Sql-server – Best way to transfer a few tables from reserve server to production

The link posted as a comment to your question explains the technical steps but may not have made clear how the setup really works.

When you create the subscription you inform the publisher that the subscriber has been restored from a backup (specifying the backup file used). The backup you use has to be taken after the publication was created. When you setup replication you tell the distributor how long to keep transactions around (Transaction Retention Period). The distributor then keeps these commands until they are delivered to all subscribers, or until the retention period has been reached. So when the subscription is created, the LSN of the backup is checked to see if it was taken from within the retention period. If so, then the backup and therefore the subscriber is valid. Only the undistributed transactions created after the backup will need to be sent to the subscriber.

In your case you would:

• setup the publication
• take a backup
• copy that to the subscriber before the retention period expires
• restore the backup to the subscriber
• create the subscription (using the initialize from backup option)
• watch as the undistributed commands then get sent to the subscriber
• finally see that the entire thing works!

Initializing from backup makes the entire thing much easier than snapshots, because you generally have backups running anyhow and, more often than not, can use compression. This does mean that the entire DB is on the subscriber though, which may be desired or may not.

If you are using Transactional Replication then yes, this configuration is supported.

This is covered in Using Multiple Versions of SQL Server in a Replication Topology:

For all types of replication, the Distributor version must be no earlier than the Publisher version. (Frequently, the Distributor is the same instance as the Publisher.)

Since your Distributor version is a later version than your Publisher version, you are good here.

For transactional replication, a Subscriber to a transactional publication can be any version within two versions of the Publisher version. For example, a SQL Server 2000 Publisher can have SQL Server 2008 Subscribers, and a SQL Server 2008 Publisher can have SQL Server 2000 Subscribers.

Since your Subscriber is within two versions of your Publisher version, you are good here.

However, this configuration is not supported if you are using Merge Replication since your Subscriber will be a later version than the Publisher:

For merge replication, a Subscriber to a merge publication can be any version no later than the Publisher version.

If you have anymore questions, please let me know. I hope this helps.