hi David

sorry about the previous post don't know why they have duplicated,

yes i go to replication, local subcription, new subscription etc and this is were i get the error

the mad thing is i can view the remote server etc in the server studio but can't create the replication

i now get

SQL server replication requires the actual server name to make connection to the server.

Connections through a server alias, ip address or any other alternate name are not supported

Specify the actual server names, ServSQL (replication utilities )

I have updated the host file with the ip servsql.domain.local

sorry david i havent tried the linked server connection yet if i am honest i dont know how?