Aireforge Compare
Compare reports configuration and metadata differences between SQL Server instances. It covers server settings, security, SQL Server Agent, Database Mail, database objects and more, across 45 built-in comparisons in nine categories:
- Server properties (general settings, configuration, services, startup parameters, trace flags, network configuration)
- Server objects (backup devices, endpoints, linked servers, triggers, assemblies)
- Security (audits, server and database logins, roles and permissions, credentials, cryptographic providers)
- Databases (databases, database files, database objects, plan guides, user-defined types, database scoped configurations)
- SQL Server Agent (service information, jobs, job steps, schedules, categories, operators, alerts, proxies)
- Database Mail (configuration, accounts, profiles)
- Operating system (system information)
- Management (maintenance plans)
- Azure (database copies, firewall rules, geo-replication, resources)
Compare works on configuration and metadata only. It does not compare table data or row-level content. It is also read-only: Compare reports differences, it does not apply, script or synchronise them.
A common use is checking production against staging, or staging against development, before a release. Some teams build Compare into their release process, so a deployment can be checked, or aborted, if unexpected differences are found. The same comparisons can be run unattended from the command line: see Compare CLI.