Redgate Blog

Posts by
Tonie Huizer

Tonie Huizer is a Software, Data, and DevOps Consultant who believes good tech starts with understanding your people. A regular on international stages and a Microsoft Certified Azure Developer, Tonie loves helping teams simplify complex challenges; whether that’s modernizing database deployments, designing scalable systems, or just getting Dev and Ops to finally talk to each other. He is also a Redgate Community Ambassador, and co-leads <strong><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/seaql-saturday/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SeaQL Saturday</a></strong>, a community-driven and canine-friendly event in the Netherlands.

14 July 2026

14 July 2026

Blue-Green Deployments: But What about the Database?

Shared-database Blue-Green deployments help teams extend safer, phased application releases to the database. This article explains how the Expand-Contract pattern allows us to make backward-compatible database changes, keeping old and new application versions working side by side, while Flyway Enterprise ensures that these changes are always controlled, visible, tested and… Read more

10 December 2025

10 December 2025

Simple Workflows for Flyway and Entity Framework Code First

Entity Framework Code First is great for development, but its abstractions can hide risky database changes until deployment. This article explores three practical EF–Flyway hybrid workflows that add visibility and control, helping teams stabilize deployments for complex, legacy databases such as monoliths. Read more

23 April 2025

23 April 2025

Reducing Database Complexity and Size using Subsetting

Getting realistic test data from large production databases can be a challenge, especially when you're trying to keep dev environments lightweight and secure. Redgate Test Data Manager includes a subsetting CLI that simplifies this by letting you generate smaller, fully representative subsets automatically. This article will walk you through getting… Read more

20 February 2025

20 February 2025

Automating Flyway Desktop Development using the Flyway CLI

This article is for any developers who want to learn how to use the Flyway CLI to automate the database development workflow used in the Flyway Desktop GUI, where we capture the schema changes made to a local development database, and then use schema comparison to auto-generate and validate a… Read more

16 September 2024

16 September 2024

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… Read more

13 March 2024

13 March 2024

How to Manage Static Data in Existing Flyway Projects

How do we capture static data in our Flyway projects, and then track and deploy any changes to it, while also ensuring that our automated deployment process doesn't try to deploy static data to databases where it already exists, such as the production database? For new Flyway projects, it's quite… Read more

9 January 2024

9 January 2024

Automated Provisioning of Multi-Database Environments in a Flyway Development

This article describes how we implemented lightweight database provisioning, using clones, within an automated Flyway release process . It allows users to self-serve personal copies of a complex multi-database system, in a way that is transparent, supports flexible Git branching and merging strategies and agile releases, but does not compromise… Read more

18 September 2023

18 September 2023

Better Database Development: The Role of Test Data Management

Any organization that aims for reliable, online deployment of database changes needs a Test Data Management (TDM) strategy that allows developers to test the database early, thoroughly, and repeatedly, with the right test data. The benefits include more resilient database deployments, fewer bugs, and shorter lead time for changes. Read more

23 August 2023

23 August 2023

Working with Flyway and Entity Framework Code First: Automation

This article will demonstrate how to automate a hybrid database change management system that uses Entity Framework Code First for development and Flyway for deployments. We automatically convert C# migrations, produced by EF, to the Flyway format and then use Flyway command line to deploy the migrations and save the… Read more

16 March 2023

16 March 2023

Working with Flyway And Entity Framework Code First: An Overview

This article presents an approach to database development and deployment that combines the strengths of Entry Framework Code First for .NET-driven development with the control and database versioning provided by Flyway's SQL migrations. It allows every database change to be reviewed and tested for integrity, performance, and stability in the… Read more

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