Entity Framework 5.1, Code First Approach + Merge Replication

Hi All,

Our company has been using Merge Replication as a standard for a couple of years now in all of our live websites which are mostly asp classic and MVC based. All of our live databases are running on merge replication and all of the development has been centered towards it.

Recenly, there is a need for us to use Entity Framework 5.1 using code first approach. I'm worried that I can't seem to find enough information about the compatibilities of the 2 technologies and how they can work with each other.

My questions are

1. Is EF 5.1 and Merge Replication easily compatible?
2. What are the things we need to do either with the dev side or DB side to make it work?
3. Code First sometimes requires that tables and objects be deleted (re-created). Will this work with Merge Replication?
4. Merge Replication does not include propagation of indexes. Does this mean we have to manually run all of the index creation statements of EF Code first?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

Regards,

Joseph

MCP, MCSD, MCDBA (ANXA)