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Disable foreign key constraints for replication

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Applies to: SQL Server 2016 (13.x) and later Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Managed Instance Azure Synapse Analytics Analytics Platform System (PDW)

You can disable foreign key constraints for replication in SQL Server by using SQL Server Management Studio or Transact-SQL. This can be useful if you are publishing data from a previous version of SQL Server.

Note

If a table is published using replication, foreign key constraints are automatically disabled for operations performed by replication agents. The NOT FOR REPLICATION option is specified by default for foreign key constraints and check constraints; the constraints are enforced for user operations but not agent operations. When a replication agent performs an insert, update, or delete at a Subscriber, the constraint is not checked; if a user performs an insert, update, or delete, the constraint is checked. The constraint is disabled for the replication agent because the constraint was already checked at the Publisher when the data was originally inserted, updated, or deleted.

Permissions

Requires ALTER permission on the table.

Use SQL Server Management Studio

To disable a foreign key constraint for replication

  1. In Object Explorer, expand the table with the foreign key constraint you want to modify, and then expand the Keys folder.

  2. Right-click the foreign key constraint and then select Modify.

  3. In the Foreign Key Relationships dialog box, select a value of No for Enforce For Replication.

  4. Select Close.

Use Transact-SQL

To disable a foreign key constraint for replication

  1. To perform this task in Transact-SQL, script out the foreign key constraint. In Object Explorer, expand the table with the foreign key constraint you want to modify, and then expand the Keys folder.

  2. Right-click the foreign key constraint, select Script Key As, then select DROP and CREATE To, then select New Query Editor Window. The resulting script should look similar the following example from the AdventureWorks2022 sample database:

    ALTER TABLE [Sales].[SalesTerritoryHistory] 
DROP CONSTRAINT [FK_SalesTerritoryHistory_SalesPerson_BusinessEntityID]
GO

ALTER TABLE [Sales].[SalesTerritoryHistory]  WITH CHECK 
ADD CONSTRAINT [FK_SalesTerritoryHistory_SalesPerson_BusinessEntityID] 
FOREIGN KEY([BusinessEntityID])
REFERENCES [Sales].[SalesPerson] ([BusinessEntityID]);
GO

ALTER TABLE [Sales].[SalesTerritoryHistory] 
CHECK CONSTRAINT [FK_SalesTerritoryHistory_SalesPerson_BusinessEntityID]
GO

  3. In the ALTER TABLE ... ADD CONSTRAINT portion of the script, modify the new foreign key constraint and specify the NOT FOR REPLICATION option. For example:

    ALTER TABLE [Sales].[SalesTerritoryHistory] 
DROP CONSTRAINT [FK_SalesTerritoryHistory_SalesPerson_BusinessEntityID]
GO

ALTER TABLE [Sales].[SalesTerritoryHistory]  WITH CHECK 
ADD CONSTRAINT [FK_SalesTerritoryHistory_SalesPerson_BusinessEntityID] 
FOREIGN KEY([BusinessEntityID]) 
REFERENCES [Sales].[SalesPerson] ([BusinessEntityID]) 
NOT FOR REPLICATION; --added to disable constraint for replication
GO

ALTER TABLE [Sales].[SalesTerritoryHistory] 
CHECK CONSTRAINT [FK_SalesTerritoryHistory_SalesPerson_BusinessEntityID]
GO

Next steps