From a single server or workstation that has Microsoft® SQL Server™ installed, you can use SQL Server Enterprise Manager to set up a complete replication environment spanning as many servers as necessary across your enterprise.
SQL Server Enterprise Manager uses Replication Monitor to monitor scheduled processes of the four replication agents: the Snapshot Agent, Log Reader Agent, Distribution Agent, and Merge Agent. Together, these agents provide functionality you can use to set the frequency of each replication task. For example, you can set up replication so that the Publisher’s log is read continuously, transactions are distributed to Subscribers every ten minutes, and initial snapshots occur every night at midnight. You can also execute replication agents on demand as necessary.
Replication Monitor also maintains a job list, queue, and history that can be useful for troubleshooting replication. These can be viewed and managed by clicking the appropriate icon in the console tree.
Replication Monitor provides an easy way to set alerts on replication events. When the event occurs, Replication Monitor responds automatically, either by executing a task that you have defined or by sending an e-mail or a pager message to a specified operator.
Events in the task history can also be written to the Microsoft Windows NT® application log if the task is set to use Windows NT logging, and can be viewed by using Event Viewer. For information about using Event Viewer, see Windows NT Help.