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Publisher Information, Subscription Watch List (Merge Publication)

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Applies to: SQL Server

The Subscription Watch List tab is available for Distributors running SQL Server 2005 (9.x) and later versions; it is intended to display information on subscriptions from all publications available at the selected Publisher. You can filter the list of subscriptions to see errors, warnings, and any poorly performing subscriptions. This tab provides a single location for an administrator to monitor all replication activity at a Publisher: Replication Monitor displays all subscriptions that require attention, based on the selected replication type and on the option chosen in the Show drop-down list box. Because the items displayed on this tab are based on current status and performance, subscriptions are displayed on this page only if they match the option in the Show list box at the current time.

Options

For more detailed information and tasks related to a subscription, right-click the row for that subscription, and then click an option on the shortcut menu. To change the way that the grid displays data, right-click the grid, and then click one of the following options:

  • Sort: Sort on one or more columns in the Sort Columns dialog box.

  • Choose Columns to Show: Select which columns to display and the order in which to display them in the Choose Columns dialog box.

  • Filter: Filter rows in the grid based on column values in the Filter Settings dialog box.

  • Clear Filter: Clear any filter settings for the grid.

Filter settings are specific to each grid. Column selection and sorting are applied to all grids of the same type, such as the publications grid for each Publisher.

Show Merge Subscriptions
Select the type of subscriptions (transactional, snapshot, or merge) to display for the selected Publisher.

Show
Select the subscription states to display for the selected subscription type. For example, you can select to display only those subscriptions that have an error.

Status
The status of each subscription, which is determined by the status of the Merge Agent.

By default, the grid containing subscription information is sorted by the Status column (and then sorted by the Performance column for those subscriptions with the same status). The following list shows the possible status values and the sort order for the values (for example, errors are always shown at the top of the grid).

  • Error

  • Performance critical

  • Long-running merge

  • Expiring soon/Expired

  • Uninitialized subscription

  • Retrying failed command

  • Synchronizing

  • Not synchronizing

The sort order also determines which value is displayed if a given subscription is in more than one state. For example, if a subscription has an error and is expiring soon, the Status column displays Error.

The status values Performance critical, Long-running merge, Expiring soon/Expired, and Uninitialized subscription are warnings. When a warning is displayed, the Status column also displays if an agent is synchronizing. For example, the status could be Synchronizing, Performance critical.

The status values Expiring soon/Expired and Long-running merge can be displayed only if thresholds are set. The status value Performance critical can be displayed only after five synchronizations of subscriptions with the same connection type (dial-up or LAN). For information on performance measurements and setting thresholds, see Monitor Performance with Replication Monitor and Set Thresholds and Warnings in Replication Monitor.

Subscription
The name of each subscription, in the form:SubscriberName: SubscriptionDatabaseName.

Friendly Name
The description of each subscription. The description is entered in the Subscription Properties dialog box or specified with the @description parameter of sp_addmergesubscription or sp_addmergepullsubscription. Users often use the description as a "friendly name" or nickname for the subscription.

Publication
The name of the publication with which a subscription synchronizes, in the form: PublicationDatabaseName: PublicationName.

Performance
The performance rating for each subscription, based on the most recent measurements of delivery rate taken by Replication Monitor. The rating is determined by comparing individual subscription performance to the average historical performance of subscriptions to the publication that have the same connection type (dial-up or LAN). Replication Monitor displays a value after five synchronizations have occurred with 50 or more changes each over the same type of connection. If there have been less than five synchronizations with 50 or more changes or the most recent synchronization has less than 50 changes, this column is blank.

Note

Performance is based on the connection type displayed in the Connection column; therefore it is possible for a subscription with a lower delivery rate to display a better performance rating than another subscription if the first subscription is synchronized over a slower connection.

The performance rating is one of the following values:

  • Excellent

  • Good

  • Fair

  • Poor

For more information about how performance ratings are defined and how performance thresholds are set, see Monitor Performance with Replication Monitor.

Delivery Rate
The number of rows per second processed by the Merge Agent.

Last Synchronization
The time at which the Merge Agent last ran. Changes may or may not have been processed during this synchronization. If synchronization is in progress, a percentage complete value is displayed.

Duration
The amount of time the Merge Agent has run during the last synchronization. The time represents elapsed time if the Merge Agent is currently synchronizing and total time if the Merge Agent has synchronized previously.

Connection
The type of connection between the Subscriber and the Publisher. The possible values are LAN, Dialup, and Internet. The Internet value is displayed if the subscription uses Web synchronization.

See Also

Start the Replication Monitor
View Information and Perform Tasks for a Publisher (Replication Monitor)
Monitoring Replication
Web Synchronization for Merge Replication