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I need to add a couple of columns to a table that is a part of a replication set. It is not a constraint coulumn or a part of any article filters and it allows NULL. I have a pretty good idea that I can run this --> ALTER TABLE tblPlanDomain ADD ReportWageES VARCHAR (100) NULL

and NOT force all my clients to reinitialize but I was hoping for some reassurance. Can anyone verify this one way or the other for me?

Thanks,

Edit: Addtnl Info

This is what I am talking about --> http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms151870.aspx

It would seem, based on that, that the answer to my question is NO but I would still like a human confirmation.

Refracted Paladin
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2 Answers2

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nah the schema changes will be replicated. It won't force the subscription to re-initalize. The clients are all sql server 2005, right?

You should probably check that replication schema changes are set to true for the publication.

I also tested this in my lab environment on sql server 2005 to be sure. You should really set one up, instead of relying on other persons.

Nick Kavadias
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  • Yes they are all 2005's and I am replicating schema changes. I agree, about the lab enviro, I am just having difficulty simulating our subscribers. I have a "Stage" Publisher/Distributor that houses the same data but I am the only subscriber and even that kind of sucks since I have to `DELETE` all my local DB's every time I switch from one enviro to another. Due to the fact that the DB's have the same name. Maybe I could create a couple of VM subscribers. Thanks for the confirmation though, much appreciated! – Refracted Paladin Mar 18 '10 at 12:28
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    setup another instance on the same box & you can have another subscriber :) – Nick Kavadias Mar 18 '10 at 12:30
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With MERGE replication, I believe this will force a reinitialization of the subscription. This is not the case for transactional or snapshot replication.

See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188063.aspx

Brian Knight
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  • @Brian Knight: I am confused...that article is talking about partitioning my publication using a stored procedure. I would just like to add a non identity column to a table and not have it cause a reinitialize. See my Edit for a link. – Refracted Paladin Mar 17 '10 at 14:18