Voice of the DBA

Tag: SQL Clone

  • Launching Products

    Over the years I’ve seen a lot of products launched. I still remember the fanfare around Windows 95, and the efforts to make this an event of sorts, back when virtual events didn’t make sense. There have been a few Windows or SQL Server launches, some of which took place at large conferences, but quite a few were launched in different communities with small physical events. In Denver, there were a few times when Microsoft rented a hotel conference space and scheduled speakers, some from Microsoft, and some local. These would be all day events, showcasing new features, with customers talking about their experiences in previewing the product.

    Just a few weeks ago, Microsoft launched Visual Studio 2017, with some fanfare, and two days of virtual events. I watched one, and hope to find some time to watch a few of the second day’s events. While I don’t necessarily learn a lot, I go get a bit excited seeing new technology and how different people use it. It’s inspiring to see demos and solutions work well on stage. I think it’s a welcome respite from the drudgery of dealing with my own or other people’s code, and the various problems it presents, as well as the various bugs and limitations of the tools and IDEs I use. It seems there’s always some devil in the details that slows me down.

    However, for a short time, I get rejuvenated and excited by the new features. I want to dig in and experiment. It can be a struggle to find time, but watching someone demo a new way of working reminds me of the things I love about computers and technology. I think this is one of the reasons I love attending SQL Saturdays or other conferences and watching other presenters talk. I always see some new and interesting things that generate ideas and excitement. I’m really looking forward to SQL Bits in a few weeks (still time to register), and a few days of seeing what others have been accomplishing with SQL Server.

    I also have pride when I’m a part of the company launching a product. At Redgate, we’ve had a number of SQL in the City shows, which I’ve been honored to be a part of in many cities around the US and UK. Last year we tried a streamed version, which was yet another experience, but one I hope we repeat again. And, in fact, I get to be a part of another product launch next week. We’ve already release SQL Clone, but we have a live-streaming launch coming next week. I’ll be traveling over to Cambridge and getting ready for a few presentations that will hopefully inspire you to try the product. If nothing else, check out the stream and see if we show anything that sparks an idea in your mind.

    I know many of us work inside companies, and our product launches are small, to relatively few customers that are often our fellow employees. Some of you work with companies and the results of your work are visible to lots of others. No matter which environment you work in, I hope you feel the same pride and excitement I do when you release a new idea for your users to enjoy.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

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  • The Livestream Product Launch

    SQL in the City Streamed in 2016 was a success, with lots of feedback that people enjoyed the sessions and format. With the release of SQL Clone, we’ve decided to do it again.

    The SQL Clone Product Launch Live Stream is coming in a couple weeks, on Mar 29, live from Cambridge, UK. I’ll be traveling there, along with Grant Fritchey, and we’ll both be helping broadcast all day, repeating sessions across many time zones.

    Join us and see if SQL Clone is right for you. Or download an eval and give it a try.

  • Dots, Skills, and SQL Clone: A Contest from Redgate

    Redgate just launched SQL Clone, a new product that can provision copies of databases in seconds. By copies, I mean full sized, up to 2TB copies of your database, each separate and isolated, and built in seconds. What’s even more amazing is that each of these copies takes just a few MB of space.

    echodotAs a launch contest, Redgate is giving away 5 Amazon Echo Dots to some lucky individuals. The overall winner will also receive a copy of SQL Clone. To enter, you need to to tell us what “skill” for Alexa you would build. Perhaps you want to know if any backups failed. Maybe you want to know how many deployments you’ve made to your database. Perhaps you just want to have the Dot remind you to pull the lasagna out of the oven. Just let us know in the comments section below to enter and good luck.

    At Redgate, we had some fun with SQL Clone and an echo, building an Alexa skill that provisions a database using your voice. Not terribly practical, but that might be fun if a developer gets annoyed and wants to yell at Alexa to create a a new database clone. You can see how they built the real skill here (or watch the video).

    Provisioning a database with SQL Clone and Alexa

     

    Over the last few years I’ve been talking DevOps for databases with lots of people, and one of the obstacles many people face is using a shared database for development.

    Why? Often because the developers need a certain amount of data and they use a copy of production. They also don’t have (or want to use) the disk space to give everyone a copy of the database. With SQL Clone, you can see that my 97GB database uses only 49MB for each developer.

    2017-02-22 17_11_05-SQL Clone

    Take a walkthrough of SQL Clone and see how it works for you. Download the 14 day free trial and see how SQL Clone might help you smooth your database development process.

    Terms and conditions apply: http://www.red-gate.com/products/dba/sql-clone/entrypage/competition-terms-and-conditions

  • How Do You Use SQL Clone?

    On Monday, Redgate released v1.0 of SQL Clone, and I’m excited that the product is finally available. I’m excited because this has been a long time coming, but it’s worth the wait.

    You can certainly download SQL Clone and try it out, but I’d also say you should check out this virtual tour to see how the product works. It makes sense to me, but I’ve been testing it for months.

    I’ve also written a few pieces about how SQL Clone plays with TDE (part 1 and part 2), and there’s plenty more at the SQL Clone site. Check it out today and see how you can easily build dev/test environments, at full size, without using all the disk space.