This page shows you how to use a clone database for testing and developing your software. The GUI supplies connection strings that you can use to connect your software to the clone database.

Contents

Get a connection string for a clone

You will need a connection string to access a clone database.

Once you, or another image user, has created a clone, follow the steps below to get a connection string.

1. Go to the Test Databases page, Clones tab. 
2. Find the card for the clone you want to use. The card shows the clone name that was entered when the clone was created. The card also shows the image from which the clone was created, and the output options for the image. An example is shown below. 
   
3. Click Copy connection string. The .Net format connection string will be copied to the clipboard ready for you to use for testing and development as described below. 

Using a connection string for testing and development

Once you have followed the steps above to obtain a connection string, you can use this connection string to connect your own software to the clone database for testing and development.

The connection string is in .Net format. You can use the connection string in exactly the same way as you would use a connection string for any ordinary database hosted on your local machine, your own server, or on a cloud-hosted server. If your software changes the database, those changes will affect the clone, but not the original image, or any other clones created from that image. Each clone is a separate and independent database.

Clones (called data containers within Redgate Clone) are lightweight (shallow copies), requiring relatively few resources compared to a complete copy of a database. They start very small and will only grow depending on the number and nature of operations you do against them (please check the Redgate Clone documentation for more details).

You can create multiple clones from one image so that you can carry out multiple streams of testing and development at once.