David Atkinson

Red Gate consults the Oracle (developers and DBAs)

David Atkinson — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:17:00 GMT

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.

We've already got a great tool for doing this kind of comparison and deployment with SQL server (SQL Compare), and we're thinking about building something to do the same, essential job for Oracle. We've even thrown together some 'potential screenshots' to whet your appetite:

(Click on a screenshot for an enlarged version)

Oracle Compare Project

Oracle Compare – Synchronization Wizard

Oracle Compare – Comparison Results

But to build a truly great product we need feedback from some Professionals who use Oracle. If you are interested in influencing the development of this tool and trying out the first test versions we build before anyone else, sign up to our Oracle advisory group. We’re putting this together to collect your input and make sure we are building a tool that is valuable for you. To sign up, please follow the link below to enter your details along with any other thoughts you may have…

http://www.red-gate.com/products/schema_compare_for_oracle/index.htm

Cheers,

David

Deploying changes to SQL Server with SQL Packager is now a lot more powerful

David Atkinson — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 10:53:00 GMT

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 occasionally the sql script generated would require some modification, which wasn't a practical option prior to the v6 release. As product manager for SQL Packager I received a fair amount of examples of such amendments. In no particular order here is a selection of issues encountered by our users:

There are different users and login mappings (users and logins are often customer-specific) between the development and production environments.
Users want to specify their own default passwords for logins.
Often it is useful to have the schema and data portions of the deployment script in a single transaction, rather than two.
Some databases have a version table that needs to be checked prior to running a script and updated after the script has been run successfully.
If a NOT NULL column has been added to a table that contains data, it is necessary to specify a default value.
It is always useful to add customer pre and post deployment scripts, either in or out of the transaction.
It can be useful to add IF NOT EXISTS / DROP statements for tables that may or may not be in the target, to ensure the scripts work.
Often there are different filegroups in the 'test' environment and the production environment.
Some databases have complex dependencies that require manual reordering.
It can be useful to add database-level configuration statements, such as ALTER DATABASE SET TRUSTWORTHY
As part of a deployment it is sometimes necessary to massage data into a different format.
SQL Packager synchronizes all the data in a table. Often a subset of data in a table needs synchornizing.
Synchronizating data in tables that don’t have natural comparison keys is support in SQL Data Compare by not SQL Packager
Additional refactorings or database changes can be required for a complete deployment.

As it is now possible to read in a user-specified SQL Script into SQL Packager 6, all the above requirements can now be met, as the script can be easily amended by the user prior to the creation of a packaged executable. It is even possible to mix and match scripts generated by SQL Compare, SQL Data Compare, SQL Refactor and SQL Packager to create an infinitely versatile and comprehensive deployment script.

More information for SQL Packager can be found at http://www.red-gate.com/products/SQL_Packager/index.htm

SQL Data Compare: contribute to the next version

David Atkinson — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 12:58:00 GMT

Red Gate is gathering feedback for SQL Data Compare which will be fed into the next major release. If you would like to have a chance to influence the product's direction, please complete the five-minute survey by visiting the following URL. We are particularly interested in finding out how and why you currently use SQL Data Compare. If you have only evaluated it but not purchased it, please let us know why so we can solve your problem in future versions.

Link to survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=693033410484

If you complete the survey, you will be entered in our prize draw in which you could win one of five copies of SQL Refactor (http://www.red-gate.com/products/SQL_Refactor/index.htm).

Thank you and kind regards,

David Atkinson
Product Manager
Red Gate Software

The need to package databases

David Atkinson — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 13:35:00 GMT

SQL Packager has been designed to deploy a new database version to a remote site. It can package both schema and data updates into an easy-to-use executable. Red Gate is aware that it may be falling behind its sibling tools, SQL Compare and SQL Data Compare, where it comes to functionality and ease of use. Therefore we are gathering customer feedback, and if the evidence is strong enough we will consider updating it.

Therefore I'd like to ask all of you who use SQL Packager or those who simply have a need to deploy SQL Server databases internally or to remote sites, to provide feedback via the survey link below.

As an incentive we're offering ten free copies of SQL Doc, the new SQL Server documentation tool from Red Gate Software, to be offered in a prize draw.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=292942944836

Thanks for your help!

David Atkinson
Product Manager
Red Gate Software