Databases are used by many different disciplines, from your DBA to your Developer, right down to the End User. They can also be viewed from many different perspectives…

DBA’s are usually interested in the server configuration, index usage etc. Developers however are often concerned with retrieval methods, datatypes and occasionally stored procedures. One thing is for sure, your database if used effectively will be changing frequently, and with so many people accessing your database do you know what the last change was? Would you know if someone added an index to a table? (would you care… :twisted: )

Revision Control is often used to track changes to source code and other documents, so why not your database?.

When I first started to think about change control for my database servers one tool sprung to mind, Rancid. If you manage more than one network device you may already be familiar with the Really Awesome New Cisco confIg Differ.

Using a combination of scripts Rancid will connect to your network devices, check for changes by comparing the config with a VCS managed copy and notify you with details of the changes. Why not do the same for your database? Enter dbRecorder.

Rather than extend Rancid I decided to prove the concept by writing a quick Java application that utilised Open Source libraries like SVNKit and jYAML. The features continued to creep and before I knew it I was recording more than just table definitions. Server configuration and grant tables all found their way into my Subversion repository coupled with e-mail notification whenever anything changed - nice huh!.

The aptly named dbRecorder is currently targeted at my database of choice, MySQL. It’s far from a finished product (then again so are most of my ideas) but it’s working to a degree and can only improve over time….

One thing I never got around to was making this site work well with IE6 (or even just splash the screen with some silly message when someone using IE6 tries to connect) and with Firefox 3 soon to be released I am hoping I won’t have to. ;) If you have not tried Firefox 3 already you can visit the site today and pledge your download to help break a world record as soon as it is released!.