Comparing Databases

To compare two databases located on the same or different servers:

Choose Tools -> DB Difference Analyzer -> Compare Databases from the top-level menu. The Diff Explorer will be opened in the explorer area of the Server Studio workspace.
In the top tree view of the Diff Explorer highlight the source database. The source database is the one, which you consider older or previously created.
In the bottom tree view of the Diff Explorer highlight the target database. The target database is the one, which you consider newer or created after the source database was created.
From the popup menu of either of the tree views, select Compare. You can also use Compare button on the explorer toolbar. The DB Diff Options dialog box will be opened.
In the DB Diff Options dialog box, check the required comparison options. For example, you might choose to run the comparison only for stored procedures. You also can exclude table fragmentation properties from the comparison if you want to compare only logical schema properties, such as object names, column names, etc.
To run the schema comparison immediately, press the Compare Now button. The DB Diff Output panel will be opened in the document area of the Server Studio workspace.

Alternatively, instead of running ad-hoc schema comparison in Server Studio DB Diff Analyzer, you can choose to create a schema audit job on the Sentinel server. Schema audit jobs give you the following advantages:

Schema audit jobs can be scheduled to run on a particular time or run periodically
In a single job you can choose to compare multiple databases or compare the same source database schema against multiple target databases located on multiple Informix instances
Schema comparison reports can be automatically emailed to you or to several DBAs when differences are found. These reports include detailed difference analysis in HTML format as well as pre-generated synchronization script required to rollback all or a subset of changes.
Schema audit jobs can create a version snapshot of the database state at the time when differences are found so that you can review them after the changes in the live database are rolled back.

In order to create a schema difference job, the Server Studio should be connected to the Sentinel server. If there is no connection to Sentinel server, Server Studio will attempt to start a new instance of Sentinel server on your workstation. Under Windows OS, the Sentinel server is started as an “AGS Sentinel Server” Windows service. Please see the Sentinel server help for more information about starting and configuring Sentinel server (Help -> Sentinel Help top-level menu).

To create a schema comparison job in DB Diff Options dialog box, press the Schedule button. After the connection to Sentinel server is established, New Schema Audit Job wizard will be opened.

See also Schema Audit Job Wizard topic for detailed information on how to define and manage schema audit jobs.