SQL tool developers Adept SQL Tools, ApexSQL and Red Gate Software Ltd. are upgrading their respective wares to help database administrators avert programming mishaps and clean up the clutter in production and testing environments using Microsoft Corp.s SQL Server database.
Adept SQL last week released Version 1.5 of AdeptSQL Diff, which features new capabilities to compare database schemata and data in tables in a unified offering. The update adds support for object and statement permissions in SQL Server.
Other notable enhancements in AdeptSQL Diff 1.5 include a redesigned options dialog for more flexible configuration and an OLE automation interface to manipulate a comparison programmatically from any language supporting ActiveX, said officials at Adept SQL, in Limassol, Cyprus.
On a similar note, ApexSQL, of Chapel Hill, N.C., will release ApexSQL Diff 3.x by months end. Enhancements include a full, scriptable object model embedded in the tool, exposing the metadata model to users. The update bolsters the softwares batch/command-line interface and offers new differential analysis reports, officials said.
For its part, Red Gate early this month announced its SQL Comparison and Synchronization Toolkit Version 3.0. The software was rebuilt to accommodate Microsoft .Net and to simplify the creation of automated programs that compare and synchronize SQL Server database structures, according to officials at the Cambridge, England, company.
A new tool kit API in Version 3.0 allows developers and database administrators to identify and push out object changes and respond to migration needs along different database development stages, officials said.
Minimizing lost productivity is fast becoming a significant priority for overburdened DBAs. John Allman, senior database administrator for American Medical Security Group Inc., in Green Bay, Wis., said he uses Red Gate technology to institute change management scenarios between database testing and production stages.
“It keeps us honest and saves a lot of headaches [instead of doing] that manually and helps us occasionally find differences pretty readily,” said Allman.