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byrmol
Shed Building SQL Farmer
1591 Posts |
 Posted - 2006-11-27 : 16:37:18
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| My current project has just rolled out its 20th build.I am sick and tired of schema management.I am looking to buy one of these for my own personal use.So my requirements are:1) Cheap! (< $500 US)2) Easy to use3) Supports Data and schema comparison4) Source control (a minor point for me...)I see three products:DBGhostRed-gate SQL CompareIderaI am interested in opinions from those who have used any of these in a production environment...TIADavidMProduction is just another testing cycle |
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Kristen
Test
22859 Posts |
Posted - 2006-11-28 : 00:19:00
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| "I am sick and tired of schema management."How are you currently doing it?We script all changes to DDL into sequentially numbered "patch" files.Then we apply them, in order, from whatever version the target database is already on.A chum of mine stores each SQL statement in a table, and then exports them as XML to update his application - even more automated than our approach.Kristen |
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byrmol
Shed Building SQL Farmer
1591 Posts |
Posted - 2006-11-28 : 00:59:17
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| >>How are you currently doing it?Very similar to your process..Write script, save as file with datestamp on the end...The problem is that the schema is about to branch...DavidMProduction is just another testing cycle |
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peterlemonjello
Yak Posting Veteran
53 Posts |
Posted - 2006-11-28 : 08:19:26
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| Check out ApexSQLDiff |
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Kristen
Test
22859 Posts |
Posted - 2006-11-28 : 09:38:13
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| David: Do you think a Comparison tool is what you want?I'm curious because I'm very wedded to doing everything in script files.However, we do have tables [containing "Meta Data" if you will] in our database which are a "super-set" of the database's own definitions, and we could:a) Upload the latest Meta Datab) Generate script to get from Old State to New Statec) Run scriptNot quite the same as using Red Gate Compare etc., I dare say, but might give me some fine control over the process.We too have circumstances where some clients have modules, or client-only extensions, so we have to cater for those, and our Meta Data includes an Asset/Resource table which helps define which parts of the system the client is entitled to.I presume your scripts are in some sort of Version Control, so you could cope with branching the scripts if you had to?Kristen |
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byrmol
Shed Building SQL Farmer
1591 Posts |
Posted - 2006-11-28 : 16:01:02
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| >>David: Do you think a Comparison tool is what you want?I think so :-)Basically, I want to be able to hack away at the source db schema and then at the end of the day, run a comparison against the target schemas (branched and normal)....Thanks Peter, I'll give APEXSQLDiff a trial..On a side note, this is what I have found in installing the 3 tools...1) DBGhost - Installed OK, Interface is average, Compare was fairly fast...2) Red-Gate - Installation OK, but it then said the trial has expired! I have the free version of SQL Prompt so maybe there was a clash... Not impressed!3) Idera... It tried to install the .NET 2 framework almost silently.. NOT IMPRESSED! Deleted it straight away....DavidMProduction is just another testing cycle |
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mwjdavidson
Aged Yak Warrior
735 Posts |
Posted - 2006-11-29 : 05:29:51
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| I believe that DBGhost is the only one of the three you mention that will integrate with source control. Also, I've heard they're currently in the process of updating the UI...Mark |
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spirit1
Cybernetic Yak Master
11752 Posts |
Posted - 2006-11-29 : 08:03:38
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i just saw this:http://www.rollsql.com/it might be interesting to see if it works for you.Go with the flow & have fun! Else fight the flow  blog thingie: http://weblogs.sqlteam.com/mladenp |
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Kristen
Test
22859 Posts |
Posted - 2006-11-29 : 09:10:53
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| Personally I would want something that runs each "block" of SQL and checks for error, and if any rolls back.I would also need "checkpoints" - so once it gets to a Checkpoint it can commit the work so far.We have things like creating a Unique Index. We know the data is supposed to be Unique, but sometimes something out in the wild catches us out. If we just run the script has run on, and there is no longer any transaction, the database will be mucked up and we'll have to restore. I'd prefer the thing running the script to catch the error at that point and roll back.Kinda rules out OSQL I reckon ...Kristen |
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Best Schema Comparison/Scripting Tool