Agent Profiles

When a replication agent is created, it is associated with an agent profile that is maintained at the Distributor. The agent profile contains a set of parameters to be used each time the agent runs. During the startup process, each agent logs in to the Distributor and queries for the parameters in its profile.

The agent profile allows you to change key parameters easily for all agents associated with that profile. For example, if you have 20 Snapshot Agents and need to change the query time-out value, you can update the profile used by the Snapshot Agents and all agents of that type will begin using the new value automatically the next time they are run. You also may have different profiles for different instances of an agent. For example, a Distribution Agent that uses Remote Access Service (RAS) to connect to the Distributor could use a set of parameters that are better suited to the slower communications link.

A set of default and predefined profiles for each agent type is installed when a server is configured as a Distributor. If a specific profile is not associated with an agent, SQL Server Agent uses the default profile for that type of agent.

Note  The values set in the agent profile are overridden by any values set for the same parameter in the agent command prompt utility.

To create a replication agent profile