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SQL Server merge replication problem

Hi,

I have a PC running Windows 7 Pro and SQL Server 2008 R2 Developer, and a laptop running Windows 7 Home and SQL Server 2008 Developer. Both machines are connected to my wireless home network and I am able to connect to the other from SSMS on each machine. I would like to configure merge replication so that a particular database gets merged on demand (this will usually happen when I've been working on the database on my laptop offline and want to merge changes when I reconnect to home network).

I successfully set up the Distributor and Publisher on my PC. However, having set up the subscription on my laptop and started the merge agent (which I have configured to run on the subscriber side) I get an error:
The process could not connect to the Distributor...
Login failed for (<SQL Server Agent service account running on PC>)

The SQL Server Agent server accounts on both machines have been changed to Administrator types but this hasn't fixed the problem.

Can anyone help me work out where I'm going wrong please? Can this replication be set up without the machines in question belonging to a domain?

Thanks in advance.

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

joriszwaenepoel

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irb56

ASKER

Thanks, I've found the problem and fixed it now. I already had SQL Server Agent service accounts named identically with the same password on both PC and laptop but the issue was caused by the Subscription properties on the laptop. I had both Distributor and Publisher connections set to Impersonate agent process account (Windows Authentication). I changed both to SQL Server authentication and the problem was fixed.

Thanks for your help.

avirups

Try using the same Local User ID and same password. Then even without all your machines in the domain, you can authenticate using Pass-Through authentication. Make the users Local Administrator as well as sysadmin in your SQL Servers.

Then configure your replication setup with this User and you should not face the problem anymore.

Thanks,
Avirup

irb56

ASKER

Thanks Avirup. I managed to crack the issue via a configuration change in the subscription (see my posting earlier).

avirups

Cool