Sql-server – SQL Server Sync Jobs Betwen Primary and Secondary Server

No there isn't a way to put a database into stand-by mode without restoring the database from a backup at the same time. Once the database is writeable you can't make it ready to restore logs again as the LSN chain has been broken.

This is likely a permissions problem with the distribution agent trying to write the data to the remote subscriber but it can't.

Generally speaking the replication agents are simply applications external to SQL server: snapshot.exe, logread.exe, distrib.exe. A windows account is used to start each one of these applications and you can configure which account in the replication wizards (often this will be the SQL Agent account). The permissions required for each agent are roughly as follows:

• Snapshot.exe - connect to the publisher, read publication database, write to the pre-determined snapshot location
• Logread.exe - connect to the publisher and distributor, write to the distribution database,
• Distrib.exe - read from the pre-determined snapshot location, read from the distribution database, write to the subscriber database

Some of the permissions required are access to SQL server and others are Windows folder level permissions to the snapshot location.

If you can include the full error message I can confirm and will edit my answer accordingly.