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Home > Archive > Microsoft SQL Server forum > May 2005 > SQL Server Database Comparison
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SQL Server Database Comparison
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| Stuart Ferguson 2005-05-30, 9:23 am |
| I am currently in the process of making changes to an application using
a SQL Server database and have made changes to a development copy of the
live database which includes changing and adding columns to tables and
updating stored procedures.
I was wondering if anyone knew of any free software that could produce
at least a list of the changes between the databases and possibly a
script to allow for easy updating of the live database.
*** Sent via Developersdex http://www.droptable.com ***
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| David Portas 2005-05-30, 9:23 am |
| Don't get me started on free software. There is of course no such thing.
Red-Gate SQL Compare is one product that does what you want. It's free to
download on trial.
http://www.red-gate.com/SQL_Compare.htm
--
David Portas
SQL Server MVP
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| Stuart Ferguson 2005-05-30, 11:23 am |
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Pity that a free product does not exist :(
Is this the best one to use or are better products available?
Stuart
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| Martijn Tonies 2005-05-30, 1:23 pm |
| > I am currently in the process of making changes to an application using
> a SQL Server database and have made changes to a development copy of the
> live database which includes changing and adding columns to tables and
> updating stored procedures.
>
> I was wondering if anyone knew of any free software that could produce
> at least a list of the changes between the databases and possibly a
> script to allow for easy updating of the live database.
It's not free, but our tool, Database Workbench, includes a Schema
Compare tool as well: www.upscene.com/products/dbw/
--
With regards,
Martijn Tonies
Database Workbench - tool for InterBase, Firebird, MySQL, Oracle & MS SQL
Server
Upscene Productions
http://www.upscene.com
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| Malcolm 2005-05-31, 7:23 am |
| Hi Stuart,
What is better depends on your needs/goals and, as far as comparing and
upgrading databases goes, a matter of testing products for yourself.
My company has a tool called DB Ghost (www.dbghost.com) that can not
only compare and synchronise databases (which it does very well) but
can build them from a full set of drop/create scripts (that describe
every object) held in your source control system.
What this means is that you can use check out/check in to modify, say,
a table create script. If you wanted to add a column you simply
include it in the create statement. This, in turn, means that your
'source' database becomes the set of drop/create scripts which allows
you to baseline and release your code directly from source control.
This is an amazingly powerful concept that, currently, no one else
provides.
DB Ghost builds a brand new database from the drop/create scripts and
then uses that as the source for a compare and upgrade of your real
target database. This gives you a target database that EXACTLY matches
a set of audited and baselined scripts in your source control system.
As a developer you simply use the source control system for database
code changes in the same manner that you would for any other
application code change. A simple process is one that is more likely
to be followed and the DB Ghost Process is simple, powerful and
guaranteed to give you a full audit trail of your changes, who, when,
why and what.
Regs,
Malc
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| It's not really free, but if you have access to Visual SourceSafe, you
can script your databases out to a project (using the SQL-DMO object
model) and do diff files that way. We do this at our office, since we
don't have a large budget for SQL development/administration.
Other solutions are probably better, but this works.
Stu
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