Voice of the DBA

Tag: Redgate

  • The SQL Source Control Frequent Updates Channel

    One of the things we do at Redgate is release software often. It’s not just that we want you to release your software often (and develop better), but we do it ourselves. Different teams release at different cadences, which is both cool, and hard to keep track of. The SQL Prompt team is really amazing, releasing hundreds of times in the last year. A pace of almost 4 times a week!

    SQL Source Control is a product I’ve been using fairly often lately. There is a team working on updating the code regularly, and I recently found out that they had two different streams of software releases. This is so the development team can get early feedback on some new features, but also so you can get access to the new features, performance improvements, and bug fixes as soon as they’re available.

    As a result, we have a normal, mainstream channel for releases, and a frequent release channel. The frequent channel offers new updates every Wednesday whereas the normal channel releases are less regular. The releases tend to be every few months, depending on the feature set being worked on. The regular channel also rolls multiple frequent releases into one larger update.

    Enabling Frequent Release

    If you’re interested in getting frequent releases, then open SQL Source Control (SOC) and then click the help item. The “Check for updates” item is there, which is what you want to select.

    2015-10-22 11_15_18-SQL Source Control - Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio

    The update screen appears, and you may or may not have updates available. I don’t, as I updated this morning. However in the upper right corner is a “Configure visible updates” button. Click that.

    2015-10-22 11_15_28-SQL Source Control - Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio

    Once you do that, you’ll get a dialog that tells you that you might get more updates, every few weeks and get new versions. If you check the box, as I have, you get updates quicker.

    2015-10-22 11_15_36-OneNote

    One note. This isn’t for beta versions. This is for code we are sure is ready, but we’re hoping to refine how it works and this gives us a chance to essentially have a additional test audience view the code and let us know. This is over and above the automated CI process we use and rigorous testing already completed by the development team.

    My experience is that I turned this on in early September to get the new Git support. I got the release with push/pull about three weeks before others (this has since been released to the regular channel). Since then, I’ve gotten two other releases that changed minor items, the same ones available to everyone else on the frequent release channel. The next regular channel release isn’t due until early 2016.

    If you want to see more frequent changes, enable the updates. If not, you’ll get updates on the normal schedule you do now. If you’re trying to understand what version you’re on, or what the features are, we have release notes:

    And if you want to shape the product, please vote on UserVoice for the things that you’d like to see in the future.

  • DLM Dashboard moves to 50 Databases – For FREE

    I love DLM Dashboard. It’s the product that I’ve written myself, in various ways since SQL Server 6.5. My versions weren’t as pretty, often scripts that ran queries, returning loads of data in text format, from queries, trace, or Extended Events.

    However there’s been a limitation that affected even me. When DLM Dashboard was released, it allowed you to monitor 5 databases. That increased to 10 if you registered, but that still wasn’t enough. I have 4-5 databases, many in a few environments, that I’m trying to monitor.

    I had a meeting with the DLM Dashboard team a few weeks ago, and we discussed a number of items, including the limitations. We debated the topic, and I got word recently that the limitation has been raised.

    DLM Dashboard now allows you to monitor 50 databases, which covers quite a few of your environments, and quite a few complete pipelines. I’d urge you to give it a try and download the product today.

    We understand some of you might need more, or that there are other features you’ll want. The team wants to hear from you on UserVoice, which you can also get to by clicking the "Give Feedback" link in the app.

    2015-10-23 09_22_34-Photos

    This is one of the best free products I’ve seen in a long time, and I’m excited that Redgate built it.

    Now I don’t have to at any other job in the future.

  • A Great SQL in the City 2015 Seattle

    Yesterday was the Seattle edition of the 2015 Redgate Software SQL in the City tour. I was in London a couple weeks ago for the first event, and we closed out the year in Seattle on Monday.

    I had some, fun, as you can see here.

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    Slava Murygin has a bunch more pictures on his blog. Check them out and you can see how much everyone enjoyed the event.

    The day started early for me, and with rehearsals early and the need to iron a shirt, I didn’t get a chance to work out in the am. That was disappointing. It still was a 10k step day, but I’m looking forward to yoga or running today. We arrived and practiced, working through the demos and talks with our CEO, Simon, and  Alastair, a developer working on Visual Studio stuff. We felt a little less polished than in London, and I think we were all more nervous this time.

    The keynote seemed to go OK. We missed a few lines and I was hoping it wasn’t too cheesy showcasing tools, but people seemed to enjoy it.

    My Version Control talk started slow, and I was a bit worried about time, but ended up going long with some questions and had to skip some of the branching stuff. I need to write more and get some things up on this blog since I didn’t cover the topic well enough. I have to apologize to Brian Randall for running long. I gave him about 3 minutes to setup before his session.

    The rest of the day was chatting with people before the panel at the end. I think the panel is one of the more interesting sessions, with us debating and chatting about building software and we got lots of questions. There were 4 or 5 more hands in the air when I had to cut things off. I’d really like to see us do two panels a day, with only 3 people and the chance for more questions from attendees that are struggling with issues.

    I had to rush out of the event for the networking dinner with Andy Warren, but it was an enjoyable day and one I hope we repeat in 2016.

  • SQL in the City Comes to Seattle in 3 Days

    Last week I spoke at SQL in the City 2015 in London, and it was a great event. We had a wonderful event, and I’m looking forward to Seattle. Lots of good questions and comments in my version control talk, good feedback on the keynote, which I really enjoyed. I thought our end of day panel was outstanding, and I wish we had 2 hours for that as the questions were amazing.

    I’m looking forward to a duplication of SQL in the City in Seattle on Monday, just a few days away. We’re going to be at the Hyatt in downtown Seattle, and we’d love to have you come. You can register and join us, but please don’t register unless you can come.

    There are also a few workshops in Seattle on Tuesday, so if you want hands on practice, come sign up for on of these.