Creating a Replication Group

A replication group allows you to set replication properties (scheduling and preferences) for all replications in the group at the same time. All replications in the group must have the same source connection, and may have the same or different target connections (to achieve a "broadcast" replication to multiple locations.) Groups are useful because they optimize database connections and transaction log access (if mirroring.)

When a replication is put into a group, it should be considered as part of a whole. If you believe that a replication is likely to need to be taken out of the group several times to do a full refresh (or for whatever reason) it would probably be better to keep it out of the group, or put it into another group to which it logically belongs. Also, if considering the addition of a huge table to a group, it is probably better to keep it as a single replication to avoid unnecessary replication of the table if a problem should occur during replication of the group.

When constraints exist on tables, all the tables with constraints should be placed in a group to ensure that transactions on those tables occur in the same order they were performed on the system being replicated. If you are setting up a group of refresh replications where tables contain foreign key relations, you need to set the order of replications to maintain integrity across tables.

The recommended approach for using groups is to first create a group, then, as you create replications, create them in the group. This saves time because you only need to set replication properties once for the group. You can also create replications first, then add replications to the group. However, any settings for the replication you are adding will be overridden by the group replication settings.

To create a replication group:

In the Metadata Explorer, select the Groups item.
From the right mouse button menu, choose Add New Group.
In the Replication Group Wizard, enter a name and, optionally, a description for the group.
Click Next to display the Select Replications screen.
Check each replication that you want to include in the group.
If you have not yet created a replication, click Next to go to the Summary screen right away.
Click Next to go to the Summary screen.
Click Finish to create the group.