Voice of the DBA

Tag: continuous integration

Off to Flowcon 2014

With all of the work on a deployment pipeline and Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Delivery (CD) I’ve worked on, I thought it would be instructive to go see how the software developers build their product better. A few months ago I noticed that FlowCon 2014 was coming to San Francisco. It’s a short, easy trip for me, a 2 day conference, and I thought it would be a good chance to interact with the Thoughtworks people, as well as others.

So I booked the trip. Even though I travel enough, I rarely go for me, and this is a good chance for me to learn. I leave this afternoon, no commitments, no presentations, just the chance for me to learn a bit.

I’m really looking forward to seeing how people are really making software happen faster, and at a higher quality level than in the past. I’ve read a few books in preparation for this, and it’s been interesting. The first one I really liked, though it has a lot to absorb. The second two were ok.

Continuous Delivery – Worth the read.

Refactoring Databases – Not bad, and certainly this gives some ideas for the challenges of database changes.

Recipes for Continuous Database Integration – Meh

September 3, 2014
DevConnections 2014

I live on a small ranch in Colorado. It’s a working ranch where we board horses, and my wife trains both horses and people. There’s a lot of work to be done at the ranch, and both me and the kids help out.

We have a variety of tools we use to deal with the various chores and infrastructure we have to manage. Depending on the task, we might choose a specific tool.

We also like to use the right sized tool for the job, especially when the job involves heavy lifting.

I often think about my career in technology, and how similar it can be to my life now. I’ve often worked with a variety of technologies, from networking routers, to Active Directory to Exchange in my career as a DBA. I’ve had to understand development languages and techniques to collaborate effectively with developers. Knowing a little bit about a lot of things has helped me often.

That’s one of the reasons I like the DevConnections conference. With so many different technologies being discussed a the same event, I can walk from a SQL Server session on execution plans to a development talk on Fiddler. You can learn about testing software and SharePoint queries along with Trace Flags without leaving the building.

Most of us work with a variety of technologies, and if we don’t, we often do work with a variety of IT pros. Learning a bit more about how others do their jobs, how their technologies might interact with yours, or even picking up a little jargon, can help you to be a better IT worker overall.

I’ll be in Las Vegas this September for DevConnections and I hope you’ll join me. It’s a good time at the Aria resort with plenty of ways to relax in the evening after a packed, educational schedule each day. And if you’re interested in Continuous Integration for Databases or High Performance Encryption, stop by one of my sessions.

I hope to see you Sept 15-19 in Las Vegas. Register today!

If you’d like to see a video promo, click below and enjoy.

August 29, 2014
Continuous Database Delivery from the Command Line

I’ve been working with Red Gate to learn more and the different ways in which we can help you ease and smooth the database deployment process. I know that I’ve dreaded deployments to production in most of my jobs, and only enjoyed them in one. The mission of one of the teams at Red Gate is to make this easier and easier and I’m learning about how they do that.

They’ve also been working with many others in the world of software, providing them with tools, getting feedback, and learning from their experiences. One of the people that has done some work with our tools is Matt Whetton, and he wrote a piece on how he’d gotten SQL Compare to work with his version control system (VCS) to get a Continuous Integration (CI) process in place. He’s using TFS, as many of you are, though he has the SQL Source Control plug in to SSMS to make managing his database code easier.

I won’t duplicate his process here, though it’s one that should work well. It has lots of pieces and parts, and might seem confusing, but it’s not. He describes in detail how he runs tools from the command line to build a more automated process. If you want us to do more of the work, we have an automation pack to smooth the entire process, and we’re improving it all the time.

I would encourage you to think about building your own automated process for database changes. It might seem like adding work for no good reason, but it can pay off as you expand the process through later environments to deploy to QA, Staging, UAT, Production and any other environments you might need to. If you move to the cloud, having automated processes become even more important.

You can also take a look at the Red Gate “Learn more about databass delivery and continuous integration” page. We’ve got some resources up there and are looking to add more all the time.

July 30, 2014
Apologies to my CI for Databases Attendees

I have to apologize to everyone that attended my Continuous Integration for Databases talk at SQL Bits. I ran over, a few demos didn’t work, and my machine flaked more than expected. I know those things happen, but I still need to apologize.

While there were problems with my demos, I should have moved on and gone through things a little quicker as well. I could have cut out, or cut down a few concepts, to get through things quicker. The session is really built for 75 minutes, but that’s no excuse. I need a 60 minute, smoothly delivered, version.

I also should have run through everything completely after some changes at Red Gate. I only set up part of it, which was a mistake. I don’t know if I’d have caught anything, but I might have.

I’ll work on getting some video and written content of the presentation up here, and hopefully that will help you understand the concepts, and perhaps start to implement CI with your own databases.

July 21, 2014