Publisher Information, Subscription Watch List (Transactional Publication, SQL Server 2005 and Later)

The Subscription Watch List tab is available for Distributors running SQL Server 2005 and later versions; it is intended to display information on subscriptions from all publications available at the selected Publisher. You can filter the list of subscriptions to see errors, warnings, and any poorly performing subscriptions. This tab provides a single location for an administrator to monitor all replication activity at a Publisher: Replication Monitor displays all subscriptions that require attention, based on the selected replication type and on the option chosen in the Show drop-down list box. Because the items displayed on this tab are based on current status and performance, subscriptions are displayed on this page only if they match the option in the Show list box at the current time.

Options

For more detailed information and tasks related to a subscription, right-click the row for that subscription, and then click an option on the shortcut menu. To change the way that the grid displays data, right-click the grid, and then click one of the following options:

  • Sort: Sort on one or more columns in the Sort Columns dialog box.

  • Choose Columns to Show: Select which columns to display and the order in which to display them in the Choose Columns dialog box.

  • Filter: Filter rows in the grid based on column values in the Filter Settings dialog box.

  • Clear Filter: Clear any filter settings for the grid.

Filter settings are specific to each grid. Column selection and sorting are applied to all grids of the same type, such as the publications grid for each Publisher.

  • Show Transactional Subscriptions
    Select the type of subscriptions (transactional, snapshot, or merge) to display for the selected Publisher.

  • Show
    Select the subscription states to display for the selected subscription type. For example, you can select to display only those subscriptions that have an error.

  • Status
    The status of each subscription, which is determined by the status of the Distribution Agent or the Log Reader Agent (the higher priority status is displayed; the status can also be determined by the Queue Reader Agent if queued updating subscriptions are used).

    By default, the grid containing subscription information is sorted by the Status column (and then sorted by the Performance column for those subscriptions with the same status). The following list shows the possible status values and the sort order for the values (for example, errors are always shown at the top of the grid).

    • Error

    • Performance critical

    • Expiring soon/Expired

    • Uninitialized subscription

    • Retrying failed command

    • Not Running

    • Running

    The sort order also determines which value is displayed if a given subscription is in more than one state. For example, if a subscription has an error and is expiring soon, the Status column displays Error.

    The status values Performance critical, Expiring soon/Expired, and Uninitialized subscription are warnings. When a warning is displayed, the Status column also displays if an agent is running. For example, the status could be Running, Performance critical.

    The status values Performance critical and Expiring soon/Expired are displayed only if thresholds are set. For information about performance measurements and setting thresholds, see Monitoring Performance with Replication Monitor and Setting Thresholds and Warnings in Replication Monitor.

  • Subscription
    The name of each subscription, in the form: SubscriberName: SubscriptionDatabaseName.

  • Publication
    The name of the publication with which a subscription synchronizes, in the form: PublicationDatabaseName: PublicationName.

  • Performance
    The performance rating for each subscription is based on the most recent measurements taken by Replication Monitor and does not reflect historical performance. Performance is measured for subscriptions to publications that have performance thresholds defined; if performance thresholds are not defined for a publication, this column displays Not enabled. The performance rating is one of the following values:

    • Excellent

    • Good

    • Fair

    • Poor

    • Critical

    If performance is critical, Performance Critical is displayed in the Status column. For more information about how performance ratings are defined and how performance thresholds are set, see Monitoring Performance with Replication Monitor.

  • Latency
    The average amount of time that elapses between a transaction being committed at the Publisher and the corresponding transaction being committed at the Subscriber. The latency displayed is based on the most recent measurements taken by Replication Monitor. For more information about measuring latency, see Measuring Latency and Validating Connections for Transactional Replication.