sql server replication: We have a development system that we are using to test our replication setup
for a SQL 2000 back-end application. A couple of weeks ago we had
replication working with a publisher/distributer and a subscriber. We have
been testing seperating our publisher and our distributer servers into
seperate boxes, and today tried to go back to having the
publisher/distributer on the same box. We setup replication using the same
scripts as a week ago, manually start the snapshot, and manually start the
replication job. Now, however, the replication job always fails with the
error message:
"The process could not make a generation at the 'Subscriber'. The step
failed."

To try to debug the process we turned on verbose logging, and the following
is the last @30 lines of that file:

Percent Complete: 97
The merge process is cleaning up meta data in database 'NITSS2kDev'.
Percent Complete: 97
The merge process cleaned up 0 row(s) in MSmerge_genhistory, 0 row(s) in
MSmerge_contents, and 0 row(s) in MSmerge_tombstone.
Percent Complete: 97
The merge process is cleaning up meta data in database 'NITSS2kDev'.
Percent Complete: 97
The merge process cleaned up 0 row(s) in MSmerge_genhistory, 0 row(s) in
MSmerge_contents, and 0 row(s) in MSmerge_tombstone.
Percent Complete: 97
Uploading data changes to the Publisher
The process could not make a generation at the 'Subscriber'.
Percent Complete: 0
The process could not make a generation at the 'Subscriber'.
Percent Complete: 0
Category:NULL
Source: Merge Replication Provider
Number: -2147200994
Message: The process could not make a generation at the 'Subscriber'.
Percent Complete: 0
Category:SQLSERVER
Source: PSC0444
Number: 515
Message: Cannot insert the value NULL into column 'nicknames', table
'NITSS2kDev.dbo.MSmerge_genhistory'; column does not allow nulls. INSERT
fails.
Disconnecting from Subscriber 'PSC0444'
Disconnecting from Subscriber 'PSC0444'
Disconnecting from Publisher 'DEV2K'
Disconnecting from Publisher 'DEV2K'
Disconnecting from Distributor 'DEV2K'

Can anyone tell me what is happening here and how to fix it. Our topology
is:
Publisher/Distributer: SQL2k SP3a
Subscriber: SQL2k SP3a

TIA
Ron Lounsbury

We found a web site that gave us the response. If you do a SELECT
@@ServerName, the servername came up NULL. To resolve this we had to run
the following:
sp_dropserver 'servername'
sp_addserver 'servername', 'local'

delete SQL registrations in Enterprise Manager
recreate the SQL registrations in EM
restart the SQL server.

Ron Lounsbury


[quoted text, click to view]

Hi -
Thats true. For this exact error message, always do SP_helpserver
on both the publisher and Subscriber and check the status and SRV_ID. Doing
sp_dropserver 'severname' and then sp_addserver 'servername' with the local
option will resolve the issue.

Regards,
Chandra



--------------------
||From: "Ron Lounsbury" <rlounsbury@bogusAddress.com>
||References: <OPjrT#Z8DHA.2676@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl>
||Subject: Re: Applying snapshot fails
||Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2004 09:52:51 -0500
||Lines: 79
||X-Priority: 3
||X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
||X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1158
||X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1165
||Message-ID: <e2AZPEk8DHA.1040@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl>
||Newsgroups: microsoft.public.sqlserver.replication
||NNTP-Posting-Host: 11.31.252.64.snet.net 64.252.31.11
||Path:
cpmsftngxa07.phx.gbl!cpmsftngxa06.phx.gbl!TK2MSFTNGP08.phx.gbl!TK2MSFTNGP10.
phx.gbl
||Xref: cpmsftngxa07.phx.gbl microsoft.public.sqlserver.replication:47313
||X-Tomcat-NG: microsoft.public.sqlserver.replication
||
||We found a web site that gave us the response. If you do a SELECT
||@@ServerName, the servername came up NULL. To resolve this we had to run
||the following:
|| sp_dropserver 'servername'
|| sp_addserver 'servername', 'local'
||
|| delete SQL registrations in Enterprise Manager
|| recreate the SQL registrations in EM
|| restart the SQL server.
||
||Ron Lounsbury
||
||
[quoted text, click to view]
||> We have a development system that we are using to test our replication
||setup
||> for a SQL 2000 back-end application. A couple of weeks ago we had
||> replication working with a publisher/distributer and a subscriber. We
||have
||> been testing seperating our publisher and our distributer servers into
||> seperate boxes, and today tried to go back to having the
||> publisher/distributer on the same box. We setup replication using the
||same
||> scripts as a week ago, manually start the snapshot, and manually start
the
||> replication job. Now, however, the replication job always fails with
the
||> error message:
||> "The process could not make a generation at the 'Subscriber'. The
||step
||> failed."
||>
||> To try to debug the process we turned on verbose logging, and the
||following
||> is the last @30 lines of that file:
||>
||> Percent Complete: 97
||> The merge process is cleaning up meta data in database 'NITSS2kDev'.
||> Percent Complete: 97
||> The merge process cleaned up 0 row(s) in MSmerge_genhistory, 0 row(s) in
||> MSmerge_contents, and 0 row(s) in MSmerge_tombstone.
||> Percent Complete: 97
||> The merge process is cleaning up meta data in database 'NITSS2kDev'.
||> Percent Complete: 97
||> The merge process cleaned up 0 row(s) in MSmerge_genhistory, 0 row(s) in
||> MSmerge_contents, and 0 row(s) in MSmerge_tombstone.
||> Percent Complete: 97
||> Uploading data changes to the Publisher
||> The process could not make a generation at the 'Subscriber'.
||> Percent Complete: 0
||> The process could not make a generation at the 'Subscriber'.
||> Percent Complete: 0
||> Category:NULL
||> Source: Merge Replication Provider
||> Number: -2147200994
||> Message: The process could not make a generation at the 'Subscriber'.
||> Percent Complete: 0
||> Category:SQLSERVER
||> Source: PSC0444
||> Number: 515
||> Message: Cannot insert the value NULL into column 'nicknames', table
||> 'NITSS2kDev.dbo.MSmerge_genhistory'; column does not allow nulls. INSERT
||> fails.
||> Disconnecting from Subscriber 'PSC0444'
||> Disconnecting from Subscriber 'PSC0444'
||> Disconnecting from Publisher 'DEV2K'
||> Disconnecting from Publisher 'DEV2K'
||> Disconnecting from Distributor 'DEV2K'
||>
||> Can anyone tell me what is happening here and how to fix it. Our
topology
||> is:
||> Publisher/Distributer: SQL2k SP3a
||> Subscriber: SQL2k SP3a
||>
||> TIA
||> Ron Lounsbury
||>
||>
||
||
||

Since we have run into the same Merge Replication erro
"The process could not make a generation at the 'Subscriber'. ...
could you be more specific about the correct values for STAUS and SRV_ID for the Publisher and Subscriber when SP_HELPSERVER is run on their respective machines? For instance, should SRV_ID be 0

Thanks

The ID is the crucial part which determines if the server is local. eg you connect to Server1 with Query Analyzer and run "sp_helpserver". You should see Server1 listed with ID = 0. If the name is correct, but the ID is not equal to 0, you should use sp_dropserver and sp_addserver with the local switch to correct the problem. The same info can be obtained directly by looking at srvid in sysservers
Regards