DEVOPSdigest

Redgate has overhauled its Deployment Suite for Oracle to add third party support and significantly improve its performance.

The Suite includes three tools that make it simple to sync Oracle database schemas and data, record database changes in source control, deploy from a repository, and generate deployment scripts. V4 which has just been released extends support across all Oracle versions, improves performance, and offers added support for Git, Subversion (SVN 1.9), and Team Foundation Server (TFS 2015).

Users can now, for example, use Source Control for Oracle to version control Oracle 12c database schemas with Git, SVN and TFS (Git over TFS is also supported), or connect to other version control systems via a working folder. Importantly, they can continue to make changes in their normal development environment without the need to work on separate script files, and changes are automatically checked into version control.

When it comes to deploying those changes, Schema Compare for Oracle and Schema Data Compare for Oracle let users quickly and clearly see the schema and data differences across all database instances. Update scripts can then be generated without needing to write a single line of PL/SQL, and changes can be deployed accurately with zero errors.

With source control and manual deployments in place, users can also use the command line to implement continuous integration. The Schema Compare and Data Compare command lines included in the Deployment Suite for Oracle have been rewritten, and enable a CI process to be set up on the same build server used for applications.

When database changes are checked into version control, it triggers an automatic build process that tests the new code and detects problems earlier on in development, preventing unforeseen issues arising at deployment time. So from the existing infrastructure, a consistent CI process for both application and database development can be established.

“Many of our customers have mixed server estates,” comments Kate Duggan, Redgate Marketing Manager, “and we wanted to extend the advantages they enjoy with SQL Server to Oracle 12c. That way, they can introduce processes like continuous integration in the same way they can for SQL Server. The Deployment Suite for Oracle speeds up development, simplifies change management, and keeps the data in Oracle databases safe.”

The development team behind the Oracle Suite is now working on ways to align the tools closer to DevOps practices so that users can move beyond continuous integration and introduce continuous delivery for the database across the whole development process.