Syncronisation

A method of syncronising database changes from development to live using Toad for MySQL.

Requirements: advanced Drupal, database administration, experts only

One of the recurring problems faced by Drupal developers is database change management. If you don't encounter this problem yourself, then just imagine a scenario where you have a live site that needs to be running 24/7, while all your changes are made on a development server.

The big problem comes in migrating all the database changes from the dev server to the live one, without overwriting any data. Some people simply fiddle with dev until they’ve got it right, then duplicate all their work step-by-step on live, until they’re the same. You can imagine how perilous this process is!

I’ve been needing a solution to this problem for a while now, so I’ve pieced together this guide in the hope of receiving feedback from those who are wiser than me! I have not thoroughly tested this method on a real server configuration, only on my localhost, so I don’t know if it’s foolproof yet. But please take a look!