Internet merge pull subscription server name problems

I recently did a test-run of continuous merge pull replication on my
intranet and it worked wonderfully. Now I am trying to make it work
over the net, and I just can't get server names to ever work
correctly! The server is listening on a non-standard port and this is
open from the firewall.. a test connection and telnet connect just
fine through the firewall.
If someone could please give me a list of everything that must be in
place for the remote server to be able to reference the
publisher/distributor by host NAME not IP, I would greatly appreciate
it.
I assume I need a server alias on the subscriber? Does the servername
here include the instance name? How do i reference this alias in my
sp_addmergepullsubscription and sp_addmergepullsubscription_agent
calls? What about the non-standard port?
The publisher/distributor has a localname, say SERVER, so in EM it
shows up as "SERVER\INSTANCENAME"... shouldn't it show up as
"SERVER.DOMAIN.COM\INSTANCENAME" ? Do I need another alias on the
server?
The setup is: SQL Server 2000 publisher/distributor at a fixed domain,
we can't be sure of the IP, but we know it's always at
server.domain.com
MSDE is semi-disconnected, so this will be a PULL anonymous
subscription. I will be creating it through the above referenced
stored procedures.
Thanks in advance!
you must use SQL client network utilty to talk to the instance. Open up Client Network Utility, add a name for the alias. Then for servername add the name of the server and its instance, ie ServerName\InstanceName.
Then edit your hosts file for the ip address of the server, ie
ServerName xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
The server name does not have to be a FQDN, ie SERVER.DOMAIN.COM\INSTANCENAME, just a name that has an ip address. For logistical purposes you should call it after your Publisher or Subscriber name, but you don't have to.
Ping this server from your publisher/subscriber to make sure it can resolve correctly and you have connectivity. you may need to use tracert to find out where your connectivity breaks.
Then its a matter of enabling your subscriber. register this server in Enterprise Manager, and then go to tools, replication, configure distributor, publishers, and subscribers, locate your subscriber, click on the check box to the left of the servername,
click on the browse button and enter the sa account (or an account in the sysadmin role), and its password. To replicate over the internet you must use sql authentication. Your publication should be set up for anonymous pull using FTP.
In your procs sp_addmergepullsubscription and sp_addmergepullsubscription_agent you will be referencing the publisher by whatever name you have assigned to this subscriber as its alias in Client Network Utiltiy.
Looking for a SQL Server replication book?
http://www.nwsu.com/0974973602.html
"Josh" wrote:

> I recently did a test-run of continuous merge pull replication on my
> intranet and it worked wonderfully. Now I am trying to make it work
> over the net, and I just can't get server names to ever work
> correctly! The server is listening on a non-standard port and this is
> open from the firewall.. a test connection and telnet connect just
> fine through the firewall.
> If someone could please give me a list of everything that must be in
> place for the remote server to be able to reference the
> publisher/distributor by host NAME not IP, I would greatly appreciate
> it.
> I assume I need a server alias on the subscriber? Does the servername
> here include the instance name? How do i reference this alias in my
> sp_addmergepullsubscription and sp_addmergepullsubscription_agent
> calls? What about the non-standard port?
> The publisher/distributor has a localname, say SERVER, so in EM it
> shows up as "SERVER\INSTANCENAME"... shouldn't it show up as
> "SERVER.DOMAIN.COM\INSTANCENAME" ? Do I need another alias on the
> server?
> The setup is: SQL Server 2000 publisher/distributor at a fixed domain,
> we can't be sure of the IP, but we know it's always at
> server.domain.com
> MSDE is semi-disconnected, so this will be a PULL anonymous
> subscription. I will be creating it through the above referenced
> stored procedures.
> Thanks in advance!
>