A vendor has a data database (read only) that gets sent to us via dvd every week. Their upgrade script detaches the existing copy of the database, overwrites the MDF and LDF, drops all the users and recreates what they think proper security should be. Is there a way that I can just synchornize the data without taking the database offline? This is a 24/7 facility that causes 15 minutes of downtime during the updates.
Auxilary Information:
The database has ~50 tables with a total size of 400 MB. The actual amount of changed data is somewhere around 400kb. Server is running Server 2008 with SQL Server Enterprise Edition 2008.
Read up on Red Gate Data Compare
http://www.red-gate.com/products/SQL_Data_Compare/index.htm
This will generate a script of differences for you that you can apply to the existing database.
This also has the ability to automatically synchronize your data
You will have to load the incoming database to a server for this operation.