Filter Data
Choose whether you want to filter the publication vertically (by restricting the columns that are published) or horizontally (by restricting the rows that are published). You need to enable filtering here in order to be able to filter when creating the publication (using this wizard).
Enabling horizontal filters includes being able to create dynamic filters and join filters for merge publications.
By filtering published data, you can:
- Minimize the amount of data sent over the network.
- Reduce the amount of storage space required at the Subscriber.
- Customize publications and applications based on individual Subscriber requirements.
- Avoid or reduce conflicts because the different data partitions can be sent to different Subscribers (no two Subscribers will be updating the same data values).
Fully replicated database designs publish all database tables to remote locations. However, to maximize application performance and reduce the amount of remote storage required, or to restrict the availability of certain data to specific Subscribers, you should publish only the minimum amount of data required. Your publication can include both unfiltered and filtered tables. For example, you could include the complete (unfiltered) table of company products and the filtered table of customers for a specific region.
You can limit the set of published data by filtering an article according to specific attributes. For example, it is advisable to filter the table rows when sites or regions in the replicated topology only need access to certain rows in the database. If you are creating a snapshot or transactional publication, it is advisable to filter table columns when there is limited network capacity or when Subscribers have limited capacity to store large text or image columns. Merge publications do not support filters on table columns.
Note If you do not enable filtering for this publication on this page of the Create Publication Wizard, you will not be able to filter table articles in this wizard.