SQL Server Change Tracking vs SQL Server Data Capture

SQL Server Change Tracking vs SQL Server Data Capture

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What Is the Difference Between Change Tracking and Data Capture in SQL Server?

When building an application, especially for tables related to security or essential data, auditing becomes crucial. We need to track who inserted, updated, and deleted records in these tables. SQL Server provides two features for this purpose: Change Tracking and Data Capture. Both these features help reduce development time since we don't have to worry about writing triggers, creating custom tables, or adding timestamp columns manually. Instead, we can enable these features for the entire database or specific tables, making the auditing process much more efficient.

One significant advantage of using these features for auditing is that we don't have to concern ourselves with cleanup. They come with built-in cleanup mechanisms, allowing us to schedule how long to keep the audit data and when to perform cleanup after a specified number of days.

Another significant benefit is the reliability of these features. They use the transaction log to capture changes, ensuring accuracy and reliability. If we were to manage this process ourselves, keeping track of all changes would be more challenging and less reliable.

Now, let's delve into the differences between Change Tracking and Data Capture and why SQL Server offers both features for maintaining record auditing.

Consider a simple 'Employee' table with columns: 'EmployeeID,' 'EmployeeName,' and 'EmployeeAddress.' Both features, Change Tracking and Data Capture, track data manipulation language (DML) operations, which include insert, update, and delete operations.

With Change Tracking, it captures only the IDs of the records affected and the type of operation performed. It requires the table to have a primary index for tracking changes. The Change Tracking table will store minimal information, making it lightweight.

In contrast, Data Capture provides a more detailed audit trail. It records the entire history of the changed record, including the fields that were altered and their corresponding values. Data Capture is more comprehensive and provides a comprehensive overview of changes, allowing us to identify who made the changes and what exactly was changed.

To sum up, both Change Tracking and Data Capture help streamline the auditing process, saving development time and ensuring data accuracy. The difference lies in the level of detail they offer. Change Tracking is lightweight, capturing minimal information, while Data Capture provides a comprehensive history of the changed records.

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