October 13, 2004 at 2:35 am
October 13, 2004 at 7:14 am
I would go back to the user and tell them that you will backup the database at the point of a new version and can then restore from the backup if required.
I cannot see any other way of achieving your goal.
Is there any particular reason they want to do this?
Taking into account changes in database structure, business rules and ever constantly changing data makes the backup the only option as far as I can see.
November 3, 2004 at 11:57 am
This is like the request I got once to "make all the databases available at all the company's sites such that if any go down all the rest still operate, but when it comes back up, it has any data updates from other sites."
Some people think because a human can explain it in one paragraph, it must be easy to implement from a system level.
What it sounds like you are dealing with is a fairly complicated business requirement of keeping entity data over time, or over versions. It affects the database design, down to each table-level possibly, and it affects how any application or reporting would use the database.
In a 'word', it is "non-trivial" ... to say the least.
I would recommend you read Chris Date's excellent "Temporal Data and the Relational Model," to get some academic background on the fundamental issues. It has helped me frame proper solutions already a few times and I only recently read it.
November 3, 2004 at 12:35 pm
tom,
i use a set of tools by Red Gate, called the Red Gate SQL Bundle, it consists of the following tools and is very competitively priced:
SQL Compare v 2.03
Compares and synchronises the structure of Microsoft SQL / MSDE databases
SQL Data Compare v 2.03
Compares and synchronises the contents of Microsoft SQL / MSDE databases
DTS Compare v 1.10
Compares DTS packages, logins and server settings of Microsoft SQL Servers
COMpare v 1.04
Compares type library information in COM components.
i personally use SQL Compare quite a lot, it helps me in providing guaranteed versioned database releases across environments. obviously the tool of most interest to you here is SQL Compare v 2.03, this allows you to compare data within two databases, it is configurable so for example you can compare a single table, it also generates the SQL required to bring one database inline with the other, but i must say i haven't had the need (balls) to use this function yet.
Red Gate offer a free 14 day trial here: http://www.red-gate.com/sql/summary.htm
hope this helps
lloyd
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