DEVOPSdigest

Redgate launched SQL Change Automation 4.0, extending its database change management automation tool to the free Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) development environment for the first time.

SQL Change Management empowers developers to automate the DevOps database delivery process by building, testing, and deploying database changes checked into version control, for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, and Azure SQL Database Managed Instances.

With the new SSMS extension, developers can now choose whether to work in Microsoft Visual Studio or SSMS, with team members able to use both development environments to share and collaborate seamlessly on the same projects. Alternatively, users can standardize on a single development environment, depending on their particular needs.

This new capability especially benefits heterogenous development teams where developers and database administrators want to use their development environment of choice, but still follow the same DevOps processes when it comes to database changes. For example, specialist database developers and DBAs prefer to work with SSMS even if they are collaborating with full stack developers who use Visual Studio. They now don’t need to learn to use new development environments, maximizing their effectiveness and making adoption easier while enabling efficient team working.

Thanks to the rise of Database DevOps, companies are increasingly adopting Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery of database changes. SQL Change Automation supports this, freeing teams from manual database change management tasks, like sorting out deployment scripts, speeding up deployments and enabling developers to focus on more value-added work instead.

As Robert Farrell, Product Manager, Redgate Software, comments: “Redgate is dedicated to delivering choice to users - letting teams work in the environments and tools that they are most familiar with, reducing learning curves and enabling greater collaboration. The latest version of SQL Change Automation supports this philosophy, extending its capabilities and ensuring that database code quality and automation is at the heart of DevOps processes, bringing stability and speed.”

Other features of SQL Change Automation v4 include static code analysis and new data compare options for PowerShell. Static code analysis identifies potential problems with migration scripts to be deployed and warns the user about them, before changes are made to Production, ensuring best practices are being followed.

SQL Change Automation allows finer control of options to support the automation of changes to static data within PowerShell. It also continues to integrate with popular version control systems and orchestration tools, and SQL Change Automation PowerShell cmdlets and graphical extensions enable users to implement Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery for database changes.