Re: simple question for experienced developer/DBAs - moving schema changes to production

In a valiant and sublime effort,steve deno frowned, dipped a thumb in soot and doodled:

>Does anyone have any tips on how to move schema changes into a
>production environment so that there is minimal if any interuption to
>the user and all data is preserved?

If I knew a general solution to that one, I'd be running a large corporation... ;-)

>I have a staging environment that
>is just like the production environment so could I export the
>production data , recreate the schema then import the data?

Nope, bad move.

>If so ,
>what about the differences in schema and their data?

Precisely.

>Does anyone do
>this now?

Yes.

>I assume this is a pretty standard procedure.

Nope, but it is a common problem.

>Any Ideas
>would help

Try and get in the habit of making modifications to your schema design in the staging area through scripts. Then (in theory) you should be able to run those scripts against production and get the same results.

Of course, the more changes, the more complex the problem becomes. In extreme cases, it may involve complete unload/reload of one or more tables. Set aside a tablespace(s) in production for this type of work, you can always throw it(them) away later.

Welcome to part and parcel of day-to-day work of a DBA...

Cheers
Nuno Souto
nsouto_at_optushome.com.au.nospam Received on Tue Oct 30 2001 - 11:37:07 CST