In the previous part of the Methods for auditing SQL Server data changes articles series, How to analyze and read SQL Server Audit information, we described several native SQL Server auditing features – Change Tracking, Change Data Capture and Audit. We described their unique and shared characteristics, how they store captured information, how to provide the information, and explained the advantages and disadvantages of each feature.

In the previous parts of the SQL Server auditing methods series, we described the SQL Server Audit feature, its characteristics, components, how to configure and use it

In the previous part of the SQL Server auditing methods series, SQL Server Audit feature – Introduction, we described main features of the SQL Server Auditfeature – its main characteristics, what events it can audit and where the audit information is stored. We also explained two levels of auditing – the database-level and server-level, and three components necessary for using the feature – the SQL Server audit object, database audit specification, and server audit specification

In the previous parts of this series, we described two SQL Server auditing features – Change Tracking and Change Data Capture. We showed their characteristics, how to enable them, how to read the results, and listed their advantages and disadvantages

In the previous article, How to enable and use SQL Server Change Data Capture, we described the main features of SQL Server Change Data Capture and showed how to set it up. Now, we will analyze the records stored in change tables and describe the methods to read them

In the previous article, SQL Server Change Data Capture (CDC) – Introduction, we described the main characteristics of the SQL Server feature for tracking data inserts, deletes and updates – Change Data Capture. We also compared it to another SQL Server auditing feature – SQL Server Change Tracking

In the previous part of this series, How to read SQL Server Change Tracking results, we described SQL Server Change Tracking – its features, how to use it, and how to read the results. We also showed examples of the captured records. If you need to know is whether the row has been changed or not, the type of the last change, and which column was changed, without the details (old and new values, who, and when) about the change, then SQL Server Change Tracking is not the right auditing solution for you

As described in the previous article of this series, What is SQL Server Change Tracking and how to set it up, SQL Server Change Tracking shows only the primary key column value for the changed rows, and the type of change – INSERT, DELETE, or UPDATE. Here we will explain change tracking functions, show code examples and demonstrate how to read the Change Tracking results

SQL DBAs are sometimes confused by the differences in SQL Server Change Tracking and Change Data Capture features. Not only can their names be mixed up, but also feature specifications. The goal of this series is to present each of 3 SQL Server auditing features (Change Tracking, Change Data Capture and SQL Server Auditing) and ApexSQL Audit – a complete third-party solution. We will show their features, similarities, differences, advantages, and disadvantages in order to help users determine the right tool for their auditing requirements