Girish Gangadharan

SQL Server tools

// February 23rd, 2007 // SQL Server

Recently i had a chance to evaluate 3 major SQL Server tools for a project i’m working on and here is my unbiased review.

Please note that all of these tools were not recommended by anyone when i started. Google brought them to me. We’ll be looking at Apex, Red-Gate and SQL Accessories. I was using all these tools to compare and sync up 2 databases that were approximately 80GB each and about 90% similar (both data and schema).

Apex SQL Diff Tool

Apex SQL Diff Tool was the biggest joke of all. Nothing but pure waste of my time i spent downloading and installing it. This one just bombed during the comparison. Not once but thrice. It just couldn’t handle the sheer amount of data. Just to give it one more chance before i trash it here, i tried opening the application right before i started writing this post and voila! This is what i get. See the image below.

Click image to zoom.

What a waste!

SQL Accessories – SQL Data Examiner

SQL Data Examiner started out pretty good but then refused to compare certain tables because they didn’t have primary keys. It asked me to set one myself from any one of the fields in the tables.

Why do some tables not have primary keys, you ask? I didn’t design it and i don’t think it would be appropriate for me to talk a lot about the data model due to contractual restrictions with the client.

Anyways, after running for about 10 minutes, this one threw an exception too. Although not as nasty as Apex. I must also mention that when i ran it again, it worked just fine. So i’m not going to complain too much about this one.

Red-Gate – SQL Data Examiner

SQL Data Compare wins hands down in this contest. The amazingly easy to use interface is just awesome and the tool did what i wanted it to do, the way i wanted it to do it and was crazy fast. I had a few questions that were answered by their customer support in a courteous and prompt fashion. I have used their other tools before like the SQL Prompt, SQL Compare (not the data compare – this one compares just the schema), SQL Refactor, etc. They even have .Net tools like ANTS Profiler, ANTS Load etc. Amazing tools that i think every MS developer should have. Increases productivity and makes you a better developer. I have already bought my personal licenses for these tools.

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