Add additional subscription?

Question

I already have a push transaction replication (SQL 2008) from A to B. Now I need to add an additional subscription C. I know the following steps should work,

Remove the publication from A. 
Backup the database
Copy the backup file to B and C
Create the publication on A
Run script on B and C to add the subscriptions 

However, the database is huge. Is the a way to pause the replication and copy the database files from B to C and create the subscription on C and then resume the replication? Because the database is huge.

Answer 1

Yes. I'm just going to assume you're starting from a point where you have removed the publication from A. Backed up the database. Copied and restored the DB to B and C. And now you're ready to go with the replication.

First thing is when you create the publication on A, make sure you you set the Action If Name Is In Use property to Keep Existing Object Unchanged.

Once the publication is setup you can then create the subscriptions. The important thing here is this step of the wizard:

You want to make sure the box is unchecked. As you can see it's specifically for your situation "it has already been specifically prepared for the subscription"

If you happen to be doing this through T-SQL, the relevant commands and parameters are:

sp_addarticle @pre_creation_cmd='none'

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa239392(v=sql.80).aspx

sp_addsubscription @sync_type='replication support only',@status='active'

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms181702.aspx