Does HVR Publication on TestDB Require the Snapshot Agent to Run Every Hour?

Question

Does HVR (Transactional Replication – publication on TestDB) publication require the snapshot agent to run every hour?

This is creating gigabytes of unused files. The Log Reader Agent is used by both the HVR publication database and the publication team that wants to set it up. This makes sense since there can be only one Log Reader Agent for the TestDB at a time.

Environment

• HVR 5
• Source: SQL Server

Answer

HVR requires the HVR publication itself, but it does not need the Snapshot Agent to run. We do not need/use/create those agents.

The Log Reader Agent is used by both the HVR publication database and the other publication team.

For co-existence with native replication, you will need to set action Capture with parameter /LogTruncate=NATIVE_DBMS_AGENT, then reinitialize and restart all capture jobs.

If you are using /LogTruncate=CAP_JOB_RETAIN, it most likely means the database is running in the Simple Recovery Model.

A co-existence scenario (using HVR and native replication at the same time) is not possible in this case. This a fundamental limitation. For co-existence, the database needs to be in the Full Recovery Model.