| Database Compares | KEVIN RESCHENBERG
04-05-2006 |
Some PeopleSoft installations schedule frequent refreshes
of their development and/or testing databases.
As long as in-process development is saved off
(as a project file, a Stat archive set, in
another database or in some other form), this is
a good way to keep the environments in sync.
At other installations, refreshes are done
more rarely or never done at all. The problem
is that the environments can then tend to
get out of sync, drifting apart until the
team loses confidence in its ability to
migrate and test projects accurately.
One way to keep environments in sync is to
audit them periodically using full-database
compares. I briefly mentioned these during
the recent series on object migrations but
neglected to finish the discussion. It's a simple
but useful feature.
Most comparisons are done for individual
projects. To do a full comparison of all objects
in the database, we don't open a project but
instead start with an empty project. On the
options dialog, just specify "database" instead
of "project" for the type of comparison to be
done. Before starting the compare/report, you
can choose the types of objects to be compared,
or just select all of them.
App Designer will compare all of the objects
and will then build a project containing the
differences.
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I'd suggest
focusing on the results under the Upgrade tab
rather than printing the compare reports. You can always
go back and review individual reports as needed.
PeopleCode reports, for example, can be
useful.
Analyze the results to see if anything needs
to be cleaned up. Remember that App Designer
compares only the objects that it knows about.
There are many items that we might consider
to be objects that are not managed by App Designer,
both inside and outside of the database.
Remember to compare your SQRs and other
file system objects. Then migrate objects
between databases as needed to bring them into
sync.
Also, be sure to delete your local cache before
doing a full database compare.
Refreshing a database is usually easier, but
in cases where this is not practical, doing a
full comparison can help you to prevent bugs
due to out-of-sync environments.
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