FIX: Unnecessary updates to a subscriber after you reinitialize it if a new article is added to a publication in SQL Server 2008 or in SQL Server 2012

Microsoft distributes Microsoft SQL Server 2008 SP2 or Microsoft SQL Server 2012 fixes as one downloadable file. Because the fixes are cumulative, each new release contains all the hotfixes and all the security fixes that were included with the previous SQL Server 2008 SP2 or Microsoft SQL Server 2012 fix release.

Consider the following scenario:

• You set up a merge replication publication environment in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 or in Microsoft SQL Server 2012.
• You have a dynamic filtered publication and a subscriber in the environment, and the subscriber has already synchronized with the publisher.
• You add a new article to the publication. This generates a new snapshot and a new dynamic snapshot.
• You run the replication job, and the subscriber is synchronized with the publisher again.
• You reinitialize the subscriber.

In this scenario, when the subscriber is synchronized after it is set to be reinitialized, a bulk insert of all tables is performed. However, updates of all rows from the newly inserted tables are executed. This causes slow performance if the article is large.

Note This issue also occurs if you add a new subscriber instead of reinitializing the existing subscriber.

Cumulative update information

SQL Server 2012

The fix for this issue was first released in Cumulative Update 1 for SQL Server 2012. For more information about this cumulative update package, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Note Because the builds are cumulative, each new fix release contains all the hotfixes and all the security fixes that were included with the previous SQL Server 2012 fix release. Microsoft recommends that you consider applying the most recent fix release that contains this hotfix. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: You must apply a SQL Server 2012 hotfix to an installation of SQL Server 2012.

Cumulative Update 8 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 2

The fix for this issue was first released in Cumulative Update 8 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 2. For more information about how to obtain this cumulative update package for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 2, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:Note Because the builds are cumulative, each new fix release contains all the hotfixes and all the security fixes that were included with the previous SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 2 fix release. We recommend that you consider applying the most recent fix release that contains this hotfix. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.