Guru's Guide to SQL Server Architecture and Internals, The

Overview

SQL Server implements merge replication via the Snapshot Agent and the Merge Agent. As with snapshot and transactional replication, the Snapshot Agent is responsible for creating the initial snapshot of the data that will be distributed by the publisher. Once it creates the initial snapshot, the Snapshot Agent creates synchronization jobs on the publisher and builds replication-specific system tables, stored procedures, and triggers. Subscriber-side system objects are created when the snapshot is first applied to the subscriber.

Note that a merge subscription table can subscribe to only one publication at a time. If you attempt to subscribe from a single subscriber table to an article in two different publications, one of the Merge Agents ...