The scale of change in the insurance and financial markets is such that there is little time for the application or database developer to sit back and work out ways of improving the delivery process. Over time, however, it is possible to improve the process so that individual heroics are required less and less as release and deployment become more managed and predictable. It can be messy and error-prone at times but the long-term benefits make the struggle worthwhile.… Read more
For an experienced database developer, the idea of doing non-breaking database deployments while the database is still online holds respect but only a little fear. If your test procedures are good, you attend to the detail, and the application interfaces are properly managed, it can be achieved. Ed Elliott explains some of the issues to tackle.… Read more
Once you're clear about what data the developers and testers need to be able to be effective, you have several alternatives approaches to providing them exactly the data that will give you rock solid database tests that will allow deployments with far less risk. Tim goes through some practical demos to show you how you can automatically keep your testing environments up to date, and thereby ship more robust databases.… Read more
Behaviour Driven Development is not always clearly understood, and the term is particularly unfamiliar in database circles. Seb Rose introduces us to the fundamentals of BDD, and make some suggestions for how it might be relevant to database development.… Read more
Constructing a test environment for your databases can be a difficult task at the best of times. Once you've actually acquired the hardware needed and architected the environment, you still have to arrange and securely transport the data. And with the rising demand for fast feedback and continuously integrated processes, having all of this automated and operating at speed is a challenge all of its own.… Read more
So you're keen to take the first steps to the continuous integration of your database. You have to start by getting your database into source control. You can then begin to automate your build processes in order to generate and test a database. By doing this regularly, you'll be much better prepared for the deployment process because you'll have solved integration issues when they happen, and facilitated the broader testing process.… Read more
Continuous Integration and automatic builds are fantastic tools for software teams, but only if developers take responsibility for their code. Karsten Kempe explains how to use Team Foundation Server to drive better continuous integration, and walks through a simple (open source) tool he built to make nightly builds more transparent, and more valuable.… Read more
A Hyper-V replica installation provides rapid disaster-recovery by asynchronously replicating a VM running at a primary site to a replica site. Know how to prepare for something to go wrong at the Primary Server/Site? In this article Nirmal Sharma presents the Replication options for a Replica Virtual Machine with a focus on Hyper-V Failover.
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A Hyper-V replica installation provides a great opportunity for providing rapid disaster-recovery by asynchronously replicating a VM running at a primary site to a replica site across LAN or WAN to maintain a hot standby VM. Nirmal explains more, and shows how to set it up.… Read more
Hyper-V has become far more sophisticated since the release V3 of Windows 2012, but it means that there are now a number of alternative ways of achieving migration and High-availability. The right method depends on your particular requirements, as Nirmal explains.… Read more
A configuration of Hyper-V networking across two or more Hyper-V Hosts is the most complex type. It needs to be configured according to the business rules and communication between Virtual Machines and the Hyper-V Parent Partition is best configured with VMBUS and VSP/VSC components. Nirmal explains how best to do it… Read more
Hyper-V Networking can be configured to meet a wide range of requirements, but it isn't always obvious which choices are appropriate when configuring the virtual network, and in particular the best ways to implement Virtual Network Switches.… Read more
Test-Driven Development is a practice that can bring many benefits, including better design, and less-buggy code, but is it relevant to database development, where the process of development tends to me much more interactive, and the culture more test-oriented? Greg reviews the support for TDD for Databases, and suggests that it is worth giving it a try for the range of advantages it can bring to team-working.… Read more
We’ll be looking at a typical database ‘migration’ script which uses an unusual technique to migrate existing ‘de-normalised’ data into a more correct form. So, the book-distribution business that uses the PUBS database has gradually grown organically, and has slipped into ‘de-normalisation’ habits. What’s this? A new column with a list of tags or ‘types’ … Read more
There is a popular design for a database that requires a built-in audit-trail of amendments and additions, where data is never deleted, but merely superseded by a later version. Whilst this is conceptually simple, it has always made for complicated SQL for reporting the latest version of data. Alex joins the debate on the best way of doing this with an example using an indexed view and the filtered index.… Read more
Simple-Talk generally doesn't re-publish anything from another site, but Troy's popular blog post on the Ten Commandments of Source Control was too good to miss. Here is Troy's updated version in the light of the readers' comments made when it was first published.… Read more
VMWare VSphere is a virtualisation technology that is best learned by setting up, on a single PC, a VSphere cluster as a virtualisation lab. Once you have it, it will then be a useful tool in many ways. This doesn't need to be an expensive exercise, but can be daunting if you don't have a simple guide to talk you through the process. Here, Sean provides that simple guide
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If you need to test new software, configurations, or operating systems, a virtual machine saves time, risk and hardware. You can set up a virtual Test environment for free with some products such as VMware Server 2. All you need is a simple set of instructions about how to set it up; and here it is, thanks to Sean Duffy.… Read more
If you're working with Hyper-V, it's recommended that you use Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core for your root partition, as its stripped-down nature makes it a more secure option than it's more full-bodied sibling. But it can also be painful to work with. Jaap Wesselius expertly guides us through the pitfalls.… Read more
Virtualization is a powerful technology, but it comes with its own host of monotonous and time-consuming tasks, no matter how big or small your organization is. Eliminating these mind-numbing tasks (and the potential for error which they bring with them) is a goal with striving for, and well within your reach. Jonathan Medd explains.… Read more
