Guru's Guide to SQL Server Architecture and Internals, The

Remote Agent Activation

I've mentioned that the Distribution Agent can be run on a server other than the default if you choose. You can do this via remote agent activation. Running the Distribution Agent remotely amounts to either running it on the subscriber for push subscriptions or running it on the distributor for pull subscriptions. Normally, the Distribution Agent runs on the distributor for push subscriptions and on the subscriber for pull subscriptions. You can change its default location when you set up a subscription. This is something to consider when you want to offload some of the work of the distributor to subscribers when processing push subscriptions, especially large numbers of them. Given that the agent runs on the subscriber ...