I have a merge replication setup running between two offices using SQL Server 2005. Right now we have it configured to sync every minute and everything works well.
I noticed there’s an option to set the replication mode to “Continuous” instead of the scheduled approach we’re using. I’m wondering if anyone knows what the actual differences are between these two methods?
We originally chose the one-minute interval because we thought it would handle network interruptions better. This was based on our experience with SQL Server 2000 though, so I’m not sure if that logic still applies to the newer version.
Has anyone compared these two synchronization methods? Are there performance implications or reliability differences I should know about?
nice setup! how’s ur network reliability between offices - still getting frequent drops? and have u noticed any cpu impact running those 1-minute syncs vs longer intervals? what drove u to sync that frequently?
continuous mode’s actually way more efficient - no overhead from starting and stopping agents all the time. but yeah, if your connection drops a lot, scheduled recovery is def more predictable. we switched to continuous last year and it’s been great, cpu spikes went away.
Continuous mode maintains a permanent connection between the publisher and subscriber, allowing immediate changes to be pushed. In contrast, your scheduled method sees the merge agent connect at regular intervals to synchronize batches of changes. From my experience transitioning from SQL Server 2000 to 2005, continuous mode is more resilient to network interruptions, as the agent reconnects automatically once the network stabilizes. However, it does demand more bandwidth due to the constant connection. If you frequently have minor updates throughout the day, continuous replication significantly reduces latency. For larger batch updates, however, scheduled syncs can be more efficient as they handle changes in bulk. It’s also important to note that continuous replication can make resource usage less predictable, while your current one-minute schedule provides consistent load patterns, aiding in troubleshooting and capacity planning.