Replication Server supports backlinking pointers and shrinking databases in Adaptive Server.
Replication of the Transact-SQL writetext command requires access to the data row pointing to the text page where the database stores the LOB data. To allow access to this data row, Adaptive Server uses either a backlinking pointer in the first text page or indexes created for replication. The process of creating indexes at the column, table or database level requires an intensive operation to provide the information to support replication.
With an Adaptive Server version 15.7 SP100 and later database that you did not upgrade from an earlier version, sp_reptostandby takes effect immediately because by default, Adaptive Server creates and maintains LOB backlinking pointers to the database. Therefore, setting up replication for a table does not require the creation of indexes. Adaptive Server ignores the use_index parameter of sp_reptostandby, sp_setrepcol, and sp_setreptable if the information needed to replicate LOB columns is already available in the form of backlinkingpointers.
However, if you have upgraded from, or are using a database that you created with a version of Adaptive Server earlier than 15.7 SP100, setting up replication may take a longer time due to the creation of indexes. To reduce processing time, run dbcc shrinkdb_setup at the relevant level—column, table, or database, to create backlinking pointers and to ensure the backlinking status is up to date.
dbcc shrinkdb_setup marks as suspect, replication indexes of columns, tables, or databases that you previously marked with use_index. You can use dbcc reindex to drop indexes for these objects because these indexes are not needed after the execution of dbcc shrinkdb_setup.
See Shrinking Databases in the Adaptive Server Enterprise 15.7 SP100 New Features Guide.