Schema and Data Comparison for SQL Server version 5 - New and Updated Features
Full support for SQL Server 2014, an improved workspace combined with new session options, filegroup mappings and options are some of the features included in the version 5 of xSQL Comparison Bundle for SQL Server. To view release notes for other versions, click
here.
Check the following topics for more detail:
SQL 2014 Support
Version 5 adds full support for all SQL Server 2014 new and improved features, such as:
- Memory-optimized filegroups
- Memory-optimized tables
- Hash and ranges indexes
- Columnstore indexes
- Memory-optimized table types, including hash constraints and indexes
- Natively-compiled stored procedures
- Primary and secondary selective xml indexes
- Xml index namespaces and paths
- New permissions and other minor enhancements introduced in SQL 2014
New comparison options
Schema Compare adds two new options:
- Compare Database Filegroups: indicates whether the filegroups, including the filegroup data files, should be compared and synchronized.
- Compare memory-optimized tables: indicates whether the memory-optimized tables should be compared and synchronized. This option is supported by the command line as well.
Data Compare adds two new options:
- Compare and synchronized memory-tables: which indicates whether the data of memory-optimized tables should be compared and synchronized. This option is supported by the command line as well.
- Compare and synchronized columnstore tables: which indicates whether the data of the tables with a columnstore index should be compared and synchronized. This option is also supported by the command line.
New filegroup options
Version 5 of xSQL Schema Compare provides full support for database filegroups and filegroup data files. It also includes a new feature named "Filegroup Mappings". It allows you to perform complex comparison scenarios between database with a different filegroup structure.
There are plenty of options from which you can choose, such as:
- You can choose to compare database filegroups, including the filegroup data files.
- You can change the physical filename mapped to a data file directly in the comparison grid. By doing this you can overcome synchronization errors caused by the missing path of a data file on the target system.
- You can choose different mapping options, a feature that helps you especially when databases have a different filegroup structure
- You can script or ignore the filegroup clause of database objects. This option affect all object that support such a clause.
- You can also map the filestream filegroups independently from the regular filegroups. The mapping rules are the same for both types.
You can access the new mapping functionally from the context menu of the comparison grid.
Changes in the workspace and session interface
The workspace has been improved to make it simpler, easier to navigate and more intuitive.
- A new coloring scheme allows you to group and organize sessions by their similarities. You can, for example, keep all sessions related to a particular environment with the same color.
- The new session execution count, combined with a new sort order, allows you to keep the most-frequently used sessions always at the top of the workspace.
- Snapshots are separated from live database and listed under a new tab to simplify the navigation.
- The new workspace design provides a consistent look & feel for both schema and data compare. The performance has also been improved by compressing and optimizing various components of the workspace.
Other improvements and bug fixes
There are plenty more incremental improvements in the version 5 of xSQL Comparison Bundle:
- The database connection now supports additional parameters. You can add these parameters in the "Add Database" form, as name=value pairs separated by semicolons.
- The new hash indexes supported by SQL 2014 participate in the data key selection that is performed by xSQL Data Compare.
- You can synchronize the data on memory tables similarly to regular tables. Data compare will take care of all the tweaks imposed by SQL Server to accomplish this task.
- Tables with columnstore indexes are fully supported by data compare. You can even synchronize columnstore tables on which the SQL Server does not allow updates.
- Fixes an issue with Data Compare table comparison. The table selection form didn't appear correctly in some screen resolutions.
- Fixes an issue related to the way Data Compare handled extended properties on foreign keys.
- Fixes a bug with the "Pooled Connection" option. In some cases the option was not considered.
