When you have configured replication as discussed in Chapter 12, you will use the Replication Monitor to track the status of replication throughout the enterprise. By default, only the currently selected publisher is displayed in the Replication Monitor window, but you can add any publishers that you want to monitor and organize them into publisher groups as necessary.
To start Replication Monitor, right-click the Replication folder in Object Explorer view, and then select Launch Replication Monitor. Replication Monitor uses icons to indicate the general status of replication. If any publication has an error status, the error status is indicated by a red circle around an X at all levels within Replication Monitor.
When you select a publisher in the left pane, the right pane shows the replication details for that publisher. By default, this information is refreshed every five seconds, and it can be refreshed immediately by pressing F5. As Figure 13-1 shows, the publisher view has three tabs:
Publications. Has individual entries for each configured publication. An icon indicates the type and status of the publication:
A purple book icon with a blue circle in it for snapshot replication
A blue book icon with a right-facing green arrow in it for transactional replication
A yellow book icon with left- and right-facing green arrows in it for merge replication
A red circle around an X for error status
At a glance, you can also see the number of subscriptions to the publication, the number of subscriptions being synchronized, the current average performance for subscribers, and the current worst performance for subscribers.
Subscription Watch List. Shows the status of individual subscriptions by type. Use the first drop-down list to specify the type of subscriptions to display and the second drop-down list to specify whether to display all subscriptions of the specified type or some subset, such as the top 25 worst-performing subscriptions. Note the status, such as running, error, and so on; the performance level, such as excellent, good, poor, and so on; and the latency.
Common Jobs. Shows the SQL Server Agent jobs common to all publications on the selected publisher. To determine if there are potential replication problems, note the status, last start time, and duration. There may be a problem with jobs that have a status of Never Started and with jobs that have been running for a long time.
When you first start Replication Monitor, only the currently selected publisher is displayed in Replication Monitor. You can add publishers that you want to monitor and organize them into publisher groups as necessary.
To start monitoring additional publishers and create publisher groups, follow these steps:
Start Replication Monitor. In the left pane, right-click the Replication Monitor node and select Add Publisher. This displays the Add Publisher dialog box, shown in Figure 13-2.
Click Add, and then:
Choose Add SQL Server Publisher to configure a connection to a SQL Server using the Connect To Server dialog box. Registered servers are listed in the Server Name drop-down list, and you can browse for others. The default authentication is Windows Authentication, which uses your current login and password. Click Connect.
Choose Specify A Distributor And Add Its Publishers to configure a connection to a distributor using the Connect To Server dialog box. Registered servers are listed in the Server Name drop-down list, and you can browse for others. The default authentication is Windows Authentication, which uses your current login and password. When you click Connect, Replication Monitor connects to the distributor, obtains a list of publishers for the distributor, and then connects to these publishers as well.
Choose Add Oracle Publisher to configure a connection to an Oracle server using the Connect To Server dialog box. Registered servers are listed in the Server Name drop-down list, and you can browse for others. The default authentication is Oracle Standard Authentication, which requires a user login and password. Click Connect.
Publisher groups make it easier to manage monitoring in complex enterprise environments. Select the publisher group to which to add the publisher(s). If you want to create a new group, click New Group, specify the group name, and then click OK. Then select the new group under Show This Publisher(s) In The Following Group.
Click OK.
