Replication on MSDE2000 and db size problem

Hi,
We have following scenario:
2 PC on WinXP + MSDE2000 + SP4 with production db. Secondary PC works as
failover backup. DBs are connected by merge replication where backup is as
subscriber.
The problem is related to one table with binary column (2K) and its growing
size (over 100MB per day).
sp_spaceused product_map
name rows reserved data index_size unused
Product_map 24238 1056648KB 130448KB 13520KB 912640KB
It seems that on insert rows server allocates more space than need. This
problem occures only when system works on publisher db. It is ok when I
switch it to backup PC.
I have the same systems on W2k + MSDE2000 + SP3a + merge replication and
don't observe the problem like this.
could you help me how to diagnose it more deeply and solve the problem?
Janek
A couple of points 1) are you using text in row?
2) Are you sure the data in this column is the same on the publisher and
subscriber. Depending on how you update your text or image data it may not
be replicated.
Hilary Cotter
Looking for a SQL Server replication book?
http://www.nwsu.com/0974973602.html
Looking for a FAQ on Indexing Services/SQL FTS
http://www.indexserverfaq.com
"Janek" <Janek@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:456DC0D6-FEDC-43BF-8A22-B6CE22069464@.microsoft.com...
> Hi,
> We have following scenario:
> 2 PC on WinXP + MSDE2000 + SP4 with production db. Secondary PC works as
> failover backup. DBs are connected by merge replication where backup is as
> subscriber.
> The problem is related to one table with binary column (2K) and its
> growing
> size (over 100MB per day).
> sp_spaceused product_map
> name rows reserved data index_size
> unused
> Product_map 24238 1056648KB 130448KB 13520KB 912640KB
> It seems that on insert rows server allocates more space than need. This
> problem occures only when system works on publisher db. It is ok when I
> switch it to backup PC.
> I have the same systems on W2k + MSDE2000 + SP3a + merge replication and
> don't observe the problem like this.
> could you help me how to diagnose it more deeply and solve the problem?
> Janek
|||1) data type for table is: int, smallint, int, char(11), smallint, smallint,
binary(2001), bit, datetime, int
2) All data is replicating, I can see it on reports on each machines. From
sp_spaceused report I see almost 1GB of unused space.
I know only one workaround:
dbcc dbreindex (.... + shrink db - a few cycles makes db to similar
backup db size.
At the moment system is working on backup PC without problem and new data is
refreshed to publisher.
Janek
"Hilary Cotter" wrote:

> A couple of points 1) are you using text in row?
> 2) Are you sure the data in this column is the same on the publisher and
> subscriber. Depending on how you update your text or image data it may not
> be replicated.
> --
> Hilary Cotter
> Looking for a SQL Server replication book?
> http://www.nwsu.com/0974973602.html
> Looking for a FAQ on Indexing Services/SQL FTS
> http://www.indexserverfaq.com
>
> "Janek" <Janek@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:456DC0D6-FEDC-43BF-8A22-B6CE22069464@.microsoft.com...
>
>

Replication internals...

Hi,
I need to answer a question for management and I have little replication
knowledge. I'd appreciate any input here.
What happens to the dbs on either side i.e. dist and subscriber, when in the
middle of the operation, one of the systems crashes? vs. what happens when
you click the stop sync button? How do you recover both in the event of the
former assuming the stop synch does not separate, but controls, parent from
children records.
Thanks much!
replication stored the last recorded transaction in the meta data tables on
the subscriber and the publisher\distributor.
When the system comes back up the data will be replayed to the Subscriber
provided it has not being cleaned up on the publisher\distributor.
Transactions are applied on the subscriber within a transactional context.
If you are replicating data which is part of a pk-fk relationship these
commands will be replicated as past of a transaction - unless you are not
enforcing the relationship for replication.
So it is very much like the ACID properties you see when you apply the
transaction on the publisher.
If the distribution database is corrupted its all bets off, as it holds the
transactions to be applied on the subscriber.
Hilary Cotter
Looking for a book on SQL Server replication?
http://www.nwsu.com/0974973602.html
"JimMac" <JimMac@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:5BF14F6D-AB6E-4CB6-AC8E-125F43FFE652@.microsoft.com...
> Hi,
> I need to answer a question for management and I have little replication
> knowledge. I'd appreciate any input here.
> What happens to the dbs on either side i.e. dist and subscriber, when in
the
> middle of the operation, one of the systems crashes? vs. what happens
when
> you click the stop sync button? How do you recover both in the event of
the
> former assuming the stop synch does not separate, but controls, parent
from
> children records.
> Thanks much!