A route is a one-way message stream from a source Replication Server to a destination Replication Server. From each source Replication Server, you create one route for each destination Replication Server, no matter how many databases are managed by the source or destination Replication Servers.
Routes carry:
Data modification commands and applied functions or applied stored procedures from primary databases managed at the source Replication Server to replicate databases managed at the destination Replication Server
System table modification commands from a source Replication Server RSSD to a destination Replication Server RSSD
Request functions or request stored procedures from replicate databases to primary databases (in this case, the source is the replicate Replication Server and the destination is the primary Replication Server).
When you create a route, the source Replication Server:
Creates an RSI outbound queue to hold messages for the destination site
Starts an RSI thread that logs in to the destination Replication Server and transfers transactions from the RSI outbound queue to the destination Replication Server