CopyForce for SQL Server and H2 posted

Finally....I posted the first release of CopyForce for SQL Server and H2. This tools copies a Salesforce instance to a relational database. Copy all or a subset of the tables/data. Perform incremental updates.

CopyForce came about because of several business problems.

1. I needed a way to backup salesforce (just in case a malicious person or a fat-fingered person destroyed and recycled our data).
2. Often I need to scan an analyze larger chunks of data than the Salesforce governs like me to do. Though my sqlforce (http://code.google.com/p/sqlforce/) project gets around the govern problems, I often need the speed of a local RDBMS.

The first CopyForce (http://code.google.com/p/copyforce/) comes in two flavors.

• Microsoft SQL Server
• H2 (http://h2database.org). H2 is a brilliant small footprint ANSI/SQL database.

Hopefully the salesforce network can handle the volume. CopyForce grabs data (lots of it) as fast as a line will allow.

Up late "Copying Salesforce" to my box.

For a few months I have been working occasionally on a utility that will create a local database (mySQL, JavaDB, or H2) that matches the schema and data in any Salesforce instance. Winter'11 finally seems to have given me the stability that I needed.

The tool, CopyForce, is based on the same libraries we use everyday (via jython) to perform routine DBA work on Salesforce (when Apex is just too hard). The base project, SQlForce, can be found at SQLForce

CopyForce is fairly simple to use:

• Enter a command line like java -jar CopyForceH2.jar -connect sfdcCredentials -h2connect myNewH2DatabaseName
  
• Wait while CopyForce creates the database, the schema, and populates the new database.
  

My motivation in creating CopyForce was a desire for an open-source was to create a snapshot of salesforce for backup purposes.

If it sounds interesting drop me a line.