Sql-server – T-SQL query to find Primary Management Server for SCOM Agents

My gut is that it's related to parameter sniffing; when you call the TVF's, do you pass in parameterized values or hard-coded values? For example:

SELECT * FROM FormatMonthEndReport(2013, 1);

will perform differently than

DECLARE @p1 int = 2013, @p2 int = 1; SELECT * FROM FormatMonthEndReport(@p1, @p2);

What version of SQL Server are you running? Can you post your replmerg command line?
(substituting <database> for database etc.)

Re' using replmerg.exe, looking at your error message, it looks like abilities beyond synchronization are involved...

For example sp_helpdistpublisher returns properties of the publishers using a distributor... and requires db_owner or replmonitor for the distribution database.

So... does the user running replmerg.exe have the required access, to the distributor / distribution database?

Also, you might find this StackOverflow question to be of interest:

Permissions required to run REPLMERG.EXE

Is their solution --a special purpose user-- of interest? And note the comment at bottom: "Some of these instructions might even lead to the reinitialisation of the subscriber, which requires the right to a drop\recreate the corresponding database."

EDIT:
While looking up info on your REPLMERG.EXE command line, I saw this link:

How to: Synchronize a Pull Subscription (Replication Programming)

and this quote, which seems pertinent:

Pull subscriptions can be synchronized programmatically and on-demand by invoking the appropriate replication agent.

... and under To start the merge agent from the command prompt or from a batch file, this quote:

If you are using SQL Server Authentication, you must also specify the following arguments:

-DistributorLogin
-DistributorPassword
-DistributorSecurityMode = 0
-PublisherLogin
-PublisherPassword
-PublisherSecurityMode = 0
-SubscriberLogin
-SubscriberPassword
-SubscriberSecurityMode = 0

Note that your REPLMERG.EXE command line does not have PublisherLogin, PublisherPassword, or PublisherSecurityMode.

I also found Security Role Requirements for Replication

See the row titled Maintain replication agents.:

db_owner database role in the appropriate database or sysadmin server role on the appropriate server.

If the agent was created by a user in the sysadmin role, and a proxy account was not specified for the agent, the agent runs under the context of the SQL Server Agent account. In this case, a user in the db_owner role cannot modify the job associated with the agent.

Hope that helps...