Replication Errors (Publisher and Subscriber are at different version)

Today I was setting up replication (Transactional and merge) From SQL server 20008R2 publisher to SQL server 2012 Subscriber and I faced a lot of issues.  Some of them are

1. Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio is unable to access replication components because replication is not installed on this instance of SQL Server
2. The selected Subscriber does not satisfy the minimum version compatibility level of the selected publication.
3. A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing connection to sqlserver. The server was not accessible, verify that the instance name is correct and that sql server is configured to allow remote connections.
4. SQL Server replication requires the actual server name to make a connection to the server. Connections through a server alias, IP address, or any other alternate name are not supported. Specify the actual server

Here scenarios 1 , and 2,3 have the same fix

Scenerio1:

Error:” The selected Subscriber does not satisfy the minimum version compatibility level of the selected publication”

The publication created successfully on SQL server 2008 R2 Server using 2008R2 SSMS

RDP to SQL 2008R2 Server, While creating Subscriber on SQL Server 2012 from 2008R2 Server add subscriber using SSMS of SQL 2008R2 I got this error

RDP to SQL 2008R2 Server, While creating Subscriber on SQL Server 2012 from SQL 2012 Server add subscriber using SSMS of SQL 2008R2 I got this error

Scenerio2:

Error: “SSMS is unable to access replication components because replication is not installed on the instance of SQL server”

The publication created successfully on SQL server 2008 R2 Server using 2008R2 SSMS

RDP to SQL 2012 Server, While creating a Subscriber on SQL Server 2008R2 from SQL 2012 Server add subscriber using SSMS of SQL 2012 I got this error

Scenerio3:

Error: “A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL server. The server was not accessible, verify that the instance name is correct and that the SQL server is configured to allow remote connections.”

The publication was created successfully on SQL server 2008 R2 Server using 2008R2 SSMS

RDP to SQL 2012 Server, While creating a Subscriber on SQL Server 2012 from SQL 2012 Server add subscriber using SSMS of SQL 2012 I got this error

All three errors are just a waste of time and don’t actually mean anything what they say. These errors are only coming due to compatibility issues with SSMS

Solution:

Install SQL Server 2012  client component i.e. SSMS (SSMS of subscriber server version on publisher server) and then from the publisher server try to set replication subscriber and this will be as smooth as butter

Assumption: Both the server (publisher and subscriber already have replication installed)

This means if the subscriber is on the higher version we have to use ssms of the subscriber version on the publisher.

Scenerio4:

Error” SQL Server replication requires the actual server name to make a connection to the server. Connections through a server alias, IP address, or any other alternate name are not supported. Specify the actual server"

Solution:

1. If you are giving IP, alias name, Fully qualified domain name of server, and server name with port, you will get this error.
2. So run @@servername in query analyzer and use this name to connect
3. If @@servername is null then run
4. EXEC sp_addserver 'servername\instance', 'LOCAL'
5. And now try you will be successful

Note:  error: “For merge replication, a Subscriber to a merge publication can be any version no later than the Publisher version”

Issue: Merger replication doesn’t support subscribers at higher versions than publisher