Merge Replication Issue from SQL Server Express to Server 2008 R2

Question

Since it's not possible to make the server express a Distributor nor a Publisher, I made it as a Subscriber and trying to implement a merge replication with another Database from a 2008 R2 Server. It works all fine; however, the table set on the 2008 R2 server is empty (it's meant to be like that as part of our design in work) and when the replication service starts, the data on the subscriber database (the non-empty one) is deleted initially. Does anyone know why this happens? Am I missing something here? I am still rather new in this topic and I would appreciate any help or advice.

Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

By default, Merge Replication starts with a snapshot of the publication database and uses this to initialize subscribers. Afterwards, changes are incrementally tracked and replicated. The problem you are facing is that your publication database contains no data. You then use an empty snapshot to initialize your subscriber. And since by default article property Action if name is in use is set to Drop existing object and create a new one, you end up with no data at the subscriber.

What you need to do is backup and restore the database from the Express instance and restore it to the Standard instance. Then create your publication and subscription, generate a snapshot, and initialize your subscriber.