Optimizing Snapshot Replication

In this section, we'll discuss optimizing snapshot replication by following best practices and tuning the snapshot and distributor agent parameters.

Snapshot Replication Best Practices

Let's look at a few of the best practices you should consider when working with snapshot replication.

Minimizing Logging at Subscriber

Snapshot replication uses bcp to bulk insert data from the publisher to the subscriber database. It's therefore advised to switch to a bulk-logged or simple recovery model to minimize logging and optimize bulk insert performance.

Note

To find out more about recovery models, refer to https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational-databases/backup-restore/recovery-models-sql-server?view=sql-server-2017.

Minimizing Locking

As we discussed earlier, snapshot generation applies exclusive locks on tables until the snapshot is generated. This stops any other applications from accessing the tables, resulting in blocking. You can look at the following...