Can this be solved with replication.

Hi,
I have 5 offices accross the US. At the HQ we have a legacy system (unix)
with customer data. I want the customer data to be replicated to the offices
SQL servers (MSDE) automatically. The legacy system does not support
replication so I was thinking of running a DTS task nightly to copy the
entire table (there is no time stamp on legacy ststem table) to a SQL server
at the HQ and then replicate but what I am not sure of is I have to truncate
the customer table from the HQ SQL Server before running the DTS task. How
would this affect the replication to the offices? I am dealing with 8000 rows
here.
A truncate table does not get replicated, so if this were your loading
strategy, it would work once and then subsequent cycles would throw a pile
of errors. However, you could accomplish this with snapshot replication as
long as you can overwrite each subscriber each night.
Mike
http://www.solidqualitylearning.com
Disclaimer: This communication is an original work and represents my sole
views on the subject. It does not represent the views of any other person
or entity either by inference or direct reference.
"Chris" <Chris@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:C1BE2F0C-0342-404D-B1F7-1345027F44EE@.microsoft.com...
> Hi,
> I have 5 offices accross the US. At the HQ we have a legacy system (unix)
> with customer data. I want the customer data to be replicated to the
> offices
> SQL servers (MSDE) automatically. The legacy system does not support
> replication so I was thinking of running a DTS task nightly to copy the
> entire table (there is no time stamp on legacy ststem table) to a SQL
> server
> at the HQ and then replicate but what I am not sure of is I have to
> truncate
> the customer table from the HQ SQL Server before running the DTS task. How
> would this affect the replication to the offices? I am dealing with 8000
> rows
> here.
|||How long would the snapshot take for 5 sites? Also can this be done at a
scheduled time or can I have the DTS execute the replication after the new
customer data has been imported?
Thanks
"Michael Hotek" wrote:

> A truncate table does not get replicated, so if this were your loading
> strategy, it would work once and then subsequent cycles would throw a pile
> of errors. However, you could accomplish this with snapshot replication as
> long as you can overwrite each subscriber each night.
> --
> Mike
> http://www.solidqualitylearning.com
> Disclaimer: This communication is an original work and represents my sole
> views on the subject. It does not represent the views of any other person
> or entity either by inference or direct reference.
>
> "Chris" <Chris@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:C1BE2F0C-0342-404D-B1F7-1345027F44EE@.microsoft.com...
>
>
|||Both. DTS can kick it off and it can also be scheduled. As for how long,
no idea. That would depend upon thevolume of data, connectivity between
each site, amount of available network bandwidth, if the servers are doing
anything else, and lots of other factors.
Mike
http://www.solidqualitylearning.com
Disclaimer: This communication is an original work and represents my sole
views on the subject. It does not represent the views of any other person
or entity either by inference or direct reference.
"Chris" <Chris@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:2735F953-D4F3-41F2-A3B9-69AF71A132AF@.microsoft.com...[vbcol=seagreen]
> How long would the snapshot take for 5 sites? Also can this be done at a
> scheduled time or can I have the DTS execute the replication after the new
> customer data has been imported?
> Thanks
> "Michael Hotek" wrote:
|||8000 rows is not that much (assuming the rows are not 'extra-wide').
An snapshot for that is probably smaller than 1mb or so (depending on your
structure, of course). So, the snapshot should be built really fast, and
downloaded in a few minutes (tops).
BTW: the snapshot is taken at the publisher, and it is only one unless you
are using dynamic snapshot/filters (merge).
You can have the DTS execute the snapshot after finishing. Of course, the
data in the sites is going to be wiped out every single time you do this.
That shouldn't be a problem (since it seems to be what you want).
Jos.
"Chris" <Chris@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:2735F953-D4F3-41F2-A3B9-69AF71A132AF@.microsoft.com...[vbcol=seagreen]
> How long would the snapshot take for 5 sites? Also can this be done at a
> scheduled time or can I have the DTS execute the replication after the new
> customer data has been imported?
> Thanks
> "Michael Hotek" wrote:
|||In these situations, I dump the table from the foreign system into sql
(publisher) periodically, then *compare the table* to an identical,
replicated table, except for the rowguid of course, then only delete,ins,
upd are replicated
I've made generic compare sp's to handle any number of tables
"Jos Araujo" <josea@.mcrinc.com> wrote in message
news:%23sOTAz$KGHA.3424@.TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> 8000 rows is not that much (assuming the rows are not 'extra-wide').
> An snapshot for that is probably smaller than 1mb or so (depending on your
> structure, of course). So, the snapshot should be built really fast, and
> downloaded in a few minutes (tops).
> BTW: the snapshot is taken at the publisher, and it is only one unless you
> are using dynamic snapshot/filters (merge).
> You can have the DTS execute the snapshot after finishing. Of course, the
> data in the sites is going to be wiped out every single time you do this.
> That shouldn't be a problem (since it seems to be what you want).
> Jos.
> "Chris" <Chris@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:2735F953-D4F3-41F2-A3B9-69AF71A132AF@.microsoft.com...
>
|||Thanks lads!
"Chris" wrote:

> Hi,
> I have 5 offices accross the US. At the HQ we have a legacy system (unix)
> with customer data. I want the customer data to be replicated to the offices
> SQL servers (MSDE) automatically. The legacy system does not support
> replication so I was thinking of running a DTS task nightly to copy the
> entire table (there is no time stamp on legacy ststem table) to a SQL server
> at the HQ and then replicate but what I am not sure of is I have to truncate
> the customer table from the HQ SQL Server before running the DTS task. How
> would this affect the replication to the offices? I am dealing with 8000 rows
> here.
|||Hi,
The Snapshot replications works fine. Thanks again!
"Chris" wrote:

> Hi,
> I have 5 offices accross the US. At the HQ we have a legacy system (unix)
> with customer data. I want the customer data to be replicated to the offices
> SQL servers (MSDE) automatically. The legacy system does not support
> replication so I was thinking of running a DTS task nightly to copy the
> entire table (there is no time stamp on legacy ststem table) to a SQL server
> at the HQ and then replicate but what I am not sure of is I have to truncate
> the customer table from the HQ SQL Server before running the DTS task. How
> would this affect the replication to the offices? I am dealing with 8000 rows
> here.
|||Hi,
How do I set snapshot to overwrite the the subscriber? Or this does
automatically?
Thanks
"Michael Hotek" wrote:

> A truncate table does not get replicated, so if this were your loading
> strategy, it would work once and then subsequent cycles would throw a pile
> of errors. However, you could accomplish this with snapshot replication as
> long as you can overwrite each subscriber each night.
> --
> Mike
> http://www.solidqualitylearning.com
> Disclaimer: This communication is an original work and represents my sole
> views on the subject. It does not represent the views of any other person
> or entity either by inference or direct reference.
>
> "Chris" <Chris@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:C1BE2F0C-0342-404D-B1F7-1345027F44EE@.microsoft.com...
>
>