Replication uses the following components in Microsoft SQL Server Compact 3.5:

  • SQL Server Compact 3.5 Database Engine

  • SQL Server Compact 3.5 Client Agent

  • SQL Server Compact 3.5 Server Agent

  • SQL Server Compact 3.5 Replication Provider

Replication architecture

SQL Server Compact 3.5 Database Engine

The SQL Server Compact 3.5 Database Engine manages the local database on a device. For subscription databases, the SQL Server Compact 3.5 Database Engine tracks all database records that are inserted, updated, or deleted by maintaining change tracking information with each record.

SQL Server Compact 3.5 Client Agent

The SQL Server Compact 3.5 Client Agent is the primary SQL Server Compact 3.5 replication component on a device. The SQL Server Compact 3.5 Client Agent implements the SQL Server Compact 3.5 Replication object interface. Applications call this interface to programmatically control replication.

SQL Server Compact 3.5 Server Agent

The SQL Server Compact 3.5 Server Agent is the component responsible for managing the communication between SQL Server and SQL Server Compact 3.5. The SQL Server Compact 3.5 Server Agent resides on the server that is running Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS), and handles all HTTP requests made by the SQL Server Compact 3.5 Client Agent.

SQL Server Reconciler and SQL Server Compact 3.5 Replication Provider

The SQL Server Reconciler invokes the SQL Server Compact 3.5 Replication Provider when synchronization is performed. Both the SQL Server Reconciler and SQL Server Compact 3.5 Replication Provider reside on the server that is running IIS, on which SQL Server Compact 3.5 Server Tools is also installed. When the SQL Server Reconciler is started, a Merge Agent at the Publisher is associated with the subscription.