Using the Entity Framework with multiple identical databases

Question

I have a system where there are two identical databases. One is for back of house work where data is imported, edited generally worked on. Once the data in the first database is as required it is coped to the second database, which is used to drive a public facing (read only) site.

So once a month, or so I will need to push data from database to another. I'd like to drive all this with EF, is that reasonable, can EF do this kind of thing, or will I get stuck part way down the line?

Answer 1

It's probably doable, but frankly, EF (or any other ORM) is not really suited for this kind of task. If you do decide to implement your synchronization tool with EF, at least make sure to turn off change tracking.

I wouldn't dismiss Yuri's suggestion (simply using a scheduled backup/restore), if the databases are really identical. It's certainly the easiest to implement!

Another solution would be to use a database synchronization tool, like Sql Server Integration Services.