Making Full Use of Environment Variables for Flyway Settings

Environment Variables make interactive use of Flyway much easier, and they are essential when developing callback scripts. This article explains the range of configuration details you can provide and how, and demos a PowerShell script to auto-convert the parameter values stored in Flyway .conf files into environment variables. Read more

Installing and Upgrading the Flyway CLI

This article demonstrates three ways to install and maintain the Flyway CLI. I start with the easiest way, which is to run it from Docker. Next, is a standard, manual installation on both Windows and Linux, complete with a PowerShell routine that uses aliases to make it easier to keep Flyway up to date and to switch between versions. Finally, I'll describe briefly the advantages and disadvantages of using a Package Manager like Chocolatey. Read more

The Importance of Access Checks and Controls in Database Development

This article illustrates the importance in any database development project of a 'multi-layered' approach to database access controls and security checks, based on the Principle of Least Privilege. It describes a security incident that was raised when databases related to a local development project were found to have been erroneously deployed to a remote test server. It explains the nature of the incident, what went wrong that allowed it to happen, and the measures that were put in place to prevent its recurrence. Read more

Forks in Flyway Database Development Work

Database forking allows teams to multi-task, working on different strands of development in parallel. It also allows them to manage several 'variants' of a production database, such as for SaaS applications with client-specific schema requirements. This article explains how Flyway supports and simplifies database forking, via use of Flyway's locations, baseline migrations and by mapping Flyway projects to schemas. Read more

Flyway’s Repair Command Explained Simply

The Repair command allows Flyway migrations to recommence on a database, following one or more validation errors. It modifies various details recorded in the schema history table, for applied migrations, to make them consistent with the data and metadata of the current set of Flyway migration files. This article explains what problems Repair can fix and how to run it safely, and a few alternative strategies. Read more

Data Container Revisions, Resets and Graduations

Redgate Test Data Manager allows developers to save each new version of a database as a data container revision. After making local development changes to the container, or running tests, they can instantly reset it to its starting revision. They can also load any previous revision and can even 'graduate' a revision to an image, providing a new baseline for ongoing team development. These techniques are especially effective when used in conjunction with Flyway, which automatically tracks the version of every copy of the database. Read more

Find the Version of a Flyway-managed Database

Maintaining a version of a database opens a lot of possibilities, especially if an automated process can easily grab the current version, at runtime. You might, for example, have a routine that is only appropriate after a particular version. It is also very handy to be able to associate entries in an event log or bug report with the database version. The article describes various ways to get the current Flyway schema version from Flyway, and how to get it using SQL, in SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL and SQLite. Read more

Using TOML Configuration Files with Flyway

This article discusses Flyway's transition from CONF to TOML configuration files. It highlights the advantages of TOML, such as improved readability, flexibility in managing complex database configurations, and support for specifying multiple database environments. It also discusses a few of the differences to be aware of when switching existing Flyway projects to the new config system. Read more

Using Bash with Flyway

If you're using a Linux-based operating system, Bash is the obvious choice of scripting language for Flyway. This article demos the basics of dealing with credentials in team-based database development, when using 'traditional' flyway.conf files, and how to save and parse the JSON output of Flyway commands, for example to retrieve the current schema version. It provides a full automation example that will allow a team to maintain several copies of a database, one per development branch, from a Flyway project. Read more

Flyway’s Validate Command Explained Simply

The Validate command aims to ensure that Flyway can reliably reproduce an existing version of a database from the source migration scripts by warning you if files are retrospectively added, removed or altered that would prevent it from doing so. Validation errors are Flyway's warning that "the source for this version has changed". Read more

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