multiple distribution agents running

hi !

I am using sql server 2005 sp1 standard edition.

I have a transactional replication set up from one server to another.
From last couple of days i am noticing two distribution agents running for the same subscription in the replication monitor. Before this only one distribution agent was running. Is there any problem having two distribution agents running in parallel for the same subscription on a server?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

No, this is by design. Its the old independent agent option from SQL 2000. By default SQL Server 2005 has this option enabled by default. Any time you have two or more publications in the same publication database pushing to the same subscription database on the same server SQL Server will use multiple distribution agents.

The problems you might face are overloading resources on the subscriber if the subscriber is a single proc machine or if the load is high, or if there are DRI dependencies between the articles in different publications. Also check to see if the SubscriptionStreams parameter has a value for your distribution agents.