There must have been something in the air yesterday, I did exactly the same thing! Working quickly under pressure on a production system I ran an update but..... didn't highlight the last line of the where clause.....849 lines updated instead of 2...aaargh! Fortunately I preceded the update with a 'begin tran' so I rolled back and tried again!
I just reckon this kind of human error is inevitable. Steps to minimise it are (i) implement good change control procedures and adhere to them (what I did, needless to say, contravened all my employer's procedures which made it even worse for me) (ii) get into the habit of preceding all DML statements with 'begin tran' or (iii) set implicit transactions on your session or at a Server level or (iv) use the Enterprise Manager grid display to update individual attributes.
Option (ii) - get into the habit of preceding DMLs with 'begin tran' - is the easiest and most hassle free IMHO.
question? Why don't you have a test platform where changes are made and tested then the changes are uploaded to your production system through reliable change management? It means this sort of thing very hard to happen as the mistake is most often picked up before it makes it into production. The size of your database you could fit a test one on your lap-top. The table you talk about could be termed static data which you script out the data into insert statements and add to your source control where changes could be made in a very controlled manner so rolling back would be very simple and totally auditable. Why don't you use our software to do all of this for you? It is after all free to you (Steve Jones)...
regards,Mark Baekdalhttp://www.dbghost.com
http://www.innovartis.co.uk
+44 (0)208 241 1762Build, Comparison and Synchronization from Source Control = Database change management for SQL Server
Mate,
I really feel for you, but at least every DBA has done this sometime or the other. I have learn't a lesson from this and I ensure that every thing that I could possibly wrapper in a transaction, I will...
This really helps...
Great article - think a lot of us have been there. Now if only Ctrl Z would work in Query Analyzer...
Andy
