Configuring Distributor

Distributor is the servers that manage the whole replication system. It act like a middle man for publisher and subscriber. This article explains how to setup a distribution in ms sql server?

Before start we need some prerequisite knowledge about SQL Server Replication. If we have already configured the Distributor, first disable publishing and distribution before starting.

Configuring a Distributor
In MS SQL Server, in order to configure any type of replications at first we must need to setup a distributor. It is prerequisite for any type of replications. The steps to configure a distributor are given bellow:

Step1:
Connect to the server which will be act as a distributor.
Remember that SQL Server replication requires the actual server name to make a connection to the server. Connections through a IP address, server alias, or any other alternate name are not supported. So please specify the actual server name as like: ‘YourPC’. To get the server name logon to your server and write the following SQL query

SELECT @@SERVERNAME

It will return the actual server name.

Step2:
Right click on the Replication folder and click Configure Distribution.

Step3:
Distribution Configuration Wizard will be launch. Click next.

Step4:
Need to select a server name which will act as Distribution. We can select either current server or remote server where QL Server will create a distribution database and log. For remote server click add and connect to that server. Let’s select the current server and click next.

Step5:
Specify the path/location where snapshots of the publications will be stored. Also we can change it later from the distributor properties. Keep the default value and click next.

Step6:
Select the name and location/path of the distribution database (.mdf) and log files (.ldf). Keep the default value and click next.

Step7:
Click next

Stept8:
Click finish to complete the distribution configuration process. Once the distribution has been configured, the system database will have an additional database whose name is “distribution”.