initialize-a-subscription.md

title	description	author	ms.author	ms.date	ms.service	ms.subservice	ms.topic	ms.custom	helpviewer_keywords	monikerRange
Initialize a Subscription	Initialize a Subscription	MashaMSFT	mathoma	03/01/2017	sql	replication	how-to	updatefrequency5	snapshot replication [SQL Server], initializing subscriptions transactional replication, initializing subscriptions initializing subscriptions [SQL Server replication] subscriptions [SQL Server replication], initializing initializing subscriptions [SQL Server replication], about initializing subscriptions merge replication [SQL Server replication], initializing subscriptions	=azuresqldb-mi-current||>=sql-server-2016

Initialize a Subscription

[!INCLUDE SQL Server SQL MI] Subscribers in a replication topology must be initialized, so that they have a copy of the schema from each article in the publication they have subscribed to and any replication objects that are required, such as stored procedures, triggers, and metadata tables. In addition, the Subscriber typically receives an initial dataset. The default initialization method uses a full snapshot that includes schema, replication objects, and data, but publications can also be initialized without a full snapshot.

For more information, see Initialize a Subscription with a Snapshot and Initialize a Transactional Subscription Without a Snapshot.