sql server replication: I have all my tables in a db that have a timestamp (Rowversion) column used
for optimistic concurrency checking.

I know replication will convert this to a binary(8) field on the subscriber
if the subscriber initializes itself with a snapshot, but what about no-sync
initialization?

I backup my publisher db who's column is a timestamp, restore it on the
subscriber as a timestamp, but this seems to cause the following error

"Cannot insert a non-null value into a timestamp column. Use INSERT with a
column list or with a default of NULL for the timestamp column."

I've read that i would have to take the column out of the insert and update
replication sp's but we have over 1000 tables...also we need these values to
be up to date. How do i get around this?

Only thing i can think of is create a dummy subscriber db that initializes
using the snapshot then back up that db to get the schema then use the backup
to restore on other subscribers and use no-sync replication but this seems

Ben,
I guess there are a few workarounds, none of which are perfect. One option
is to simply initialize as per normal. Another to edit the stored procs, but
in your case you'll then have non-convergence which is not acceptable. The
option you suggest seems the best to me - have SQL Server create the correct
subscriber database and use this as a template for other subscribers. This
way you'll have only one case of avoiding the nosync method.
Cheers,
Paul Ibison SQL Server MVP, www.replicationanswers.com
(recommended sql server 2000 replication book:
http://www.nwsu.com/0974973602p.html)