Voice of the DBA

Tag: Redgate

  • SQL in the City 2014 – Washington DC

    I’m off today, traveling to SQL in the City 2014 – Washington DC to meet Grant and deliver another database delivery seminar. We’ll be talking about Version Control, testing, continuous integration, and database delivery, and showing off some of the Red Gate tools that can make the process easier.

    I really think that you will reap benefits if you start to build a software delivery pipeline and incorporate some of the agile/ALM/DLM processes into your software build system. It’s some work up front, and maintenance ongoing, but it does allow you to regression test, rapidly review changes, and consistently deploy software to your production systems.

    Not easy, but it does build solid engineering habits and should help you deliver software reliably, and quickly.

    We’re looking at doing more seminars in 2015 and are planning things now. If you’re interested in having us some to your city, perhaps around a SQL Saturday, or maybe just because you don’t have any events, send a request to Red Gate. Use sqlinthecity@red-gate.com and let them know you want Grant and myself to swing by.

  • How Often Does Production Drift?

    One of the new products that Red Gate Software is working on is SQL Lighthouse, which is designed to track and alert you on “database drift“, which are the changes in your schema. I hadn’t really heard the concept in the past, though I’ve found there are a few people using the term to describe the changes being made to production that aren’t inline with the development project that created (and updates) the database.

    Vendors that sell products backed by a SQL Server database, like Microsoft Dynamics, often consider database drift to be a violation of their EULA. When a customer changes the database, even by just adding indexes, it causes them support costs, though arguably those costs are lower than if no indexes were ever added by enterprising DBAs.

    However this also happens in databases built by companies. It seems there’s no shortage of “quick fixes” in production, in addition to the “improvements” that DBAs and others seem to make to their live databases in order to solve some short term issue. I know there’s a need for this, and even seen recommendations to ensure production differs from development schemas. However I haven’t had many issues with this in the past and I’ve tried to prevent any drift.

    Maybe because I’m a controlling DBA, or maybe because I’ve been lucky. In either case, while I’ve had to implement hot fixes and changes in production, it’s been rare. Most of the time I’ve been able to backfill these changes in development (and test) environments, or delay the fix until it could be tested.

    However I’m sure there’s a need for a way to manage drift, and detect it as the number of databases you manage grows, so I’m excited by SQL Lighthouse and hope it helps DBAs avoid those late night phone calls by being aware of what’s changing in their systems.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 2.2MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and LibSyn.

  • Off to London

    Today I’m off across the Atlantic again. SQL in the City 2014 kicks off in London and I have 3 talks to give on Friday. Plus a keynote.

    Today is keynote practice, last minute packing, and then off to the airport for my flight overnight to London. This will be another quick trip, and although I think it would be good to spend a few days in Cambridge at the Red Gate offices, I’m so focused on SQL in the City, as well as this being my third trip this month, I didn’t think it made sense. I still have a week in Seattle coming, so this has been a tough time.

    I am a bit excited about the event. We have a new venue, and we’ve worked to fit a number of talks together in a sequence that I think can help get people moving forward in a Continuous Delivery software+database development process. I really think this is the way to build better software, and I want to see us jumpstart development on SSC in this manner in 2015, and hopefully get continuous work being done.

    I’ve also got a new talk based on the DBA Team articles, and I hope everyone likes it. I tried for a bit of humor, so we’ll see. If it does well, I’ll do it in Seattle. If not, I’ll be reworking things next week.

    Once again work blends into the weekend, though not by much. I’ll be heading back from the UK Saturday morning, so I’ll miss a half day in Denver, though it will be a long day in all for me. My flight will leave around 1am Denver time, so by the time we hit Saturday night, I’ll be a bit worn out.

  • Final Prep for SQL in the City

    I can’t believe this will be the fourth SQL in the City in London next week. It’s amazing to me that we’ve managed to build this great series of one day events that is so popular with SQL Server professionals.

    I’m heading back to London next week, a quick trip, but one I enjoy (once I’m there), as I get to see lots of old friends and meet new ones at the event. It’s always fun, and despite the long trip, it’s worth it.

    However I still have lots of prep. A few days off  this week to spend with my kids (I’ve been gone too much lately), so I’ll be pressed to finish my talks this week, and then have lots of rehearsals next week before I fly (and probably more while flying).

    If you’re in the UK and can get to London next Friday, we still have some space, and we’d love to talk to you about better database development, and administration, for your SQL Servers.