How to build a script to extract 5% of the production Database dat

Hi, all
How to build a script to extract 5% of the production Database data to
development DB? Normally, I use DTS import/export to do that table by table
( use select top 500 * from theTable). Is there a better way? Our Productio
n
DB is so big, I want to give some simple data to development DB for test.
Thanks for any help!
BrianTry SELECT TOP 5 PERCENT instead.
--
HTH,
Vyas, MVP (SQL Server)
SQL Server Articles and Code Samples @. http://vyaskn.tripod.com/
"Brian" <Brian@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:CFE57E50-21F6-41D9-B227-61411F066EC1@.microsoft.com...
Hi, all
How to build a script to extract 5% of the production Database data to
development DB? Normally, I use DTS import/export to do that table by table
( use select top 500 * from theTable). Is there a better way? Our
Production
DB is so big, I want to give some simple data to development DB for test.
Thanks for any help!
Brian|||This really is not a feasible task to accomplish in any generic manner. You
will need to factor in the relationships (defined or assumed) between the
tables before you can begin to address what some random percentage of the
database really means. As a simple example, do you want want to pull a
random 5% of the rows in an order table without also pulling ALL of the
associated order_detail rows (and we'll ignore all of the other
related/required rows - customers, products, addresses, etc.).
Usually, there is some basic set of information that is required for any
system to work correctly - you'll need 100% of this information (e.g.,
you'll need all of the GL accounts before you can pull ANY activity for
these accounts).
"Brian" <Brian@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:CFE57E50-21F6-41D9-B227-61411F066EC1@.microsoft.com...
> Hi, all
> How to build a script to extract 5% of the production Database data to
> development DB? Normally, I use DTS import/export to do that table by
table
> ( use select top 500 * from theTable). Is there a better way? Our
Production
> DB is so big, I want to give some simple data to development DB for test.
> Thanks for any help!
> Brian