Replicating To An Archive Database.

I want to replicate to an archive database. This means that the subscriber will have data that has been removed from the publisher. In my reading, I haven't seen any discussion of this specific scenario.

Here's what I imagine the solution might be:

EXEC sp_addpublication_snapshot
@publication = N'My_Publication',
@frequency_type = 1 -- only create the snapshot once
GO

...

EXEC sp_addarticle
@publication = N'My_Publication',
@article = N'My_Table',
@source_owner = N'dbo',
@source_object = N'My_Table',
@del_cmd = 'NONE',
GO

I set the publication snapshot to only execute once, that would be during the maintenance window when it is initially installed. Then, on the tables that will contain archived data, I specify that deletes aren't replicated.

Here's my concern: aren't there times when you need to resync?

If you could push a new snapshot that dropped the tables on the subscriber and built the thing up from scratch, then things would sync-up just fine. But in this scenario if you drop the subscriber tables then you've just lost your archive.

What's the best way to handle this?

Thanks,

-=michael=-