Because snapshot replication copies an existing database to the distributor
and then to the subscriber,
the performance of snapshot replication depends on
the ability of certain system components to move large amounts of data.
By properly sizing and configuring your snapshot replication system,
you can reduce the effects these factors have on performance.
Factors that can affect the performance of snapshot replication are listed here.
* I/O performance on the publisher
Because the entire database (or parts of it) is copied from the publisher,
the performance of the I/O subsystem on the publisher can be a limiting factor.
The snapshot creation task is more I/O intensive than CPU intensive;
thus, CPU power is not usually a factor.
* I/O performance on the distributor
The distributor receives large amounts of data at one time, and at some later time,
it distributes that data.
A slow I/O subsystem on the distributor will bog down the snapshot creation process.
* I/O performance on the subscriber
The distributor attempts to distribute a database or subset of a database to the subscriber all at once.
If the I/O subsystem on the subscriber is inadequate, replication performance will suffer.
* The bandwidth of the network between the publisher, distributor, and subscriber
Because large amounts of data are being transferred,
a bottleneck can easily occur on the network.
Make sure that your network does not limit replication performance.
Source: Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Administrator's Companion Book