Getting databases from development to production has always been a problem. Making sure they stay the way you want can be a nightmare. SQL scripts can make it easier to recreate databases, but it’s still hard to control them. Innovartis DB Ghost Professional Edition 4.5 is designed to remove all these worries, at least for SQL Server developers.

DB Ghost is a simple tool that could change the way you work with your database schema. You’ll find three components: a Data and Schema Scripter, a Database Change Manager, and a tool for finding the differences between files. Operation is quick, driven by wizards. We started by creating a database script from an existing SQL Server 2000 database. Using the scripter tool, we could select a remote database, and quickly store a set of appropriate scripts in a SQL source repository.

The Change Manger is where you use stored scripts to build databases. You can work using an existing database as a template. Choose the scripts you want, and then leave DB Ghost to do the job. DB Ghost will catch errors in a build, if there have been changes to the scripts. One of its strong points is that it makes it easy to find errors and make changes.

With your databases ready, you can use DB Ghost to update target databases. Connect to your target database, and build a new source database on the same server. DB Ghost will drop this database at end of process, using it to look for missing and different objects, duplicates and changes in permissions. Once built, it will synchronise changes with the target, using a script can be captured and reused as part of any update process. You can save and run the script anytime you want to change a database in the same way.

If you’re developing and managing SQL Server databases, this is nearly an essential tool – and you’ll wonder why none of this was in SQL Server to start with. It’ll help you control your database schema, and make sure you can ensure the integrity of your schema at all times – something that’s more and more important with today’s strict compliance rules.