Table primary key and Replication

Question

When setting up a database for Replication on SQL 2003 x 64 there was a message stating that certain tables could not be replicated because they do not have a primary key. Upon investigating the table I have discovered that these tables that could not be replicated have a multi field primary key. What is the deal with replication and a table's primary key?

Answer 1

All published tables in transactional replication must contain a declared primary key. Existing tables can be prepared for publishing by adding a primary key using the Transact-SQL statement..plz check below link

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms151254.aspx

 

Answer 2

For transactional replication, all tables which needs to be published need to have a primary key. The primary key is primarily used to compare the data between publisher and subscriber. For example in the case of a delete statement, only the primary key is passed with the delete command to subscriber.

Now regarding Multi Column primary key, i dont think it has any such constraints, I was able to create publication with Multi Column Primary Keys.

HTH

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Regards, Ashwin Menon My Blog - http:\\sqllearnings.wordpress.com