Mechanisms for applying schema changes to database tables

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed relating to implementing database table schema changes. A computer system stores a source table associated with a current schema that is used to process transactions against a database. The computer system creates a target table associated with a temporary schema, where the target table includes one or more database table schema changes relative to the source table. The computer system provisions synchronization triggers to capture record changes made to the source table and replicate them on the target table. The computer system then performs a copy operation to copy data stored in the source table to the target table while transactions operate on the source table. After completing the copy operation, the computer system performs a schema swap operation to associate the current schema with the target table and not the source table so that the target table is used to process transactions against the database.