FAQ's

What is the release time frame?

We intend to do a series of release candidates and hope to release V1 sometime in Q4 2016.

How much will this product cost?

It will be a mass market tool with pricing and licensing model similar to our other products

Will this be added to the SQL Toolbelt package?

Initially SQL Clone will be a standalone offering. Though in the future it may become part of the Toolbelt in some form.

Do the clones have the same data as the source?

The clones have the same data as the source, but it’s a 2-stage process. A data image, or snapshot, is taken from the live source or a backup (this takes about the same time as a backup). Multiple Clones can then be mounted,  formed of the snapshot (which can be on a file share) and a local differencing disk.

How do I check no one in the team is using a clone before I delete it?

This isn't currently supported within the system, the Activity Monitor in SSMS (or running `sp_who`) can tell you about current usage of a database.

How do I check no one in the team is using a snapshot before I delete it?

The team are currently working on a way of centrally tracking clones created from a given snapshot across multiple machines.

Can the application clean up failed snapshots?

The application does actually attempt to do this but it currently fails. We are looking to fix this.

Can I identify which databases are clones (so I don't back them up for example)?

You could either match the output of Show-InstantCloneClones to the database names, or query the file location, e.g. 

SELECT DISTINCT
DB_NAME(database_id) as CloneDatabase
FROM
master.sys.master_files
WHERE
physical_name like '%VhdMount%'
ORDER BY
DB_NAME(database_id) ;

Note: This is an interim solution only, and dependent on the VHDMount text only appearing in Clone database file paths.

Will open transactions that are not committed be part of the snapshot file?

Open transactions will not be applied, the clone will have the uncommitted state.

Can snapshots be made from log shipped databases in standby or read-only mode?

The snapshot creation process involves copying .mdf and .ldf files, so it shouldn't pose any problems. Also the snapshot would be in the same state as the database it was created from.

Does the cloning process pick up replication topology?

We expect this to be problematic, but we haven’t tested this just yet.

Is it possible to use SQL Clone with command lines so that we can create a new database faster than doing a backup and restore?

A PowerShell interface will be provided.

Is there a plan for SQL Clone to support password protection when working with SQL Backups?

It's on our backlog but hasn't been requested very much so far.

Is there a version with a 32bit C++ redistributable available?

Not currently. The 'instant' technology SQL Clone uses is 64-bit only. However, in future we may support non-instant clones on 32-bit machines.

What are the server requirements?

Please see the Requirements and Limitations Section