Can a database be cloned?

Question

Database cloning is the process of creating a point-in-time copy of a production database or its backup set. Cloned databases can be used for multiple purposes: During application development cycles for testing functionality that has to be implemented using the current database structure and content.

What is a database cloning?

A database clone is a complete and separate copy of a database system that includes the business data, the DBMS software and any other application tiers that make up the environment.

Why do we clone a database?

The benefits of database cloning are really around driving faster, accelerated releases, building higher quality applications, and developing against full datasets, reducing the provisioning time and refresh time in these large databases. And it allows us to be able to leverage existing scripts in DevOps tools.

How long does it take to clone a database?

Single database: ~4 hours, 40 minutes. Clone with mysqldump : 50-60 minutes.

Can you clone a SQL Server?

An easy way to create a clone of an existing Azure SQL Database is by using the backup of the source database and creating a new database using the same backup. The default selection for existing data would be None. Select Sample in the Use existing data setting.

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