AquaFold Makes It Easier to Reverse Engineer and Migrate Databases

Published: October 20, 2009

by Alex Woodie

People normally take the term "database replication" to mean that data is being replicated from one database to another. But as the result of new entity relationship modeling and reverse engineering capabilities that AquaFold recently rolled out with Aqua Data Studio version 8.0, database replication can also mean replicating the entire structure of one's database to another database management systems, which the company says will make it easier than ever for users to migrate from, say, Oracle or SQL Server to DB2/400 or MySQL.

Aqua Data Studio is a $399 utility that allows developers, administrators, and analysts to visualize, maintain, and manipulate multiple relational databases from a single, graphical interface. AquaFold touts several uses of the software, including general administration and development of queries; comparing the structures, schemas, and data of multiple databases; functioning as a repository for source code and versioning tools, such as CVS and SVN; and entity relationship (ER) modeling, which was added a year ago with the release of Aqua Data Studio version 7 (which also introduced DB2/400 support).

Now, with version 8, AquaFold is extending the tool's ER modeler to allow users to convert or translate an ER model from one database to another. This will be very useful for organizations that want to move from one RDBMS to another, says Niels Gron, the CEO and software architect for AquaFold.

"This feature will absolutely transform the multi-database experience for many," Gron says. "For the first time, they have the ability to reverse engineer a database from one vendor (e.g. MS SQL Server) to another (e.g. MySQL)--essentially allowing the user to migrate from and to any database they choose."

Version 8 also extends support to additional databases and data warehousing systems, including Teradata, DB2 for z/OS, Sybase IQ 15, and nCluster from Aster Data Systems. This comes on top of the tool's existing support for DB2/400, DB2 for Linux, Unix, and Windows (LUW), Oracle's database, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, Informix, Apache Derby, and PostgreSQL.

AquaFold also improved the Java product's use of memory, which the company says should result in a noticeable boost in performance, especially in data warehousing environments. Other new features include support for DB2/400 for V6R1 and support for SVN 1.6, among others. For more information, see the company's Web site at www.aquafold.com.

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