Data validation is a Data Transmission Service (DTS) feature that monitors data consistency between source and destination databases — without interrupting your running services.
Run validation alongside any migration or synchronization task to catch data and schema inconsistencies before they affect production.
Validation types
DTS supports three complementary validation modes:
Full data validation — Compares historical data of target objects at the row level between source and destination databases.
Incremental data validation — For incremental synchronization or migration tasks, compares data modified by DML operations in the source database. If inconsistencies are found, DTS automatically re-validates after a delay to rule out incremental data latency as the cause.
Schema validation — Compares database and table schemas of target objects.
All three modes run without service interruption.
Key capabilities
Heterogeneous database support — Validate data across different database engines, not just like-to-like migrations.
Two-way synchronization support — Both directions of a two-way synchronization link can be validated.
Flexible source and destination — Works with Alibaba Cloud database instances and self-managed database instances.
Supported database links
Full data validation
Source database | Destination database |
MySQL | MySQL, AnalyticDB for MySQL, PolarDB for MySQL, PolarDB-X 2.0, PostgreSQL, AnalyticDB for PostgreSQL, Oracle |
PolarDB for MySQL | MySQL, AnalyticDB for MySQL, PolarDB for MySQL, PolarDB-X 2.0, AnalyticDB for PostgreSQL, Oracle |
PolarDB-X 2.0 | MySQL, PolarDB for MySQL, PolarDB-X 2.0, PolarDB-X 1.0 |
PostgreSQL | MySQL, PostgreSQL, AnalyticDB for PostgreSQL, PolarDB for PostgreSQL, PolarDB for PostgreSQL (Compatible with Oracle), Oracle |
PolarDB for PostgreSQL | MySQL, PostgreSQL, AnalyticDB for PostgreSQL, PolarDB for PostgreSQL, Oracle |
single-node architecture MongoDB | single-node architecture MongoDB |
ReplicaSet architecture MongoDB | ReplicaSet architecture MongoDB |
sharded cluster architecture MongoDB | sharded cluster architecture MongoDB |
primary/secondary replication cluster architecture Tair/Redis | primary/secondary replication cluster architecture Tair/Redis |
Redis Cluster architecture Tair/Redis | Redis Cluster architecture Tair/Redis |
SQL Server | MySQL, AnalyticDB for MySQL, PolarDB for MySQL, SQL Server, AnalyticDB for PostgreSQL |
Oracle | AnalyticDB for MySQL, AnalyticDB for PostgreSQL, MySQL, PolarDB for MySQL, PolarDB for PostgreSQL, PolarDB for PostgreSQL (Compatible with Oracle), PostgreSQL, Oracle |
PolarDB for PostgreSQL (Compatible with Oracle) | PolarDB for PostgreSQL (Compatible with Oracle), AnalyticDB for MySQL, Oracle |
Db2 for LUW | MySQL, PolarDB for MySQL, AnalyticDB for MySQL, AnalyticDB for PostgreSQL |
Db2 for i (AS/400) | MySQL |
TiDB | MySQL, PolarDB for MySQL, AnalyticDB for MySQL |
AnalyticDB for MySQL | MySQL, PolarDB for MySQL, AnalyticDB for MySQL |
Incremental data validation
Source database | Destination database |
MySQL | MySQL, AnalyticDB for MySQL, PolarDB for MySQL, PostgreSQL, AnalyticDB for PostgreSQL, PolarDB for PostgreSQL |
PolarDB for MySQL | MySQL, AnalyticDB for MySQL, PolarDB for MySQL, AnalyticDB for PostgreSQL |
PostgreSQL | MySQL, PostgreSQL, AnalyticDB for PostgreSQL, PolarDB for PostgreSQL |
PolarDB for PostgreSQL | PostgreSQL, AnalyticDB for PostgreSQL, PolarDB for PostgreSQL |
single-node architecture MongoDB | single-node architecture MongoDB |
ReplicaSet architecture MongoDB | ReplicaSet architecture MongoDB |
sharded cluster architecture MongoDB | sharded cluster architecture MongoDB |
SQL Server | MySQL, AnalyticDB for MySQL, PolarDB for MySQL, SQL Server, AnalyticDB for PostgreSQL |
Oracle | AnalyticDB for MySQL, MySQL, PolarDB for MySQL, PolarDB for PostgreSQL (Compatible with Oracle) |
Schema validation
Source database | Destination database |
MySQL | MySQL, PolarDB for MySQL |
PolarDB for MySQL | MySQL, PolarDB for MySQL |
PostgreSQL | PostgreSQL, PolarDB for PostgreSQL |
PolarDB for PostgreSQL | PostgreSQL, PolarDB for PostgreSQL |
Billing
For pricing details, see data validation billing methods.
Supported regions
For the full list of supported regions, see list of supported regions.
What's next
Configure data validation — Set up a validation task for your migration or synchronization job.
View data validation details — Monitor results and review any inconsistencies found.