Capturing database workload while preserving original transactional and concurrency characteristics for replay

A volatile or non-volatile computer-readable storage medium storing one or more sequences of instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform

• a first database server receiving a first command and a second command;
• the first database server determining a system change number that reflects a state of a database in which the first command and the second command are processed, wherein the second command is processed by the first database server after the first command in terms of time, and wherein the second command and the first command have the same system change number, wherein the first database server determines other system change numbers for other commands as changes are committed to the database;
• and
• the first database server storing the system change number in association with workload data to enable one or more replay processes to read the workload data and replay the workload data relative to a second database server that is separate from the first database server;
• the one or more replay processes reading the first command and the second command from a capture repository;
• the one or more replay processes replaying the first command and the second command relative to the second database server;
• and
• the second database server using the system change number to determine a state of a second database that should be visible to the first command and the second command when the first command and the second command are processed by the second database server.