Why is a complete snapshot being generated when a new article is added (SQL 2005)?
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This is expected behaviour if you have a merge or snapshot publication. If you have a transactional publication, a snapshot of all articles will always be generated if the immediate_sync publication property is set to true. Typically, the immediate_sync publication property is set to true if you allowed anonymous subscriptions while creating the publication through the CreatePublication wizard. To prevent the complete snapshot, run the script below:
EXEC sp_changepublication
@publication = 'MainPub',
@property = N'allow_anonymous',
@value = 'false'
GO
EXEC sp_changepublication
@publication = 'MainPub',
@property = N'immediate_sync',
@value = 'false'
GO
This works.