SQL Server Acquires Migration Tool

The SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA), a free SQL Server tool, could help Oracle customers switch to SQL Server. Released in June 2005, the tool automatically converts and moves data, schema, stored procedures, functions, and triggers from Oracle databases to SQL Server databases. However, most Oracle databases contain some code that will need to be manually rewritten to run on SQL Server.

Tool Assesses, Converts, Validates

When a business selects a database management system, it’s often a long-term choice. Because different vendors’ databases and the objects they contain are generally incompatible, switching a database system after it has been integrated into a company’s operations (supporting an ERP application, for instance) is often technically and financially prohibitive. For example, database query languages and built-in functions differ, which implies that developers must rewrite business logic (typically housed in stored procedures) coded in those languages and using those functions. In addition, the decision to deploy a database becomes progressively more difficult to reverse, as the complexity of the database and the applications built on it tends to increase over time.