1. DBCORPORAL had an option for generating test DBs. From memory it was
based on some percentage extraction.

2. You really need two sets of test DBs.
To get a good representative DB always seems to take  an incredible
effort and once you've done the job it is soon out of date and subject
to verification. Did you really extract all the customer's data?
i)If you can afford the disc space, take a copy of the production DB
and then trim the set capacities down to the limit. Think about purging
unwanted history sets, etc. I have found ADAGER to be fastest for this,
but the Corporal will do.
Our test system was short on disc space, but by temporarily unloading
some large groups we were able to free enough space for a full copy.
After the trimming process there was enough free space for the groups
to be restored.

Use this test DB for the final tests etc.

ii) You need small test DBs for the initial testing. This allows for
fast runs and more importantly you can then use QUERY or SUPRTOOL to
quickly and independantly verify/predict the results. I have found
SUPRTOOL to be the best product for selectively extracting your
favorite customers etc. There is a nice option in SUPRTOOL that allows
the creation of extract files ready for loading into your test DB.
Other than SUPRTOOL you are faced with writing your own extraction
programs.

Luck

--- Steven Bloom <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Date:         Fri, 28 May 1999 09:28:04 -0700
> Reply-to:     Steven Bloom
> <[log in to unmask]>
> From:         Steven Bloom
> <[log in to unmask]>
> Organisation: Stanford Alumni Association
> Subject:      Create Test Image Database from
> Production
> To:           [log in to unmask]
>
> Greetings,
>
> I am looking for a utility that will allow me to
> create a test (and much
> smaller!) IMAGE database from an existing production
> database.  Any ideas?
>
> Steve Bloom
>
> --
> Steven Bloom
> InCase Corporation
>
> sbloom @ counsellor.com
>



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