I think I have tried the obvious tricks, and there are a few, so I'll detail them here.
Environments
-----------------
SQL2008 behind firewall 1 - PUBLISHER
SQL2014 behind firewall 2 - SUBSCRIBER
Set-up
--------
Hosts file aliases are set up as you would expect. The aliasing has been verified by logging on to the servers with SQL Server Management Studio.
I have set up IIS and FTP on the PUBLISHER server. Because of the current problems, I have opened FTP up to allow read/write access to the FTP folders for (1) all accounts, (2) anonymous, and (3) the specific matching (PUBLISHER and SUBSCRIBER) machine accounts.
Replication
--------------
I have set up the PUBLISHER to be transactional replication. I have added FTP specifying a folder and {series of} accounts.
Generating the PUBLISHER with FTP appears to be fine. The Replication Monitor shows no problems.
When the subscription is created, it is created successfully and it appears to be working.
In viewing the "Job History" of the subscription I can see that:
1) The subscription is created without error(and I get data).
2) However, each subsequent job fails with the following error:
2020-06-11 01:02:18.597 Initializing
2020-06-11 01:02:18.879 Snapshot files will be downloaded via ftp
2020-06-11 01:02:18.941 Connecting to ftp site 'PUBLISHER'
2020-06-11 01:02:19.300 Agent message code 20032. The process could not connect to FTP site 'PUBLISHER' using port 21.
2020-06-11 01:02:19.550 Category:OS
Number: 12003
Message: 550 The system cannot find the file specified.
(I assume the 550 error is because the FTP connection failed.)
When I go back to the PUBLISHER and mark the publication for re-initialization, that job succeeds without error. Then, subsequent jobs fail exactly as before.
I have great confidence that the firewalls are not the problem. From the SUBSCRIBER I can open up any browser and enter "FTP://Publisher". I can see and navigate to sub-folders and copy files.
I am pretty sure that folder security is OK since I can copy a file with an anonymous FTP connection and the initializations work.
Additionally, using the replication functions I have gone back to the PUBLISHER and tried solving this by updating the FTP account and password to Null, Publisher\Machine_Account as well as just Machine_Account. Just to be sure, I dropped and recreated the subscription each time, but I got the error each time.
I know 2008 is really old and unsupported but for the moment we're stuck. Therefore the obvious solution of upgrading to 2014 is off the table ... plus this should work, right???
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Environments
-----------------
SQL2008 behind firewall 1 - PUBLISHER
SQL2014 behind firewall 2 - SUBSCRIBER
Set-up
--------
Hosts file aliases are set up as you would expect. The aliasing has been verified by logging on to the servers with SQL Server Management Studio.
I have set up IIS and FTP on the PUBLISHER server. Because of the current problems, I have opened FTP up to allow read/write access to the FTP folders for (1) all accounts, (2) anonymous, and (3) the specific matching (PUBLISHER and SUBSCRIBER) machine accounts.
Replication
--------------
I have set up the PUBLISHER to be transactional replication. I have added FTP specifying a folder and {series of} accounts.
Generating the PUBLISHER with FTP appears to be fine. The Replication Monitor shows no problems.
When the subscription is created, it is created successfully and it appears to be working.
In viewing the "Job History" of the subscription I can see that:
1) The subscription is created without error(and I get data).
2) However, each subsequent job fails with the following error:
2020-06-11 01:02:18.597 Initializing
2020-06-11 01:02:18.879 Snapshot files will be downloaded via ftp
2020-06-11 01:02:18.941 Connecting to ftp site 'PUBLISHER'
2020-06-11 01:02:19.300 Agent message code 20032. The process could not connect to FTP site 'PUBLISHER' using port 21.
2020-06-11 01:02:19.550 Category:OS
Number: 12003
Message: 550 The system cannot find the file specified.
(I assume the 550 error is because the FTP connection failed.)
When I go back to the PUBLISHER and mark the publication for re-initialization, that job succeeds without error. Then, subsequent jobs fail exactly as before.
I have great confidence that the firewalls are not the problem. From the SUBSCRIBER I can open up any browser and enter "FTP://Publisher". I can see and navigate to sub-folders and copy files.
I am pretty sure that folder security is OK since I can copy a file with an anonymous FTP connection and the initializations work.
Additionally, using the replication functions I have gone back to the PUBLISHER and tried solving this by updating the FTP account and password to Null, Publisher\Machine_Account as well as just Machine_Account. Just to be sure, I dropped and recreated the subscription each time, but I got the error each time.
I know 2008 is really old and unsupported but for the moment we're stuck. Therefore the obvious solution of upgrading to 2014 is off the table ... plus this should work, right???
Any thoughts would be appreciated.