Data Distribution Options

SQL Server replication offers great flexibility in determining exactly what sets of replicated data each subscriber receives:

• Selective subscription to publications. A subscription server can subscribe to none, some, or all of the publications offered by the publication servers of your enterprise.
• Selective subscription to articles. A subscription server can subscribe to some or all of the articles within a publication.
• Secure publications. Each publication has a security status of unrestricted (the default) or restricted. A publication marked as unrestricted is visible to and can be subscribed to by any registered subscription server. A publication marked as restricted is visible to and can be subscribed to by only those subscription servers that have been granted access.
• Publication of vertically partitioned tables. You can create an article that replicates only selected columns of the base table. Subscription servers receive only that vertically partitioned subset of the data. Note that the replicated columns must include the primary key column(s). The following illustration shows the replication of a vertically partitioned table.

  

• Publication of horizontally partitioned tables. You can create an article that replicates only selected rows of the base table. Subscription servers receive only that horizontally partitioned subset of the data. The following illustration shows the replication of a horizontally partitioned table.

  

• And of course, an article can be simultaneously partitioned both vertically and horizontally, as depicted in the following illustration.