Don't panic

Cry about...
SQL Server Troubleshooting

Merge Agent: The Subscription to publication 'XXXX' is invalid

Symptom:

A merge agent has failed. The ‘last action’ is:

The subscription to publication 'XXXX' is invalid.

where ‘XXXX’ is the name of the publication that is (or should be) participating in merge replication. The full error message is:

The remote server is not defined as a subscription server.

This has the error number 14010 associated with it.

Possible Cause and Remedy:

This error has been observed when the remote server had been renamed after the original installation of SQL Server, and where the SQL Server configuration function ‘@@SERVERNAME’ still returned the original name of the server. If this is the case then follow the notes in the link ‘SQLServer Enterprise Manager could not configure 'server' as the Distributor for 'server'’.

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

About the author: is a dedicated software developer and webmaster. For his day job he develops websites and desktop applications as well as providing IT services. He moonlights as a technical author and consultant.