We have used SQL Server Replication for a long time and had some issues with it that sometimes we needed to reinitialize subscriptions to fix some issues & other times we needed to destroy the whole replication structure & rebuild it again!
Our main concern is that once we have a replication issue, almost all the time the easy solution will be to reinitialize the replication which is not accepted for our business requirements.
Now we are preparing to release a new big project & we are trying to look for 3rd party software for doing SQL Server replication.
Our setup includes Servers distributed in branches ( Different countries ) + mobile clients ( laptops with local SQL Server databases ) and we need to replicate data between all of these with the ability to offer article filtering.
Would somebody please suggest some alternate solutions for us?
Best Answer
It's highly unlikely you'll find a better merge replication solution than what's built-in.
Merge replication in particular is hard to implement.
I would suggest that if you're having issues with the current setup breaking, take it up with Microsoft. They should be very motivated to help you find the root cause of the problem so their customers are happy, and not looking for other solutions like you're asking for here.