Comparing Two SQL Server Databases: When, Why, and How

SQL Compare has a simple premise: it will compare the two SQL Server databases for schema differences. It will generate a script that will make the schema of a target database the same as that of the source database. This article explores all the ways this can be helpful during database development and deployment, from generating database scripts in version control, to detecting database drift, to auto-generating deployment scripts. Read more

Questions about SQL Change Automation that you were Too Shy to Ask

Phil Factor takes on tricky SQL Change Automation questions about database builds, migrations, deployments and releases. Read more

Simple Database Development with SQL Change Automation

SQL Change Automation makes automation simple enough that it can adapt to suit many different approaches to SQL Server database development. Phil Factor describes a project to update the Pubs database, using it in combination with a PowerShell function and to maintain in source control the build scripts, migration scripts and object-level scripts, for every version of the database. Read more

Automating Oracle Database Deployments using the Hybrid Approach

Stephanie Herr explains how to use the 'hybrid' approach in the Deployment Suite for Oracle to automate Oracle database deployments. This is where the team maintains the current state of the database in version control during development. then, at key stages, they generate and test the migrations script that will be used to deploy the new database changes safely. Read more

A Hybrid Approach to Database DevOps

A flexible approach to Database DevOps where the team maintain the current state of the database in version control, during development, and then at key stages generate and test the migrations script that will deploy the changes to the target database, safely. Read more

Deploying Data and Schema Together with SQL Compare or SQL Change Automation

You want to use SQL Compare or SQL Change Automation (SCA) to create or update a database, and at the same time ensure that its data is as you expect. You want to avoid running any additional PowerShell scripting every time you do it, and you want to keep everything in source control, including the data. You just want to keep everything simple. Phil Factor demonstrates how it's done, by generating MERGE scripts from a stored procedure. Read more

From Source Control to Database using SQL Compare Command Line

Giorgi Abashidze explains how his team use SQL Compare Command line to automate database deployments for their customers, without having access to the real staging or production databases, merely by using our development database contained under TFS Source Control. Read more

Using Custom Deployment Scripts with SQL Compare or SQL Change Automation

Phil Factor describes how custom pre- and post-deployment scripts work, when doing state-based database deployments with SQL Compare or SQL Change Automation, and how you might use them to, for example, add a version number to the target database, specify its database settings, or stuff data into some tables. Read more

How to deploy a database plus static data using SQL Compare and SQL Data Compare

Tony Davis shows how to get a database, plus any static data, into source control, and then uses the "/include:StaticData" switch in the SQL Compare Pro command line, fromPowerShell, to automate the process of creating a new build script. Read more