Transactional replication
can be used when subscribers need to be kept up-to-date with the publisher.
Transactional replication
can be configured so that the subscriber is updated shortly after the publisher is updated.
Even when the Log Reader Agent is running continuously,
it reads the transaction log every few seconds
instead of constantly in order to lower overhead on the publisher's transaction log.
Transactional replication
can also be configured so that the subscribers can also update the database.
Because of this, transactional replication is highly flexible and has many uses.
These uses consist of applications such as the following:
* Passing messages
Transactional replication can be used in order to pass messages between systems
when it is important to ensure that the subscriber receives the messages.
If the network goes down, the data is transferred whenever the network comes back up.
* Keeping stores up-to-date
Many companies use transactional replication
to move data between the main office and the retail stores.
Whenever prices are updated at the home office,
they are also updated on the systems at the retail stores.
* Spreading the load
Transactional replication can be used to offload databases to reporting systems
that can offload long-running, resource-intensive queries, thus freeing up the main servers.
There are many applications for transactional replication.
Depending on your system's configuration and your application,
you might find transactional replication to be quite useful.
Source: Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Administrator's Companion Book