Applying the Initial Snapshot

SQL Replication

Replication

Applying the Initial Snapshot

After a publication and subscription have been created, you need to create and transfer an initial snapshot to the Subscriber. The snapshot transfers schema and data to the Subscriber, as well as constraints, extended properties, indexes, triggers and system tables necessary for replication.

The snapshot consists of different files depending on the type of replication and the articles in your publication. The files can be viewed using the Snapshot Explorer. For more information, see Exploring Snapshots.

Type of Replication Common Snapshot Files
Snapshot Replication or Transactional Replication schema (.sch); data (.bcp); constraints and indexes (.dri); constraints (.idx).
Merge Replication schema (.sch); data (.bcp); constraints and indexes (.dri); triggers (.trg); system table data (.sys); conflict tables (.cft)

Applying the initial snapshot can take additional time if you are transferring a large amount of data over the network, or if you have a slow link. In that case, you may want to consider saving the snapshot to removable media and transferring it to Subscribers manually.

Additionally, SQL Server 2000 has improved performance of applying the initial snapshots with: the ability to compress snapshots; concurrent snapshot processing for transactional replication; and dynamic snapshot for merge publications that use dynamic filters. For more information, see Improving Performance While Generating and Applying Snapshots.