Database Tools

I’ve seen some people express interest in inexpensive tools to help with database administration and development. Here are a few suggestions of tools I’ve used to manage various databases. All of these products are compatible with multiple platforms including Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

When I’m at home, I use Aqua Data Studio, a inexpensive database query/development tool, and I’m pretty happy with it. It’s free for “personal/educational use” and $149 otherwise. An older version is free even for commercial use. It includes a visual schema browser which allows you to quickly browse through the objects in your database, a query editor like Microsoft’s Query Analyzer, and a few database administration tools like import/export functionality.

There’s a MySQL administration tool called Navicat that I’ve played around with, and it also looks quite promising. Navicat is more focused on assisting with database administration than with general development. It includes visual editors for the objects in your database — everything from tables and columns to scheduled jobs. It also has a visual query editor, and the enterprise edition includes a “visula report builder” that I haven’t played with yet. It’s $99 for the basic edition, and $129 for the enterprise edition. That report builder sounds like it’d be worth $30, even if you’re a SQL guru.

Finally, Oracle just released a beta of Oracle SQL Developer, an integrated administration tool like Quest TOAD or Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Manager. Oracle SQL Developer actually looks a lot like TOAD, but with a slightly more modern UI. If you’re familiar with TOAD, you’ll feel right at home with this. It includes all the usual object administration tools, as well as a PL/SQL editor. One nice convenience is that it includes its own lightweight Oracle client libraries, so you don’t have to install the heavyweight Oracle Client, usually a 200MB download! It’s also completely free for “anyone with an Oracle Database license.”

Oracle SQL Developer works well with Oracle XE, their new free database for smaller systems. Oracle XE is limited to databases under 4GB in size, and will only run on a single CPU. But not only is Oracle XE free of charge, it’s considerably easier to install and administrate than Oracle10g. And it’s a feature-complete Oracle database installation, so all of the features are available from their standard server. If you’re working on a smaller project but need a heavyweight database, Oracle XE and Oracle SQL Developer seem like a wonderful combination.

Hope this helps someone out there!