sql server replication: Morten,
in principle it looks ok to me. You intend to do a no-sync initialization,
so the stored procedures from point 5 (the first one :-)) will have to be
generated and applied manually. The second point 5 is basically
initialization.
A simpler approach, where the viability depends on the quantity of data
involved, would be to use a dts package and the copyobjects task. This is
similar to snapshot replication, but the schema can change as much as you
want on the publisher.
HTH,
Paul Ibison

Hi. I need to replicate a dynamic DB. It's dynamic in the sense, that
the structure gets altered (column types, new tables, indexes and so
forth). I've been suggested to use stored procedures like
sp_repladdcolumn and sp_repldropcolumn (thanks Paul), but the manual
intervention in the replication process is not an option (considered
error prone).

So, if I cannot have instantaneous replication of structure, what
options are there? If I require that the structural changes must be
controlled tightly, do the below steps seem reasonable?

1. Make the dynamic changes in the test environment (machine C)
2. Freeze replication from production (machine A) to backup (machine B)
3. Apply changes from C to B
4. Apply changes from C to A
5. Implement required changes to the replication model (new columns etc).
5. Activate replication from A to B

Would this do? Any recommendations for other approaches?

Thanks,

Morten