Programming Transactional and Snapshot Replication from Heterogeneous Data Sources

To integrate heterogeneous data sources with Microsoft® SQL Server™ replication, a developer can create a SQL-DMO program written in Microsoft Visual Basic®, C, or C++. A second program using the Replication Distributor Interface must be written in C or C++. The SQL-DMO program defines a publication, articles, and subscriptions. The C or C++ program then stores the replication transactions in the server acting as Distributor. After the publication, articles, and subscriptions are created, and the transactions are stored in the Distributor, the transactions are forwarded by the SQL Server Distribution Agent and can be monitored using Replication Monitor in SQL Server Enterprise Manager.

By integrating with SQL Server replication, heterogeneous applications can inherit a full set of replication features, such as:

• Remote store-and-forward databases and Distribution Agents.
• Heterogeneous Subscribers, including Microsoft Access, Oracle, and DB2.
• Pull subscriptions.
• Anonymous subscriptions.
• Internet subscriptions.
• Subscriptions on computers running Microsoft Windows®.
• Stand-alone and embeddable Distribution Agents.
• Monitoring and troubleshooting tools using SQL Server Enterprise Manager.
• Replication agent scheduling using SQL Server Agent.
• Alerts and notifications.
• Performance monitoring.

The programmable replication services available to heterogeneous Publishers include:

• Programmable SQL-DMO replication objects, to administer and monitor replication.
• The OLE DB Replication Distributor Interface, to store replicated transactions.
• The Distribution Agent, to forward the transactions to Subscribers.

This diagram illustrates how a heterogeneous data source is integrated into the replication framework as a Publisher.

A sample Visual Basic SQL-DMO program demonstrates how to create a heterogeneous publication. It is provided in the \Mssql7\Devtools\Samples\Sqlrepl\Samppub\Sqldmo directory. A sample C program demonstrates how to implement the Replication Distributor Interface. It is provided in the \Mssql7\Devtools \Samples\Sqlrepl\Samppub\Repdist directory.

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