Voice of the DBA

Tag: Redgate

Adding SQL Change Automation to Jenkins for Database CI
In a previous post, I explained how to get Jenkins running in a container for your local CI work. In this one, I’ll expand on the process for database CI with a quick look at getting the SQL Change Automation plugin added to Jenkins

The first step here is to click the Manage Jenkins menu item from the home page.

This gives you a number of items on the right. Scroll down and you’ll find the Manage Plugins option.

Once you click this, you see a list of the installed plugins with updates in the right. You also see a few tabs for managing and adding plugins. Click over to the Available tab for plugins that you can add, but don’t have installed.

In the upper right is a Search box. I entered “redg” and you quickly see the list shrink to the one you want: the Redgate SQL Change Automation plugin.

Check the box next to the plugin (in the Install column) and then click “Install without restart”. I restart isn’t needed in this case to get the plugin to work. Once you click this, you will see the plugin status appear.

It should install quickly and let you know it’s done. I did this 4 or 5 times and every time it just worked.

At this point, you can add this plugin to your builds. When you have a project, this will be one of the possible options. In a future post, I’ll look at actually performing a build with the SQL Change Automation Plugin.

There are other posts in this series:
August 21, 2019
Getting Started with Spawn

I’m excited that the Redgate Foundry is working on some cool projects. The Future of DevOps is one and part of that work is with Spawn. I’ve played with this a little, and I wanted to write about a few adventures I’ve had.

First, you need an account as Spawn is hosted and there is a login. The idea here is that the service (hosted now, but could be on premise) handles all of the complexity of databases in containers, spinning them up and managing them, with you just connecting to an endpoint to use the database. We can spin up SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, MySQL, and Redis in this fashion. It’s truly a Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS).

Spawn on Windows

For once, this is easier, or I think it is. I downloaded the spawnctl.exe CLI and then put it in a folder in my path. For me, I have a “utilities” folder where I drop stuff and that’s where this lives. I can check this working with a version parameter.

So far, so good. Now we need to log in. I like integrated authentication schemes, and this one works well. I start with a “spawnctl auth” call from the command line.

This pauses and opens a web browser window. It’s here I need to log in. We support Github and Microsoft, but have mostly been using Github for our demo work.

Once I click that, since I have a Github session elsewhere, I’m logged in and I get a code back.

I paste that back in the cmdline and I am authenticated. From here, I can then see what images I have. As you can see, there are both MSSQL and PostgreSQL images for me.

I also have a few containers from my demo work.

Let’s make a new container and connect to it. I’ll use Azure Data Studio, since I can connect to both SQL Server and PostgreSQL.

Logging In

To get a database, I’ll use a CREATE verb and the DATA-CONTAINER noun, along with an image. When this runs, I get a note this container is being created, then I get a response with login information.

Let’s put that in ADS. I can copy/paste my credentials into a connection dialog and then hit Connect.

As you can see, I’m connected.

I see the demo database we’ve been using and the tables in there. How this works is worthy of more posts, but for now, this is pretty cool.

I can do the same thing with PostgreSQL. Create a container.

Then connect (need to specify the port in Advanced)

And query:

Pretty cool. Simple, easy, and I think about as fast and easy as any other cloud database. Here, though, I am spinning up a container from an image template. That’s valuable for dev work, and I’ll talk about that in the future.

July 1, 2019
Watch the State of SQL Server Monitoring tomorrow
Tomorrow Redgate is running a webinar on the State of SQL Server Monitoring with Grant, Chris Yates, Annette Allen, and Tony Maddonna. You can register now and attend on June 25, at 4pm BST/11am EDT/8am PDT.

What has Redgate’s latest survey revealed about the state of SQL Server monitoring in 2019? Each year we contract for a survey on monitoring and produce a report (similar to and in addition to the State of Database DevOps). This is the only industry report to benchmark monitoring in the SQL Server community, now in its second year.

Join our panel of SQL Server experts as they discuss the key findings of our industry-leading report, that includes insights such as:
- Getting to grips with growing estates
- Issues caused by migrations
- Which tooling is being used
- Staying on top of multiple database systems
- What is the next big challenge facing the industry.
The report has data from over 800 participants across a range of sectors and from all around the globe. The key findings include: Estates are continuing to grow, migrations is predicted to be the biggest challenge facing database professionals this year, adoption of cloud technologies is increasing and Redgate’s SQL Monitor is the most popular third-party tool (even when we remove out customer base).

The report will be available after the 25^th June. Look for a link, or attend the webinar and we’ll send you the link.

Register today.
June 24, 2019
The SQL Change Automation in SSMS Beta

Give it a try, as the beta is out. I’ve been watching this product and getting updates for the last six months or so and lately I’ve been pushing to get this out. It’s close enough to be useful and helpful for me, and I wanted to get other feedback.

Someone listened and you can now try this. If you’ve been using SCA (SQL Change Automation) in VS, now you can work in SSMS as well. give it a try and let us have your feedback. I’m excited to get migration based development into SSMS.

May 23, 2019