SQL Clone Subscription

What is SQL Clone Subscription?

Clone SQL Server databases in seconds and save up to 99% of disk space

With SQL Clone Subscription, revolutionize the way you provision SQL Server databases and help your team develop, test, and submit changes faster

Eliminate the pain of creating and managing copies of production databases, so you and your team can submit changes faster

SQL Clone Subscription is a database provisioning tool that lets you create full copies of SQL Server databases and backups in seconds, using about 40 MB of disk space per clone.

Instead of spending hours provisioning multiple copies of your database for development, testing, or diagnostics, SQL Clone Subscription creates a single 'image' of a SQL Server database or backup, which is used as a source for multiple clones.

Each clone works like a normal database, but it only takes a few seconds to create and requires about 40 MB of disk space.

With the SQL Clone web application and built-in PowerShell automation, DBAs spend much less time on provisioning requests. Meanwhile, developers and testers can work on isolated, up-to-date copies of the database to speed up development, test code accurately, and fix problems faster.

Save up to 99% of storage space

Save time on provisioning

Central view of database copies

Fewer provisioning requests

Local, isolated development

Accurate testing using realistic data

Key Benefits of SQL Clone Subscription

Save up to 99% disk space

It requires about 5 TB of disk space to create or upgrade ten copies of a 500 GB database when you use a traditional provisioning technique, such as restoring from a backup. SQL Clone creates only one full copy, called an 'image', and then multiple clones can be created from that image. Changes made to a clone are stored locally, so that each clone is independent of the other.

Even a 64 TB database requires only tens of MB of local disk space, and suddenly creating ten copies of a 500 GB database requires only a little over 500 GB of initial storage space. This intelligent byte reuse eliminates the need to spend hours juggling disk space and allows teams to work in isolation on their own workstations to develop, test, and patch code.

Save time on provisioning

Even if you have enough disk space to accommodate multiple database copies, traditional provisioning processes are fundamentally too slow to support team requirements. SQL Clone Subscription allows you to copy a database up to 64 TB in just a few seconds. This rapid provisioning allows individuals to work on their own isolated copy of the database, test in parallel, and experiment while being able to update clones in seconds, on demand.

With SQL Clone Subscription PowerShell automation, images and clones can be created easily and quickly, for example, during a nightly maintenance window.

Keep track of provisioning

The SQL Clone Subscription web application provides a single source of truth for creating, managing, and removing images and clones. Get a central view of which clones were created, how much disk space they are using, when they were created, and by whom.

Teams enables you to manage access to DB instances, images, and clones for multiple Active Directory teams and groups. Control which instances specific users can use to create clones and images, enabling secure self-service and delegation for DevOps and CI.

Improve team productivity

SQL Clone Subscription frees up time previously spent restoring backups, managing disk space, and handling sensitive data. This allows DBAs to be more effective at helping to improve DevOps processes and advising on issues such as database architecture, performance, security, and configuration.

The small footprint of clones and precise control over user permissions allow you to transition to dedicated development environments to drive experimentation and troubleshooting. Automation and self-service mean that data can be updated instantly and on demand, so data compatibility issues can be encountered sooner. And Teams keeps developers focused on the images and clones assigned to their projects.

The result for the business is a shift towards the continuous delivery of tested and reliable changes to the customer.

Masking sensitive data

Eliminate the risk of exposing sensitive data in non-production environments by performing masking operations during image creation. The clones will contain masked data and will look and function like real data for development and testing purposes.

SQL Provision integrates SQL Clone with Data Masker for SQL Server. Using SQL Provision, you can run masking sets defined in Data Masker during image creation in SQL Clone. Masked data still looks and functions like real data and the process is simple and repeatable.

System Requirements:

CPU: 1.8 GHz dual core processor

RAM: 2 GB

HDD/SSD: 50 GB of free space on main drive

Operating system: Microsoft Windows 8 32-bit, Microsoft Windows 7 32-bit, and Microsoft Windows Vista 32-bit

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