We recently blogged about two new open source websites, OSS Zero to Sixty and OSSPerks. Set up by Nik and Anthony, founders of Glimpse, they’re two sites dedicated to helping anyone looking for help, tips, resources and tooling for open source projects. Since then, we’ve heard about all sorts of exciting things the open source … Read more
In a previous blog I describe in twenty one easy steps how to set up continuous integration using a combination of TeamCity and Red Gate tools. Okay, it’s easy only in a relative sense, giving that until recently database continuous integration was almost impossible to set up. One would always suspect that a twenty-one-step process … Read more
Production databases can get very large. This in itself is to be expected, but when a copy of the database is needed the database must be restored, requiring additional and costly storage. For example, if you want to give each developer a full copy of your production server, you’ll need n times the storage cost … Read more
The rise in demand for database continuous integration has forced me to skill-up in various new tools and technologies, particularly build servers. We have been using JetBrain’s TeamCity here at Red Gate for a couple of years now, having replaced the ageing CruiseControl.NET, so it was a natural choice for us to use this for … Read more
Because there is so little information on database continuous integration out in the wild, I’ve taken it upon myself to aggregate as much as possible and post the links to this blog. Because it’s my area of expertise, this will focus on SQL Server and Red Gate tooling, although I am keen to include any … Read more
Note: SQL Connect has been discontinued. For easier SQL Server development in Visual Studio, check out ReadyRoll and Redgate’s SSDT Power Tools. Developers have long since had to context switch between two IDEs, Visual Studio for application code development and SQL Server Management Studio for database development. While this is accepted, especially given the richness … Read more
Testing a database upgrade script as part of a continuous integration process will only work if there is an easy way to automate the generation of the upgrade scripts. There are two common approaches to managing upgrade scripts. The first is to maintain a set of scripts as-you-go-along. Many SQL developers I’ve encountered will store … Read more
This post will describe how to set up basic database continuous integration using TeamCity to initiate the build process, SQL Source Control to put your database under source control, and the SQL Compare command line to keep a test database up to date. In my example I will be using Subversion as my source control … Read more
Typically, when I install SQL Server Management Studio and run it for the first time, the first thing I do is to close the Object Explorer Details window. After all, it doesn’t seem to serve a useful purpose, duplicating information that already exists in the Object Explorer. However, I have discovered that it has one … Read more
As part of my product management role I regularly attend trade shows and man the Red Gate booth in the vendor exhibition hall. Amongst other things this involves giving product demos to customers. Our latest demo involves SQL Source Control and SQL Test in a continuous integration environment. In order to demonstrate quite how easy … Read more
Although not everyone is practicing continuous integration, many have at least heard of the concept. A recent poll on www.simple-talk.com indicates that 40% of respondents are employing the technique. It is widely accepted that the earlier issues are identified in the development process, the lower the cost to the development process. The worst case scenario, … Read more
We know that Oracle developers and DBAs face many of the same challenges as those who work with SQL Server. We know it’s frustrating to compare and deploy database schemas across different environments. And we know that we can help – but only if we take the time to understand exactly what you guys NEED. … Read more
We’ve recently released a new feature in Red Gate SQL Packager 6 that enables any script to be packaged, not just those created by the tool. A side-effect of this is that it makes the tool far more powerful and flexible. Earlier versions of SQL Packager worked well for the majority of deployments, but very … Read more
