Voice of the DBA

Tag: continuous integration

  • SQL Saturday #390 – Philadelphia Recap

    I was at SQL Saturday #390 in Philadelphia last week and it was an exciting, but short time. The event was at the end of a  five day trip for me, Seattle first and then Philadelphia, so I was tired by Saturday morning. However I enjoyed it, met lots of people, and learned a few interesting things.

    Unit Testing with SQL Server and tSQLt

    Friday I taught a pre-con event with Sebastian Meine on unit testing your T-SQL code with tSQLt. We had 9 people signed up, which was encouraging. Not a raging success, but certainly better than the 2 people that some friends had predicted. Everyone was interested in unit testing and producing better code.

    The day went well, and we ended a touch early. There were some good comments and suggestions from people on unit testing techniques, including a solution to one of our exercises that I hadn’t expected. I learned a few places need the demos to be expanded a bit, but overall it felt like a good start to teaching unit testing. I’m looking forward to trying this at a few other events in the future.

    standing in front of the class

    Better Development at SQL Saturday

    I was really only able to attend a few sessions (in addition to the one I taught) at SQL Saturday #390. However I was pleased to see that after my CI session, there was one on Continuous Delivery, and then one on Git for DBAs. Both of these topics are important, and well attended, which makes me think that more people are starting to lean towards building more engineered database development processes.

    My CI session went well. I didn’t get to show the failing CI process based on a test and more data, but I did get lots of good questions that I need to answer in the next few weeks. A few of them (for me to remember).

    • How do I get started with a small development team?
    • How do I start adding tests in an existing software project?
    • Can you demo a column rename (or table rename)?
    • Show static data flowing through the process

    It’s good to get questions, and I hope I answered them all. If I didn’t, or you need clarification, let me know.

    Once I finished, I wandered over to see Mark Wojciechowicz talk about Continuous Delivery. Mark is a consultant that’s trying to keep a CD process working at a client’s site. He’s been working at it for awhile and we talked about it Friday (he was in my class) and Saturday. It sounds like he has some good things going, and using a home grown process that works well.

    He showed some of the reasons why CD matters, especially for his client. They make lots of changes, and use a smooth process to push through bug fixes as well when there are issues with something in production. I hope he gets his deck up soon because he had some good quotes and notes in the PPT.

    I especially like his thoughts that if something hurts in software, you should do it more. That comes from Thoughworks and some of the progressive companies that are rapidly building high quality software and don’t let the problems of deployment slow them down. They tackle those issues just like others, and you should, too.

    From there I saw Justin Dearing talk about Git and DBAs. He’s a developer and tends to like the command line, but he showed how we can use Git for a VCS in the command line, but also from SSDT. That’s an interesting approach, and while I liked his message, I think some of the people there using a CVCS, like TFS, didn’t understand why Git matters. I need to write more on this as well.

    Justin had a minor issue with branching, not because he doesn’t do it well or understand it, but because he’s moving fast and talking. That’s what I am, in general, against branching. The real world moves fast, it’s easy to get caught up with some other thoughts and get lost with branching. I need to formalize my thoughts as I’ll be talking branching at DevConnections (register and come see me in September).

    Overall a good time and people seemed to really enjoy the SQL Saturday. I had about 20% of my attendees that were new, which is great. I hope to see more and more people coming to the events in the future.

  • Database Lifecycle Workshops

    Trying to implement version control, and Continuous Integration (CI), and automated releases of code is hard. The concept is simple, but all of the various processes, tools, and links that need to be connected can be hard. I’ve seen too many organizations that struggle to get started, often because they see the entire process as just too complex and overwhelming.

    It’s not.

    Whether you’re trying to release application code or database code, you need to treat them in a similar manner. While there are lots of books, tools, blogs, and companies that can help you work with application code, the database has been more challenging.

    At Redgate, we’ve put together a few workshops to help break down the stages of engineering your database delivery and get you moving to help smooth the process of making database changes. These workshops are coming to locations all around the US and UK in the next few months. Check out our schedule, which has dates in :

    • Bellevue, WA (May 15)
    • London, UK (May 20)
    • Philadelphia (June 4)
    • Belfast, Northern Ireland (June 26)
    • London (July 8)
    • San Diego, CA (July 16)
    • Manchester, UK (July 24)
    • Baton Rouge, LA (July 31)

    There are more dates, and we’re certainly open to scheduling more locations and even private classes if you’d like. Contact us if you have a request.

    Most of these classes are delivered by experienced partners of Redgate, often consultancy organizations that have been working with clients for years to build smoother application delivery processes, and are moving into the database space. The classes use our tools, and Grant, myself, or one of our other Redgate experts will be on hand to help you learn the skills you need to start implementing DLM concepts. We can even recommend consultants to work with you for a two day DLM Health Check or on longer term projects that help you build better software. Contact DLMPartners@red-gate.com for more information.

    We find that many of our customers are struggling with different parts of building a smooth software pipeline. They want to get better, and they find the Redgate tools help, but they need a little push or confidence to implement an engineered process.

    Our three workshops are designed to teach you about different parts of a DLM environment. They map to the Database Lifecycle, helping you move to a different stage and a better engineered process at each step. The three workshops are:

    • Database Source Control – getting your database code into a Version Control System and dealing with the issues of branching, merging, team coordination and more.
    • Database Continuous Integration – learning to automate the building and testing of your code each time a change is checked into a VCS. This lets you find issues quickly.
    • Automated Database Deployment – Gain the skills to automatically generate upgrade scripts and ensure they are tested and deployed smoothly, without any of the release day stress many of you experience.

    These classes won’t solve your DLM challenges in a day, but they’ll give you the skills and confidence to move forward. Ask you boss to send you and get a bit of training to help you start building better software.

    Come join us and learn to ship often and ship safe.

  • Implementing Continuous Integration in Redmond

    On May 15, 2015, Redgate Software and one of our partners, Northwest Cadence, will be presenting one of the DLM Training Workshops I helped build in Redmond, WA. I’m excited to be traveling up to WA for the event and helping support Dan Wood as he delivers the training on Continuous Integration (CI).

    This is our Database Continuous Integration workshop, and it’s a great way to learn how you can take your database code and get it automatically tested and built in a CI process. CI has taken hold in many parts of the software industry, but not so much databases.

    This workshop uses the Redgate tools, which make the process easier. However you can just use concepts with your own scripting or other tools. Our goal here is to help you get comfortable with the idea of CI and

    Requirements

    The workshop assumes you have your database in a version control system (VCS). If you don’t, then you should. We have a workshop on using source control with databases as well, but really you should just script our your database and put is in SVN, Git, or something. Or just use SQL Source Control, which makes it really easy.

    The other requirement if you have a laptop with you. We’ve built a number of labs, and we really, really want you to try and implement this yourself. We’ll provide a virtual machine up in the cloud, but we want you to have the chance to actually do the work.

    Register and Learn

    You can register today and purchase a ticket if your company is interested and you want to get some hands on experience with the technology. If you want to learn how to better engineer your software development on SQL Server, and haven’t given this a try (or are worried about it), think about coming.

    Register today

    SQL Saturday #393 – Redmond

    Our workshop is the Friday before SQL Saturday #393 in Redmond, WA. That’s a free event, and you can come there as well. I’ll be delivering a talk there, hopefully on testing, which is certainly important to CI.

    Either way, you can get a full day of in depth training on Friday at the workshop, and then a variety of topics on Saturday at the SQL Saturday event.

    Hope to see you there.

  • Learning Continuous Integration for Databases – LA Apr 10

    I’ve been talking about continuous integration for databases for a couple years now as a part of my job. My employer, Red Gate Software, has been building tools to help database developers build better software. We (Red Gate) want to sell software, but we also really want to help people build better software. It’s a big reason why I’m employed there. Red Gate truly wants to make the world a better place while we run a business.

    I’ve gotten lots of interest and questions from my one hour talk and late last year Red Gate decided we needed to do more. We built some all day continuous delivery classes last year and they went over well. Over the winter, Grant, myself, and a few others at Red Gate got together and we’ve been working on adding depth to our instruction and have come up with 3 full days of training to help you build better database software, quicker.

    Continuous Integration in LA

    The middle class we’ve developed is an all day look at how you implement a continuous integration process with a database and application. On April 10, 2015, I’ll be coming to Los Angeles, CA, along with one of our partners, Ike Ellis, to work on a full day of training. It’s a $500 class, but you’ll walk through a couple of different ways to set up a CI process, actually perform the steps yourself, and make changes to the database that get built and tested.

    We think it’s a great way to smooth out your development process and bring more engineering to the way you deploy database updates. Ike is an expert SQL Server consultant and he’ll show you how to create your own CI process. I’ll be in the background to help out, and we think you’ll gain some in depth knowledge that you can use at your job right away.

    If you want to advance your database development, register today and join us in LA on April 10, 2015.

    register

    I’m excited to be a part of these classes, and I hope you are as well.

    We do cover a number of Red Gate tools in the classes, but the procedures and steps are applicable to other methods of accomplishing the same tasks. Even if you choose to use other tools, or write your own, the skills we teach you will be applicable.

    I wouldn’t write my own, however. I’d easily burn the cost of the tools many times over trying to iron out the bugs in my own process.

    The Continuous Delivery Process

    The whole idea of continuous delivery is that you can make changes at anytime. It isn’t sloppy work, untested development, or anything else. This is a way to bring more engineering to software development, and I really believe in it.

    It’s not easy, however, and that’s why we’ve built three days of training. We cover these items in the three days.

    • Day 1 – Version Control for Databases
    • Day 2 – Continuous Integration for Databases
    • Day 3 – Automated Deployment

    We haven’t set these up all in one week, mainly because it’s too much information for you at once. Ideally we want to tour around, running one of these classes each quarter, because it will take you a few months to implement the information and understand it.

    If you get past these courses, we’re also partnering with expert ALM consultancy shops that can help you even more.

    We’ve got a number of all day events coming up for you to consider, so check out our list of training days. We’re adding more all the time, and let us know if you want us to come to your area.