I have a SQL 2005 database that is currently 15GB in size. We do a lot of web / intranet based reporting from thsi system and we're seeing a performance hit as a result.
I'd like to create a copy of the live database on another server and have it continuously updated from the live db.
What is the most efficient way to do this, bearing in mind the copy database will never be changed so I only need the synchronisation/replication to be 'one-way' but we can't deal with a lag of more than 15 minutes.
Both servers are running Windows 2003 and SQL 2005 standard (not enterprise)
MSSQL Books On Line is a great place to start. Do you have an aversion to using the built-in replication of MSSSQL? Changes on the production server will be replicated as soon as they hit the log (i think) on the production server. You can setup one-way transactional replication pretty easily. Just make sure that you go over your needs before starting in on the replication. Check this out for more info on what goes into replication.
The first time the data replicates it'll take a while, but the subsequent changes will be quick.
I am using replication to push data to a mysql server than serves up data for our website. It's been running in production for 2 months now and we haven't had a problem yet.The initial load to the mysql server took a very long time(2days)but that was over a small VPN pipe. Over the LAN it took only a few hours. The day-to-day changes that we replicate move very quickly.