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SQL Server Troubleshooting

Merge Agent: The process could not connect to Subscriber 'XXXX'

Symptom:

A merge agent has failed, the full error message text being:

The process could not connect to Subscriber 'XXXX'

where 'XXXX' is the name of the subscriber it was trying to connect with.

Possible Causes and Remedies:

  • The link to the subscriber or the subscriber-server is down. Try pinging the subscriber. If pinging is unsuccessful then resolve the network connectivity problem first.
  • This problem will also occur if SQL Server Agent is set-up to use the System account instead of a domain account (that is recognised at the subscriber).

    Tip contributed by Tanweer Hussain.

These notes are believed to be correct for SQL Server 7 and may apply to other versions as well.

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