X-no-Archive:yes
That is the trick, isn't it, getting all the related records needed for a
subset test database? All lookup tables are more likely to be needed in
their entirety than not, unless that is your subset criteria: all orders
from customers in zip codes beginning with 012, for instance. Then you only
need those zip codes in their lookup table, but you also need all items on
those orders, but probably don't want any items that are not on those
orders...

Is this worth it? Won't someone ask the question, how do you know that it
works, if it hasn't been tested against production data? I know that I've
heard that question asked here. I've seen test data beds that work, because
they cover all known cases. I've seen complete copies of production data
work, and I've seen it fail, because the production data did not have that
one in a million case that you see eighty times, for one week out of the
year. And I've seen subsets of production data both work and fail for
similar reasons.

Of the three, I go with the carefully maintained and documented test bed on
an otherwise identical platform, with carefully maintained and documented
test plans. It's quite a bit of work, but when done well, it's * nearly *
bulletproof.

-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Nielsen [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, May 28, 1999 1:15 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Create Test Image Database from Production

You might want to check with Taurus Software. (415) 961-1323    Their
product 'warehouse' is capable of generating a test database from a larger
production database.
<snip>
-----Original Message-----
From: Steven Bloom <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Friday, May 28, 1999 10:40 AM
Subject: Create Test Image Database from Production
<snip>
>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?
<snip>