Embarcadero Technologies has released a new version of its database change management software. Change Manager 5.1 helps DBAs and developers by automating complex database change management tasks, resulting in more streamlined development cycles and fewer errors. Change Manager, which supports Oracle, IBM DB2 for LUW, Microsoft SQL Server, and Sybase from a single user interface, is available as a standalone tool or as part of All-Access, a cost-effective tool chest that includes all of Embarcadero's multi-platform application development and database tools.
Addressing the needs of DBAs faced with the complicated task of managing changes between DBMS platforms, Change Manager 5.1 supports schema compare and synchronization between Oracle and SQL Server, and between Sybase and SQL Server. This is a completely new capability, Greg Nerpouni, Embarcadero's senior product manager of developer solutions, tells Headlines from AIOUG. "We have always done our schema comparison between like database systems. Now, we are going heterogeneous." And while data compare and synchronization has been cross-platform, with addition of the schema side of it as well, he notes, "This adds a lot of flexibility."
Also new with Change Manager 5.1 is data masking. "We can actually now with data masking make sure that any data that is inside the data comparison job that might be deemed perhaps private and confidential, can now be shuffled or randomized on its trip from the source to the target," says Nerpouni. The data masking capability helps data managers comply with data privacy legislation and protect personally identifiable information (PII) by de-identifying sensitive data from the production environment before it moves that data into the development, test or QA environments. Replacing PII data with a realistic representation produces the best testing results so developers and QA engineers can verify the application code will perform as expected in production. It can also reduce development cycles.
Additionally, notes Nerpouni, "We have done a lot of work in this particular release in our support for DB2 in general. We do have customers using it and they were having some issues with things very specific to DB2 and we spent a lot of effort making sure the DB2 side of this release is very strong." Other new features available in Change Manager 5.1 include Unicode support for internalization, data movement with auto-synchronization, data comparison job history tracking and enhanced project support with Source Code Control (SCC) integration.
"Change Manager has been successfully used to simplify and automate database change management by many of the large multinationals in India," adds Malcolm Groves, senior director of Asia Pacific, Embarcadero Technologies.
"We view India as a pace-setter in the database market and believe tools like Change Manager serve a large need driven by the sheer number of technology conglomerates based on the subcontinent. Change Manager is already in use by numerous multinationals in India and we anticipate this new version will be similarly well received."
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