Documentation

What is SQL Clone

Cloning, in general, refers to the process of "producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals". SQL Clone enables users to clone SQL Server databases, quickly, to create as many identical copies of a source database as required. Each clone is a complete and fully-functional copy of the source database, identical, in terms of file layout, metadata, schema, statistics and data. A user can query and modify each local clone, independently, and with no impact on the source database.

It is the sheer speed at which SQL Clone makes the copies that sets it apart from traditional database provisioning mechanisms, such as restoring a database backup. Even if your source database is very large, up to 64 TB in size, SQL Clone can make clones available to the teams who need them in minutes, rather than many hours. Not only that but such a database can be cloned onto a network-connected laptop without causing disk-space problems.

How can SQL Clone copy a terabyte database in seconds? How can the cloned copy be installed on a laptop? Essentially, it doesn't have to copy all the data over to the target machine; instead, it uses standard disk virtualization technologies built into the Windows OS. SQL Clone creates one full, byte-by-byte copy of the source database, called an image, and from that image it can then quickly create multiple clones, or 'virtualized copies'. Each clone has full network access to all the data as it existed at the time of image creation, and only stores the data changes locally. The initial local storage footprint for each clone is therefore only tens of megabytes.

SQL Clone is versatile in where it can install cloned databases; it will provision existing VMs, Azure VMs, or even containerized SQL Servers, and the central SQL Clone Server controls the location of clones and the security of the image. Furthermore, SQL Clone's integrated data masking capabilities ensure that personal and other sensitive data is obfuscated, prior to distribution. Its built-in PowerShell cmdlets provide end-to-end automation of the provisioning process, which can allow authorized users to self-serve sanitized clones.

SQL Clone facilitates the database development, test, and release processes by securely distributing, creating, and refreshing local database copies, as often as required.