Configure Replication with T-SQL

2025-07-03

Applies to: SQL Server - Linux

In this tutorial, configure SQL Server snapshot replication on Linux with two instances of SQL Server using Transact-SQL (T-SQL). The publisher and distributor are on the same instance, and the subscriber is on a separate instance.

Enable SQL Server replication agents on Linux
Create a sample database
Configure snapshot folder for SQL Server agents access
Configure the distributor
Configure the publisher
Configure publication and articles
Configure subscriber
Run the replication jobs

All replication configurations can be configured with replication stored procedures.

Prerequisites

To complete this tutorial, you need:

Two instances of SQL Server with the latest version of SQL Server on Linux
A tool to issue T-SQL queries to set up replication, such as sqlcmd or SQL Server Management Studio

See Use SQL Server Management Studio on Windows to manage SQL Server on Linux.

Note

SQL Server Replication is supported on Linux in SQL Server 2017 (14.x) (CU 18) and later versions.

Detailed steps

Enable SQL Server replication agents on Linux. On both host machines, run the following commands in the terminal.
```
sudo /opt/mssql/bin/mssql-conf set sqlagent.enabled true
sudo systemctl restart mssql-server
```

Create the sample database and table. On the publisher, create a sample database and table that will act as the articles for a publication.

CREATE DATABASE Sales;
GO

USE [Sales];
GO

CREATE TABLE Customer
(
    [CustomerID] INT NOT NULL,
    [SalesAmount] DECIMAL NOT NULL
);
GO

INSERT INTO Customer (CustomerID, SalesAmount)
VALUES (1, 100),
    (2, 200),
    (3, 300);
GO

On the other SQL Server instance, the subscriber, create the database to receive the articles.

CREATE DATABASE Sales;
GO

Create the snapshot folder for SQL Server Agents to read/write to on the distributor, create the snapshot folder and grant access to 'mssql' user
```
sudo mkdir /var/opt/mssql/data/ReplData/
sudo chown mssql /var/opt/mssql/data/ReplData/
sudo chgrp mssql /var/opt/mssql/data/ReplData/
```

Configure distributor. In this example, the publisher is also the distributor. Run the following commands on the publisher to configure the instance for distribution as well.

DECLARE @distributor AS SYSNAME;
DECLARE @distributorlogin AS SYSNAME;
DECLARE @distributorpassword AS SYSNAME;

-- Specify the distributor name. Use 'hostname' command on in terminal to find the hostname
SET @distributor = N'<distributor instance name>'; -- In this example, it will be the name of the publisher
SET @distributorlogin = N'<distributor login>';
SET @distributorpassword = N'<distributor password>';

-- Specify the distribution database.
USE master;

EXECUTE sp_adddistributor
    @distributor = @distributor; -- this should be the hostname

-- Log into distributor and create Distribution Database.
-- In this example, our publisher and distributor is on the same host
EXECUTE sp_adddistributiondb
    @database = N'distribution',
    @log_file_size = 2,
    @deletebatchsize_xact = 5000,
    @deletebatchsize_cmd = 2000,
    @security_mode = 0,
    @login = @distributorlogin,
    @password = @distributorpassword;
GO

DECLARE @snapshotdirectory AS NVARCHAR (500);

SET @snapshotdirectory = N'/var/opt/mssql/data/ReplData/';

-- Log into distributor and create Distribution Database.
-- In this example, our publisher and distributor is on the same host
USE [distribution];
GO

IF (NOT EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sysobjects
    WHERE name = 'UIProperties' AND type = 'U'))
CREATE TABLE UIProperties(id INT);

IF (EXISTS (SELECT *
            FROM ::fn_listextendedproperty ('SnapshotFolder', 'user', 'dbo', 'table', 'UIProperties', NULL, NULL)))
    EXECUTE sp_updateextendedproperty N'SnapshotFolder', @snapshotdirectory, 'user', dbo, 'table', 'UIProperties';
ELSE
    EXECUTE sp_addextendedproperty N'SnapshotFolder', @snapshotdirectory, 'user', dbo, 'table', 'UIProperties';
GO

Configure publisher. Run the following T-SQL commands on the publisher.

DECLARE @publisher AS SYSNAME;
DECLARE @distributorlogin AS SYSNAME;
DECLARE @distributorpassword AS SYSNAME;

-- Specify the distributor name. Use 'hostname' command on in terminal to find the hostname
SET @publisher = N'<instance name>';
SET @distributorlogin = N'<distributor login>';
SET @distributorpassword = N'<distributor password>';

-- Specify the distribution database.
-- Adding the distribution publishers
EXECUTE sp_adddistpublisher
    @publisher = @publisher,
    @distribution_db = N'distribution',
    @security_mode = 0,
    @login = @distributorlogin,
    @password = @distributorpassword,
    @working_directory = N'/var/opt/mssql/data/ReplData',
    @trusted = N'false',
    @thirdparty_flag = 0,
    @publisher_type = N'MSSQLSERVER';
GO

Configure publication job. Run the following T-SQL commands on the publisher.

DECLARE @replicationdb AS SYSNAME;
DECLARE @publisherlogin AS SYSNAME;
DECLARE @publisherpassword AS SYSNAME;

SET @replicationdb = N'Sales';
SET @publisherlogin = N'<Publisher login>';
SET @publisherpassword = N'<Publisher Password>';

USE [Sales];
GO

EXECUTE sp_replicationdboption
    @dbname = N'Sales',
    @optname = N'publish',
    @value = N'true';

-- Add the snapshot publication
EXECUTE sp_addpublication
    @publication = N'SnapshotRepl',
    @description = N'Snapshot publication of database ''Sales'' from Publisher ''<PUBLISHER HOSTNAME>''.',
    @retention = 0,
    @allow_push = N'true',
    @repl_freq = N'snapshot',
    @status = N'active',
    @independent_agent = N'true';

EXECUTE sp_addpublication_snapshot
    @publication = N'SnapshotRepl',
    @frequency_type = 1,
    @frequency_interval = 1,
    @frequency_relative_interval = 1,
    @frequency_recurrence_factor = 0,
    @frequency_subday = 8,
    @frequency_subday_interval = 1,
    @active_start_time_of_day = 0,
    @active_end_time_of_day = 235959,
    @active_start_date = 0,
    @active_end_date = 0,
    @publisher_security_mode = 0,
    @publisher_login = @publisherlogin,
    @publisher_password = @publisherpassword;

Create articles from the Sales table.

Run the following T-SQL commands on the publisher.

USE [Sales];
GO

EXECUTE sp_addarticle
    @publication = N'SnapshotRepl',
    @article = N'customer',
    @source_owner = N'dbo',
    @source_object = N'customer',
    @type = N'logbased',
    @description = NULL,
    @creation_script = NULL,
    @pre_creation_cmd = N'drop',
    @schema_option = 0x000000000803509D,
    @identityrangemanagementoption = N'manual',
    @destination_table = N'customer',
    @destination_owner = N'dbo',
    @vertical_partition = N'false';

Configure Subscription. Run the following T-SQL commands on the publisher.

DECLARE @subscriber AS SYSNAME;
DECLARE @subscriber_db AS SYSNAME;
DECLARE @subscriberLogin AS SYSNAME;
DECLARE @subscriberPassword AS SYSNAME;

SET @subscriber = N'<Instance Name>'; -- for example, MSSQLSERVER
SET @subscriber_db = N'Sales';
SET @subscriberLogin = N'<Subscriber Login>';
SET @subscriberPassword = N'<Subscriber Password>';

USE [Sales];
GO

EXECUTE sp_addsubscription
    @publication = N'SnapshotRepl',
    @subscriber = @subscriber,
    @destination_db = @subscriber_db,
    @subscription_type = N'Push',
    @sync_type = N'automatic',
    @article = N'all',
    @update_mode = N'read only',
    @subscriber_type = 0;

EXECUTE sp_addpushsubscription_agent
    @publication = N'SnapshotRepl',
    @subscriber = @subscriber,
    @subscriber_db = @subscriber_db,
    @subscriber_security_mode = 0,
    @subscriber_login = @subscriberLogin,
    @subscriber_password = @subscriberPassword,
    @frequency_type = 1,
    @frequency_interval = 0,
    @frequency_relative_interval = 0,
    @frequency_recurrence_factor = 0,
    @frequency_subday = 0,
    @frequency_subday_interval = 0,
    @active_start_time_of_day = 0,
    @active_end_time_of_day = 0,
    @active_start_date = 0,
    @active_end_date = 19950101;
GO

Run replication agent jobs. Run the following query to get a list of jobs:

SELECT name,
       date_modified
FROM msdb.dbo.sysjobs
ORDER BY date_modified DESC;

Run the Snapshot replication job to generate the snapshot:

USE msdb;
GO

--generate snapshot of publications, for example
EXECUTE dbo.sp_start_job N'PUBLISHER-PUBLICATION-SnapshotRepl-1';
GO

Run the snapshot replication job to start the job:

USE msdb;
GO

--distribute the publication to subscriber, for example
EXECUTE dbo.sp_start_job N'DISTRIBUTOR-PUBLICATION-SnapshotRepl-SUBSCRIBER';
GO

Connect subscriber and query replicated data.

On the subscriber, check that the replication is working by running the following query:
```
SELECT *
FROM [Sales].[dbo].[Customer];
```

In this tutorial, you configured SQL Server snapshot replication on Linux with two instances of SQL Server using T-SQL.

Enable SQL Server replication agents on Linux
Create a sample database
Configure snapshot folder for SQL Server agents access
Configure the distributor
Configure the publisher
Configure publication and articles
Configure subscriber
Run the replication jobs

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