Modifying SQL Database on Shared Hosting
- by apocalypse9
I have a live database on a shared hosting server. I am making some major changes to my site's code and I would like to fix some stupid mistakes I made in initially designing the database. These changes involve altering the size of a large number of fields, and enforcing referential integrity between tables properly. I would like to make the changes on both my local test server and the remote server if possible.
I should note that while I'm fairly comfortable with writing complex queries to handle data, I have very little experience modifying database structure without a graphical interface.
I can access the remote database in the visual studio database explorer but I can not use that for anything other than data manipulation. I installed Sql Management Studio express last night and after 40+ crashes I gave up - I couldn't even patch the damn thing.
The remote server is SQL 2005 / The MyLittleAdmin web interface is available.
So my question is what is the best way to accomplish these changes. Is there a graphical interface I can use on the remote server? If not is there an easy way to copy the database to my local machine, fix it, and re upload? Finally if none of the above are viable does anyone have links to a decent info on fixing referential integrity via query?
Sorry for the somewhat general question - I feel like I am making this far harder than it should be but after searching / trying all night i haven't gotten anywhere. Thanks in advance for the help. I really appreciate it.
...Also does anyone have a time machine I can borrow- I need to go kick my past self's ass for this.
