SSMS 18 (All versions) Replication Monitor won't autoconnect to publshers

Question

Back in July our WSUS admin pushed SSMS 18. I had been running 17.9.2.

When I launch Replication Monitor in any revision of 18 up to 18.7.1 it will not automatically connect to more than one server - the first one that was registered. That is not necessarily the server SSMS was connected to at the time.

Publisher Settings for each server are set to "Connect automatically when Replication Monitor starts", but only the first server that was registered will do that. All other servers have to be connected to manually.

I have deinstalled and reinstalled many times. If I fall back to 17.9 it works. If I install any revision of 18 on any server or workstation, whether or not there was an existing installation of SSMS, it fails to autoconnect.

This is a serious pain in the rear. I have about 20 publishers registered and a number of them are overseas. If I have to manually connect to all of them it takes at least 15 minutes per day to complete. That's a total waste of 75 minutes a week.

No version of SSMS prior to 18 has had this issue. The versions of SQL can be any mix of 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2019.

There is an additional symptom. If I pick a server that didn't autoconnect and select "Connect to Distributor", it launches the "Connect to Server" dialog, but only the first time. I can disconnect and reconnect again and it will connect without launching the dialog.

I have had several other DBAs in our organization verify this behavior on their machines. None have been able to get it to autoconnect to more than one server.

Has anyone managed to solve this problem?

Answer 1

Hi @A Random DBA ,

It seems it is a known issue and has not been fixed. Please refer to this feedback.
Currently, I’m afraid we need to use SSMS 17.9 side by side with SSMS 18.x.
And you can submit it to the Microsoft feedback or upvote on this feedback. I think the product team will fix this issue as soon as possible.

Best Regards,
Amelia

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Answer 2

"As soon as possible" seems to be more like "never" at this rate. At least 18.2 might work. I missed that version.

Answer 3

we noticed same issue. i have latest SSMS 18.11.1 and it has same problem.