In SQL can I copy one database to another

Question

I have two databases for my customers, a LIVE database and a TEST database. Periodically my customers would like the LIVE data copied over to the TEST database so it has current data that they can mess around with.

I am looking for a simple way that I could run maybe a command in my application that would copy all the data from one and move it into the other.

Currently I have to remote in with their IT department or consultant and restore from a backup of the LIVE to the TEST. I would prefer to have a button in my application that says RESTORE TEST and it will do that for me.

Any suggestions on how I could do this? Is it possible in SQL? Is there a tool out there in .NET that could help?

Thanks

Answer 1

If you have a backup plan, which I hope you do, you could simply restore the latest full .bak, if it is accessible to your application. However, this would require some tunneling for your application to access the latest backup file and this is generally a no-no for zones containing database servers.

Perhaps you could set up a scheduled delivery of a backup from machine to machine. Does the LIVE server have access to your TEST server. I wouldn't think that a DBA would be inclined to set up a delivery of backup unless it was to have a remote backup location for disaster recovery and that is usually to dedicated locations, not a testing server. Maybe you could workout a scenario where your TEST server doubles as an extra remote backup location for the production environment.

It would be better to be shipped a backup and then periodically or manually start a job to restore from a local backup. This would take the burden of your application. Then you would only need to simply kick of the sql job from within your app as needed.