Easy Questions - get me started

I have 3 retail sites running MSDE and I want to aggregate sales data at a
separate SQL Server. I run a VPN and I guess I need to use merge replication
to a full SQL Server Database. My questions are
1. Is the central server the publisher or subscriber
2. The three sites tables are identical and I would like a siteID added at
the table in the central server to distinguish which the data came from
3. If the central server is the publisher will unwanted data from one site
flow across to another.
4. Is what I am asking clear enough and is merge replication appropriate
For merge, the central SQL Server should be the publisher. If you filter
your articles by site name data will not flow to the other subscribers. For
your version of sql server, yes merge is the most appropriate.
However, does data only flow centrally? If so, transactional replication
would be faster, not require a guid column on each table (assuming you have
pks on each table). This would require at least sql server standard edition
everywhere.
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
"Steve Hall" <SteveHall@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A3AF25D9-8D4B-4C0E-80B6-E95ED675E82E@.microsoft.com...
>I have 3 retail sites running MSDE and I want to aggregate sales data at a
> separate SQL Server. I run a VPN and I guess I need to use merge
> replication
> to a full SQL Server Database. My questions are
> 1. Is the central server the publisher or subscriber
> 2. The three sites tables are identical and I would like a siteID added
> at
> the table in the central server to distinguish which the data came from
> 3. If the central server is the publisher will unwanted data from one site
> flow across to another.
> 4. Is what I am asking clear enough and is merge replication appropriate
|||Steve pls look at this:
http://www.replicationanswers.com/CentralSubscriberArticle.asp
Cheers,
Paul Ibison SQL Server MVP, www.replicationanswers.com
|||You guys rock!
That is two great replies within 30 minutes of posting.
Steve
"Paul Ibison" wrote:

> Steve pls look at this:
> http://www.replicationanswers.com/CentralSubscriberArticle.asp
> Cheers,
> Paul Ibison SQL Server MVP, www.replicationanswers.com
>
>