Re: Data Subset Tool?

Hi Larry

Disclaimer: I work for Net 2000 Ltd. the authors of DataBee.

>...but does anyone have
>recommendations on a tool that will create a subset of production data that
>is referentially intact? I am aware of DataBee...

I don't mind telling you who the competition is - we are confident that we are better value both in price and functionality:-) Two other subsetting tools on the market are DataManager from Quest http://quest.com/schema_manager/ and CheckMate from BitByBit http://www.bitbybit.co.uk

>, but it might be more cost effective to buy
> something if the price is right. The main feature I would be interested in
> is a tool that maintained the distribution characteristics of the data.

DataBee is designed specifically to cope with this requirement. You can set up the rules (called an Extraction Set) based on multiple drivers. You could, for example, sample 10% of a table (even on ora7.x) and then put on other rules which pick up specific date ranges. You can also use multiple tables: ie get 5% of all invoices from the INVOICE table and 25 specific customers from the CUSTOMER table. DataBee would cheerfully get all of the customers to support the invoices and all of the invoices to support the customers. Basically the rows are adjusted until every table has the data required required to support all of the rest and the subset is in balance.

> I know it can be built by hand

They can but it is (as I'm sure you know) a lot of hassle - and it can be a nightmare to get the FK constraints to re-enable if you have a lot of them. An automated tool really is cost-effective. One of our customers used to take a week and 45 skilled DBA hours to cut a subset database - even then only about 200 of the 500 constraints would enable. DataBee cuts the subset in 4 hours (its a push button operation once the Extraction Set is setup) and all 500 constraints enable.

DataBee: http://www.databee.com

Cheers
Dale Edgar
Net 2000 Ltd.
Dale_at_DataBee.com

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Author: Dale Edgar
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