How do I compare two Oracle schemas (DEV vs Pre-prod) using Redgate, Toad and create a definition file (.def/.onp)?
RedGate has "Schema Compare for Oracle" tool. Take a look at short video - you will get an idea.
As a source and target you can use live connection to database, snapshot or directory with scripts generated by "Source Control forr Oracle" (which is quite useful too).
Snapshots are very handy if you don't have direct connection to Prod databases, e.g. You can just ask Prod team to generate snapshot and then use it to compare with non-Prod databases.
As a result of comparison you'll get the list of different objects, you can filter them by types and then generate deployment script for target database (right side). Then you can save it or execute immediately.
I'm using command line tools to automate this.
So, just take some time and play with the tools during evaluation period.
You might see some unsupported objects to compare, etc. but the world is not ideal ;-)
I cannot comment about TOAD - don't use it.
Toad menu database
Database -> Compare -> Schemas
You must be connected to both instances.
Related
I know you can compare and sync data between databases in Visual Studio using SSDT. But is there a way to compare DB data in DB project vs actual DB?
We currently use RedGate to sync schema and data and normally when someone makes a data change in their local DB he syncs it with redgate project scripts and checks them in to GIT so that everyone can sync their local DBs with those redgate scripts to be up to date. RedGate became too expensive and we are looking at the alternatives and looks like Visual Studio has SSDT that allows to do these kind of things.
So I was able to create a database project in VS and import the schema from the DB so now all developers be up to date if schema changes but it doesn't have an option to do the same thing with DB data. No option to create data scripts (and add them to the database project) to compare with DB, as I said it only allows you to do data compare between DBs but not between DB and the DB project scripts, at least that's what I found so far. Is there even a way to do it so that we can include data scripts and be able to sync them with DBs?
You could check in MERGE-scripts for static tables and include them as Post Scripts.
The merge statements will ensure that your target tables have the correct rows when publishing (insert/update/delete in the merge will do this).
Make one merge script file per table, and include them all in your Post Script File.
Only difference/downside is that you can not import into the merge script, you have to type in the code to get it version controlled, or write an SP that generates the SQL Merge statement.
I need somehow compare local version of pl sql package with the one that is stored in database. Are there any "easy" way to do it?
Currently I download package from database, save it in some file and perform diff using some diff tool. That is a bit cumbersome, so I would like to have such feature in ide (pl sql developer is preferable).
Typically developers use versioning software to check differences, maintain version history, and help coordinate team development of code. PL/SQL code should be no different. There's many ways to handle code releases, the following is just what I've seen done, not necessarily the "best" way.
In the Oracle environments I've seen, CVS or SVN is used. Most approaches involve checking out latest code from repository, editing (tagging/branching), and checking in. When code is tested (development instance) and release is ready, the DBAs either grab the release scripts from repository and apply, or one individual is tasked with handing over the correct release scripts to DBAs (more common from my experience). Note that the database here is typically a user acceptance instance that mirrors the production instance. If app testing passes, the code is promoted to production.
If you want to sync directly between the database and your IDE, the one option I've seen is Toad Team Coding. Toad is not free, and this option will require additional objects installed on the database (metadata/tracking tables, etc). A good overview is found here, and good setup article is found here.
Team coding is very cool, but I would only install on a development environment. How you promote the code from there through your system is up to you.
It's fairly easy to automate the procedure you described with a sqlplus command file. Select from all_source, spool it to a file. Invoke the diff command as "host diff ..." or "!diff ..." within the command file. The -b and -B options to diff will ignore whitespace and blank lines respectively.
I use SQL 2008 Database Project to keep track of all my database changes and easilly update databases by running schema compares on them.
A bad thing is that I need to have VS2010 on the machine I want to perform the schema compare.
Currently I've been able to open a door on the remote servers and connect to them, executing the schema comprare on my machine but it would be great if I could execute everything right on the destination server.
Is there a way to perform a schema compare using nothing but the generated DB Project schemas?
I'm not sure why is it a bad thing that you have SQL2008 databases and work with VS2010. I do it every day. But if you just want to compare two DB schemas (meaning .dbschema files).here is an article on how to do it: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa833435.aspx#comparewithvsdbcmd
I usually create a solution folder in Visual Studio and put my DB scripts in them. I always use at least this set of scripts:
Drop model
Create model script
User functions
Stored procedures
Static data (lookup tables)
Test data (not deployed)
Then I simply combine them and run against an SQL Server so I'm able to recreate the whole DB in a single step (by combining these scripts into a single one and executing it).
Anyway. I've never used projects in either:
Visual Studio or
SQL Management Studio
I've tried creating SQL Server 2008 Database Project in Visual Studio 2010, but I'm somehow overwhelmed by all the possible server settings (which I prefer to stay default as set on the server anyway). So I'm a bit confused: Should I use this project template or should I just do the same thing I always did?
What do you use and why? What are advantages I may benefit from by using either?
If I were you I would continue to do it the way you are doing it. In fact I do! The advantages of having the actual .sql files right there in a folder for you to use/edit/look at in my opinion are far better than the advantages you get by using a DB project. DB Project would be used if you were doing something like Storage Reports, were you have to communicate with like 8 databases and compare then to 8 different databases and save result sets etc... Now don't get my wrong there are advantages of Database Projects, I just don't think they are actually doing much help when you have such a simple setup that works already.
Advantages of the SQL Server 2008 Database Project in VS10:
Not having to switch back and forth
from your current client you use to
communicate with your SQL server.
Decent Data and Schema compare tools.
Gives you a one-click way to reverse
engineer a database into source
control, and keep it up to date.
You can compare projects to physical
databases and vice-versa. (This makes it pretty easy to keep your database up to date, no matter where you make change it: file system database project, or in the physical database itself)
If the current tool your using is not specifically tailored to SQL Server, this one is.
Extremely helpful if you need to do
unit tests directly on the database
without using abstractions.
If you're looking for something a little less complicated, you might want to try SQL Source Control. This won't even require you to maintain scripts, as it doesn't this for you behind the scenes. It will, however, only work as a solution for you if you use either TFS or SVN. And it costs $295...
It has a 28-day trial period, so if you're happy to try it out, I'd be interested in your feedback.
I'm working in a multi-developer environment in Oracle with a large package. We have a DEV => TST => PRD promotion pattern. Currently, all package edits are made directly in TOAD and then compiled into the DEV package.
We run into two problems:
Concurrent changes need to be promoted on different schedules. For instance, developer A makes a change that needs to be promoted tomorrow while developer B is concurrently working on a change that won't be promoted for another two weeks. When it comes promotion time, we find ourselves manually commenting out stuff that isn't being promoted yet and then uncommenting it afterwards...yuck!!!
If two developers are making changes at the same exact time and one of them compiles, it wipes out the other developer's changes. There isn't a nice merge; instead the latest compile wins.
What strategies would you recommend to get around this? We are using TFS for our source-control but haven't yet utilized this with our Oracle packages.
P.S. I've seen this posting, but it doesn't fully answer my question.
The key is to adopt a practice of only deploying code from the source control system. I'm not familiar with TSF, but it must implement the concepts of branches, tags, etc. The question of what to deploy then falls out of the build and release tagging in the source control system.
Additional tips (for Oracle):
it works best if you split the package spec and body into different files that use a consistent file pattern for each (e.g. ".pks" for package spec, and ".pkb" for package body). If you use an automated build process that can process file patterns then you can build all of the specs and then the bodies. This also minimizes object invalidations if you are only deploying a package body.
put the time in to configure an automated build process that is driven from a release or build state of your source control system. If you have even a moderate number of db code objects it will pay to be able to build the code into a reference system and compare it to your qa or production system.
See my answer about Tools to work with stored procedures in Oracle, in a team (which I have just retagged).
Bottom line : don't modify procedures directly with TOAD. Store the source as files, that you will store in source control, modify then execute.
Plus, I would highly recommend that each developer works on its own copy of the database (use Oracle Express, which is free). You can do that if you store all the scripts to create the database in source control. More insight can be found here.
To avoid 2 developers working on the same package at the same time:
1) Use your version control system as the source of the package code. To work on a package, the developer must first check out the package from version control; nobody else can check the package out until this developer checks it back in.
2) Don't work directly on the package code in Toad or any other IDE. You have no clue whether the code you are working on there is correct or has been modified by one or more other developers. Work on the code in the script you have checked out from version control, and run that into the database to compile the package. My preference is to use a nice text editor (TextPad) and SQL Plus, but you can do this in Toad too.
3) When you have finished, check the script back into version control. Do not copy and paste code out of the database into your script (see point 2 again).
The downside (if it is one) of this controlled approach is that only one developer at a time can work on a package. This shouldn't be a major problem as long as:
You keep packages down to a reasonable size (in terms of WHAT they do, not how many lines of code or number of procedures in them). Don't have one big package that holds all the code.
Developers are encouraged to check out code only when ready to work on it, and to check it back in as soon as they have finished making and testing their changes.
We use Oracle Developer Tools for Visual Studio.NET...plugs right into TFS
we do it with a Dev database for every stream, and labels for the different streams.
Our Oracle licensing gives us unlimited dev/test instances, but we are an ISV, you may have a different licensing option
You can use the Oracle developer tools for VS or you can use sql developer. SQL developer integrates with Subversion and CVS and you can download it for free. See here: http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/database/sql_developer/files/what_is_sqldev.html
We use Toad for Oracle with the TFS MSSCCI provider against TFS 2008. We use a Custom Tool that pulls database checkins from source control and packages them for release.
To my knowledge Oracle Developer Tools for Visual Studio.Net doesn't have any real source control integration with TFS or otherwise.
You might consider Toad Extensions for Visual Studio though it's not cheap, maybe $4k I think.
Another option is the Oracle Change Management Pack but believe it requires the Enterprise edition of Oracle which is much more pricey.
You may be interested in Gitora www.gitora.com. It helps managing Oracle database objects with Git.
This article about collaborative development with the Oracle database can also be helpful: http://blog.gitora.com/plsql-how-to-develop-two-features-simultaneously-but-deploy-only-one/
Full disclosure: I am the developer and author of the article.