CHANGE DATA CAPTURE

& CHANGE TRACKING

DEEP DIVE
W. Kevin Hazzard
LinchpinPeople.com
Group Principal
CHANGE DATA CAPTURE
Turn it on
EXECUTE sys.sp_cdc_enable_db;
Which generates for the whole database
A capture job
A cleanup job
Then include at least one table with
EXECUTE sys.sp_cdc_enable_table ;
Which creates a capture instance containing
A change table
An all-changes function
A net-changes function (optional)
transactions
warehouse
sources
changes
capture
job
archive
sector
ETL
analysis
data
mart
ETL
CAPTURE INSTANCE
Contains
The capture table
cdc.fn_cdc_get_all_changes_<instance name> function
cdc.fn_cdc_get_net_changes_<instance name> function (optional)
Maximum two per source table
SYS.SP_CDC_ENABLE_TABLE
@source_schema
@source_name
@supports_net_changes
@role_name
@filegroup_name
@index_name
@captured_column_list
@allow_partition_switch
@capture_instance
DEMONSTRATION
Enabling Change Data Capture (CDC)
Creating a CDC Capture Instance
Querying CDC Tables as Things Change
SQL SERVER AGENT JOBS
cdc.Capture_capture
Starts with SQL Agent
RAISERROR(22801, 10, -1);
EXEC sys.sp_MScdc_capture_job;
Just a wrapper for sys.sp_cdc_scan
cdc.Capture_cleanup
Runs at 02:00 daily
EXEC sys.sp_MScdc_cleanup_job;
CDC DATA RETENTION
Based on LSN Validity Intervals
Database
Capture Instance
The cleanup job deletes CDC data acording to retention policy
SELECT * FROM msdb.dbo.cdc_jobs WHERE job_type = N'cleanup';
You can start the cleanup job manually
EXEC sys.sp_cdc_start_job @job_type = N'cleanup';
HANDLING SCHEMA CHANGES
Deleted and new columns are handled well
Modified columns require specific steps:
Stop the capture and cleanup jobs
Change the schema as necessary
Generate new capture instances for all modified tables
Process all data in the old and new capture instances
Manually run the cleanup job
Delete the old capture instance
Turn the capture and cleanup jobs back on
CHANGE TRACKING
Turn it on for one database
ALTER DATABASE <DBNAME> SET
CHANGE_TRACKING = ON;
Then enable a table
ALTER TABLE <TBLNAME> ENABLE
CHANGE_TRACKING;
transactions
warehouse
sources
archive
sector
ETL
sync
CHANGE TRACKING TABLES & FUNCTIONS
sys.change_tracking_databases
sys.change_tracking_tables
CHANGETABLE(CHANGES)
CHANGETABLE(VERSION)
CHANGE_TRACKING_CURRENT_VERSION()
CHANGE_TRACKING_MIN_VALID_VERSION()
CHANGE_TRACKING_IS_COLUMN_IN_MASK()
WITH CHANGE_TRACKING_CONTEXT

DEMONSTRATION
Enabling Change Tracking (CT) for a Database
Enabling CT on a Table
Querying CT Tables and Functions as Things Change
HANDLING SCHEMA CHANGES
No modifications to the primary key are allowed including related indexes
Dropping columns is OK but they may still appear in the change data
When adding columns, changes are tracked but the metadata change is not reported
Switching partitions will fail on change tracked changes
Data type changes are not tracked

WHICH ONE IS RIGHT FOR ME?
Change Data Capture
Works in Enterprise Edition only
Stores every discrete change
Storage intensive
Good for auditing
Requires SQL Server agent
No special serialization required
Change Tracking
Works in all versions of SQL Server
Returns differences from current
Storage light
Good for device synchronization
No job agent required
Operates best with snapshot isolation