Administering a SQL Database Infrastructure — Question 240

You administer several Microsoft SQL Server 2016 database servers.
Merge replication has been configured for an application that is distributed across offices throughout a wide area network (WAN). Many of the tables involved in replication use the XML and varchar (max) data types.
Occasionally, merge replication fails due to timeout errors.
You need to reduce the occurrence of these timeout errors.
What should you do?

Answer options

• A. Set the Merge agent on the problem subscribers to use the slow link agent profile.
• B. Create a snapshot publication, and reconfigure the problem subscribers to use the snapshot publication.
• C. Change the Merge agent on the problem subscribers to run continuously.
• D. Set the Remote Connection Timeout on the Publisher to 0.

Correct answer: A

Explanation

Setting the Merge agent to use the slow link agent profile is appropriate for environments with bandwidth limitations, which can help mitigate timeout issues. The snapshot publication option would not address the root cause of the timeouts, while running the Merge agent continuously may not resolve the issue. Changing the Remote Connection Timeout to 0 could lead to other connectivity problems rather than solving the timeout errors.