Hi All,

I am looking for some quick feedback ideas from anyone who may have an idea about this:

We have a fairly complex MySql database which powers a front end for client view. Currently the database is updated such that any client that has access to a specific file can see the most recent updates for this file: we now need to however implement some srt of version control since client subrscriptions may expire at which point they should still be able to access their legacy information on the file but not see any updates that have been made since that time. Is there any simple way to implement this?? (we need minimal downtime / distruption to our system)

Any ideas and responses will be much appreciated!!!

I can't imagine there's a simple way to do this, as it steps into the application security realm and security implementation is always a headache.
You'll need to work with your application team to develop views that show archived data "as of" a parameterized datetime.
Messy messy messy.

Does every table that you care about time based access have an effectiveDate for every row? If you can either determine that a given table is "wide open" date-wise, or that it has an "effective date" for every row, then there is a workable solution.

If there is no easy way to date your rows/changes, then things get ugly. There are a number of database engine specific solutions that might be easy, but the only effective way to deliver what you've described across any database platform is to make lots and lots and lots of backups, and be prepared to run up equivalent amounts of disk for the restores if multiple clients need to have multiple cut-off dates.

Good luck!

-PatP

If he's using a later release of SQL Server, then the Database Snapshot feature may work for him. But it could also end up being an administrative headache.

I'm pretty sure that MySQL (from the original post) doesn't support that feature!

-PatP

Well...it only differs from MSSQL by one letter, right?