Just wanted to bump this up since this was requested in 2010 and 10 years later this is still not available as far as I can find. I know this can be done using ArcObjects, so it is not impossible, but it should be exposed through the UI and python. Maybe my organization is unique but we often have to create new feature classes over time.
My first thought was, maybe they don't think it's necessary because you could script the re-creation of replicas via Python...then I found that there is no ArcPy method to unregister replicas. It doesn't make sense that you can create a replica via ArcToolbox and therefore ArcPy...but you cannot unregister them.
I had replicas going for years on end, and they are very reliable as a way to automate the updating of a read-only file geodatabase copy of an enterprise geodatabase. They stopped propagating edits reliably just recently and there was no way to fix the problem besides unregistering the replicas, deleting the child data, and re-creating the replica. I could have fired off a fix-it script in minutes, and not waited 2 weeks for Esri to tell me they can't figure out what went wrong.
We are getting ready to migrate our GIS data to a new server and I am tempted to just write a python script that is scheduled to disable connections to the read-only enterprise geodatabase, wipe it, and recopy everything. That way I do not have to worry about adding new feature classes, schema changes, or failed/incomplete edit syncs (that has happened more than once and forced me to recreate the entire sync setup anyway). However, I do not like that it is not efficient since most of the data will not have any changes.
I have also found myself wondering as of late, what even is the advantage of using replicas in a read-only scenario? Without consulting Esri, the only thing I could come up with is that the update process is a simple, one-tool job. I wonder if the back-end complexity and associated failure risk is worth it? In our case of writing out to a read-only file geodatabase, it would be simple enough to delete and recreate feature classes with a python script. Or in the case of an enterprise geodatabase, delete features and re-load. At the time, I suppose I opted for the solution that was easy to implement. That is is, for sure.
I'm doing server moves as well, so I'm right there with you.
You must have another reason for using a enterprise geodatabase in a read-only capacity. The whole idea of the enterprise geodatabase is primarily multi-user editing.
Originally we used an enterprise geodatabase as our read-only database because we still needed to control who had access to which feature classes in the geodatabase.
It seems very counterintuitive to recreate the replica to add a new feature class. Please help GDB admin to save time by including a functionality in Pro to add new feature class to existing replica without recreating the replica completely.
make the Replica Schema Changes available in ArcGIS Pro. till now ArcGIS Pro 3.0 has released and it doesn't support Replica Schema changes, should I use ArcMap for schema changes! and if yes, as we know ArcMap cannot be installed with Enterprise 11.
