The Schema Difference Tool provides a way of identifying and troubleshooting problems in database schemas. Such problems can sometimes arise when performing certain version upgrades or customized installations.
The Schema Difference Tool can be used when troubleshooting or examining the database schema for a repository. The tool has two main functions:
- Producing schema dumps as XML files.
- Validating a database schema.
Schema dumps were available in previous versions of Content Services. However, prior to the introduction of the Schema Difference Tool, the only way to judge the validity of the schema was to examine the file manually and compare schemas with simple text tools such as the Unix diff command. The Schema Difference Tool performs a certain amount of automatic comparison that removes much of the effort needed in making these comparisons.
If any changes are made to the database schema during server start-up (such as a fresh install) then the tool performs both schema dumping and validation as described. The dumps and validation are made both pre-upgrade (that is before the schema changes) and post-upgrade.