status is displayed as Performance critical (unless an issue with a higher priority needs to be displayed). The threshold is also used to provide a performance rating, which is displayed in the Performance column of pages that include subscription information. The performance rating is one of the following values:
    • Excellent
    • Good
    • Fair
    • Poor
    • Critical

When you enable a warning, you also set a threshold. For example, if you enable the warning Warn if latency exceeds the threshold, select the amount of time allowable between a transaction being committed at the Publisher and the transaction being committed at the Subscriber.

In addition to displaying a warning in Replication Monitor, reaching a threshold can also trigger an alert. Alerts are defined by clicking Configure Alerts and providing information in the Configure Replication Alerts dialog box.

Options

For more detailed information and tasks related to an agent, right-click the row for that agent, and then click an option on the shortcut menu.

  • Enabled
    Select to enable a warning and specify a threshold.
  • Warning
    A description of the warning associated with a threshold.
  • Threshold
    Specify a value for the threshold.
  • Configure Alerts
    Select a row in the Warnings grid, and click Configure Alerts to launch the Configure Replication Alerts dialog box. The dialog box allows you to define an alert, which is associated with the selected threshold and warning.

  • Discard Changes
    Click to discard any changes to warnings and thresholds.

    Note

    Clicking Discard Changes does not affect alerts defined in the Configure Replication Alerts dialog box.

  • Save Changes
    Click to save any changes to warnings and thresholds.

  • Status
    The status of each replication agent associated with the publication. The following list shows the possible status values:

    • Error
    • Retrying failed commands
    • Not running
    • Running
  • Last Start Time
    The last time the agent started.
  • Duration
    The amount of time the agent has run. The time represents elapsed time if the agent is currently running and total time if the agent has run previously.

See Also

Other Resources

How to: Start Replication Monitor (Replication Monitor)
How to: View Information and Perform Tasks for a Publication (Replication Monitor)
How to: View Information and Perform Tasks for the Agents Associated With a Publication (Replication Monitor)
Monitoring Performance with Replication Monitor
Monitoring Replication with Replication Monitor
Setting Thresholds and Warnings in Replication Monitor

Help and Information

Getting SQL Server 2005 Assistance