SQL Database Copy

When making a copy of a database, there are different types of information that may be copied. A database copy may simply be a copy of the database structure (tables, views, stored procedures, keys, relationships etc.). As well as copying the database structure, it's also possible to copy the database's data.

Uses of a SQL database copy include:

• Making database backups.
• Taking a snapshot of a database (useful for reporting purposes).
• Distributing copies of a database to other database servers.
• Making a copy of a live database for testing purposes.

There are various database copy software solutions for the popular databases such as SQL Server, Oracle and MySQL. Microsoft's SQL Server comes with a Copy Database Wizard. This will allow a database to be moved between SQL Server database servers.

For more advanced database copy options, there are database copy tools such as Copy Database from OmBelt Database Tools. This is a database copier utility for Microsoft SQL Server. Advanced options include the ability to reset primary key values, as well as being able to schedule database copies.

Copying databases can sometimes be a complicated process. In particular certain database users may not always exist on the source and destination servers, so often user accounts need to be dropped and recreated. Since a database may be in use at the time it is copied a related tool is a Database Snapshot utility. Database snapshots are supported in later versions of SQL Server.