I'm planning to use source control for SQL Server database. I have different versions of SQL Server (2005 and 2008) running on different machines (Windows 2003 and 2008). I looked up about source control and found out 2 options.
http://nobhillsoft.com/Randolph.aspx
http://www.red-gate.com/products/sql-development/sql-source-control/
So I was just wondering if someone have experience with them and suggest me which one would be good out of these or any other better option?
Thanks!
In my opinion, you may be approaching something here from the wrong angle. If you try to revert a change to the table structure, but the table has been populated with data fitting the new table structure, what happens? It's more complex than maintaining plaintext diffs. I encourage you to really look at the idea and see if you can accomplish this another way, and document your database design as completely as possible every time you need to change it.
That being said, here are some more ideas.
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic753558-361-1.aspx
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic635185-145-1.aspx
I compare all these options and going with Red-gate source control and data source solution. Thanks for all suggestions!
You can use your current version control system if it's suitable for you to store only installation SQL script of a database.
Use SSMS to produce installation script: right-click on desired databased, select Tasks -> Generate Scripts... Script Wizard will start and help you to script any objects you need in the database including data. Save this script under your version control system since it's text file.
Use this database installation script to reproduce the database at desired location and environment.
Related
I'm working with:
VS2013 Professional, Microsoft SQL Server 2012 - 11.0.5058.0 (X64)
I have kind of a two part question. What I'm wanting to achieve is: I want to, as seamlessly as possible, to be able to work on the same project on my work PC and home PC. As of right now, I am using online hosted Subversion for source control which is working fine for application code. The part I have no control over at the moment is the database. I would like if I could get "all" database changes made at either work or home to synch to my other machine.
By database changes, I mean:
Schema Changes
Data within specific "Application" tables (I obviously
do not intend to synch data in all tables)
I followed this just to test getting a DB schema into my project and under source control:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa833194%28v=vs.100%29.aspx
It seems to work fine. However, that covers schema changes when working on one machine. If I then go home and want to:
either build from new or update changes to the schema on my home machine, or
update data in base "Application" tables
...I have no clue how to do that, or if it is even possible?
I would think there should be a simple (ha!) way for making the schema changes flow through easily?
But changes to app tables might be harder - I'm happy to write a sql script to manage that, but I'd like to be able to have that script automatically run when I do a "refresh" my local copy of the database.
For schema changes, there are good blogs out there on using SSDT/DataDude/VS DB Projects. Jamie Thomson has written quite a few times on his experiences. I've written up my experiences here: http://schottsql.blogspot.com/2013/10/all-ssdt-articles.html
For data - you can use the native "Data Compare" option under the "SQL" menu in SSDT. It's not perfect, but it can help. Overall, though, what you'd want is one of a couple of things:
1. Extract data from the shared system, write a task to populate that - batch files w/ BCP, SSIS, or some apps that can actually generate T-SQL for you.
2. Write it yourself, being sure to guard against attempts to insert duplicate data and ensuring the key values remain unchanged.
3. Buy a copy of Red-Gate's SQL Data Compare Pro. You can save the compare options and can then execute those through the command line.
If you need this for multiple developers, option 1 or 2 is probably the best way to go, though you can use SQL Data Compare to get you started with a pretty good script. You should also be able to use something like Mladen Prajdic's SSMS Tools Pack to script result sets to T-SQL inserts that you could re-use.
If you use one of those options and combine it with a post-deploy script (maybe even one that only runs if this is a "new" build), you should be off to a good start.
I've got a linux server that already connects happily to a MS SQL Server and I want to know if there is a way to dump the whole thing into a format I can read. I don't have access to the desktop, but I can connect using PHP and I can issue whatever commands I want. I have admin access to the SQL Server, so no problem there.
My main goal is to understand how the people before me set this thing up. I already know how to get the stored procedures as text (SELECT * FROM sys.procedures), but I was wondering if there is a way to get the whole database. I'm not very familiar with SQL Server so I don't know what important bits I might be missing.
And I don't care if the solution is in PHP or not. That's just the thing I've got working right now. Any SQL-ish command that dumps the entire database would solve my world.
To summarize:
I don't have access to the actual machine/desktop
I have admin access to the DB using PHP's mssql libs
I'm on linux
I want a text file I can look at that tells me everything in the database
My goal is not to answer a specific question - I'm looking to understand what the people before me did when they set up this database. Unknown unknowns, and all that.
Okay, hopefully I've made sense. I'm sorry if I've been a complete idiot. Be gentle. Thanks!
I would backup (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms186865.aspx) the database to file and then download it, restore it on Windows and then use SQL Server tools like SQL Server Management Studio etc. to look at it.
There is plenty you can do with the metadata, but you could spend a lot of time writing queries instead of using existing off-the-shelf documentation tools.
You can use this script to create insert statements for any given table.
This stackoverflow question will tell you how to generate create table statements.
SELECT NAME FROM sys.tables will give you a list of table names.
You would probably save a LOT of time and pain by just using native SQL SErver Windows tools that work with it.
I have a master database where we define all information of our software.
It contains
tables
queries
trigger
stored procedures
stored functions
meta data
in the table (content)
At the moment, with every change I manually (with some support from SQL Management Studio) edit files where I have all the CREATE, UPDATE, INSERT statements for the stuff mentioned above. When I have to create a new database I fire-up all the xyz.sql files, which contains my SQL statements.
I know there is a database creation script wizard in management studio, but this for example doesn't include the content data. I also need to make sure the stuff is executed for creation in the right order (e.g. queries , function, etc. last then structure tables are available).
At the moment I was thinking about a .NET project where I start read all the shema tables and then create the files automatically. In Ruby on rails the system creates a shema.rb and for the data yaml files. I tried work with this, but as many tables not created by active record (old c++ stuff also running), this won't work for me.
So does anyone have any hint for me how to do this best or any tool that fits perfect to my demand?
You can do this very easily in .NET using the SMO frameworks.
There are integrated tools for scripting out in dependency order, and you can script out data as well if you desire.
See my answer here for some info and links.
SQL Compare Pro should be able to load up your DDL creation scripts and deploy them to a target in the correct order. In the Edit Project dialog make sure you load your scripts as a Scripts Folder. For the data you'll need to use SQL Data Compare Pro. If you have any trouble or have questions, let me know as I work for Red Gate so will be able to help you with these tools.
I'm a little confused about why you've got UPDATEs given that these scripts create a database from scratch. Shouldn't they all be INSERTs?
SSMS does have the ability to create data scripts as well. You need SSMS 2008 and you need to go to Tasks/Generate Scripts and in the Choose Script Options pane you have to make sure Script Data is set to True.
If you're looking to maintain these scripts as a sensible way to source control your SQL Server objects, you might want to consider SQL Source Control. This will maintain your schema objects AND static data tables as individual .sql files.
"I know there is a database creation script wizard in management studio, but this for example doesn't include the content data."
You have to look carefully! Of course this build-in script engine can include the content data. You just have to click the button labeled "properties" (or something like that) and there you can change all the SMO script options including a full data dump.
This ends up in the script with many INSERT INTO... statements.
In-depth description
Try DbSourceTools.
It is a SQL Management tool designed specifically to script SQL databases to disk ( including data ), and then re-create them using "Deployment Targets".
We are using it for database source control in an agile project.
I have a huge database in production environment which I need to take a copy off, but the problem is that the data is over 100Gb's and downloading a backup off it is out of the question. I need to get a "skeleton" image of the database. What I mean by "skeleton" is, I need to get the database outline so that I can recreate the database locally by running SQL scripts.
Is there a quick and easy way to retrieve the SQL for recreating the database structure and tables?
Or will I have to write something in order to do this programmatically?
If you are using MS SQL Server then it's very easy to get your "skeleton". In the Object Explorer Right Click on the database node and then "Script Database as" and then "Create to". If the Database is in Oracle or something else sure there is a way also.
Managed to find this from Google.
I remember that if you can connect to the db from visual studio, visual studio have a publish tool, which can generate the script for you....
Hope this helps
Use the DDL Generate Scripts within SSMS :)
I need to get the database outline so that I can recreate the database locally by running SQL scripts.
Ask the guys who developed this application/database to provide you with the SQL scripts they used to create (and upgrade) the database. Hint: All these scripts should be in the project's source control repository, along with the rest of your source code. Yes, that's right, the SQL/DDL scripts are source code, too.
If the SQL/DDL scripts are not under source control, be very afraid, and run away from this project as fast as possible.
So recently on a project I'm working on, we've been struggling to keep a solution's code base and the associated database schema in synch (Database = SQL Server 2008).
Database changes occur fairly regularly (adding columns, constraints, relationships, etc) and as a result it's not uncommon for people to do a 'Get Latest' from source control and
find that they also need to rebuild the database as well (and sometimes they forget to do the latter).
We're not using VSTS: Database Edition (DataDude) but the standard Visual Studio database project with a script (batch file) which tears down and recreates the database from T-SQL scripts. The solution is a .Net & ASP.net solution with LINQ to SQL underlying as the ORM.
Anyone have ideas on an approach to take (automated or not) which would keep everyone up to date with the latest database schema?
Continuous integration with MSBuild is an option, but only helps pick up any breaking changes committed, it doesn't really help in the scenario I highlighted above.
We are using Team Foundation Server, if that helps..
We try to work forward from the creation scripts.
i.e a change to the database is not authorised unless the script has been tested and checked into source control.
But this assumes that the database team is integrated with your app team which is usually not the case in a large project...
(I was tempted to answer this "with great difficulty")
EDIT: Tools won't help you if your process isn't right.
Ok although its not the entire solution, you should include an assertion in the Application code that links up to the database to assert the correct schema is being used, that way at least it becomes obvious, and you avoid silent bugs and people complaining that stuff went crazy all of the sudden.
As for the schema version, you could use some database specific functionality if available, but i personally prefer to declare a schema version table and keep the version number in there, that way its portable and can be checked with a simple select statement
have a look at DB Ghost - you can create a dbp using the scripter in seconds and then manage all your database code with the change manager. www.dbghost.com
This is exactly what DB Ghost was designed to handle.
We basically do things the way you are, with the generation script checked into source control as well. I'm the designated database master so all changes to the script itself are done through me. People send me scripts of the changes they have made, I update my master copy of the schema, run a generate scripts (SSMS) to produce the new DB script, and then check it in. I keep my copy of the code current with any changes that are being made elsewhere. We're a small shop so this works pretty well for us. I realize that it probably doesn't scale.
If you are not using Visual Studio Database Professional Edition, then you will need another tool that can break the database down into its elemental pieces so that they are managable and changeable in an easier manner.
I'd recommend seriously considering Redgate's SQL tools if you want to maintain sanity over all your database changes and updates.
SQL Packager
SQL Multi Script
SQL Refactor
Use a tool like RedGate SQL Compare to generate the change schema between any given version of the database. You can then check that file into source code control
Have a look at this question: dynamic patching of databases. I think it's similar enough to your problem to be helpful.
My solution to this problem is simple. Define everything as XML, and make sure that both the database, the ORM and the UI are generated from this XML, no exceptions. That way, you can use code generation tools to quickly regenerate the database creation script, which will alter your schema while (hopefully) preserving some data. It takes some effort to do, but the net result is well worth it.