In this article we explain what is a database dry run and how DBmaestro can help you get the most out of it.
What is “Dry Run”
Every DBA knows the concerns when it is time to deploy to production. Will it work? Will it break something?
Nobody wants to fix bugs while the production environment is down. DBmaestro removes stress and uncertainty. With DBmaestro you can pre-run your SQL scripts against a production-like environment. It does this as part of the CI/CD. If there is an issue in the SQL statements, the program sends an alert.
What is the purpose of a Dry Run?
A dry run (or a practice run) is a testing process where potential failure effects are intentionally mitigated. Testing if a passenger will survive a crash for the car industry (a crash test) is an example of a dry run. So is the testing of a pilot ejection seat while the jet is parked on the ground and not in the air (from Wikipedia).
What is Dry Run in SQL?
Running the SQL scripts which are intended to run on production in a similar database environment.
For instance: test your UPDATE and DELETE queries before you run them.
How does DBmaestro enable you to use dry runs?
DryRun is an optional environment in DBmaestro (you may configure it when you set your Release Source environment).
The DryRun environment layer is available for projects in which the “DryRun” option has been activated. During a Package Precheck process, this environment will be overwritten with the Release Source schemas/databases. Then the scripts will be executed to verify that they will run on the real Release Source environment.
Illustration: Dry Run using DBmaestro (click to enlarge).
You can also integrate DBmaestro with common CI/CD tools such as Jenkins and GitLab CI to apply the best practices of dry runs (e.g. apply developer CI feedback loop)
Mitigate risks and increase compliance and peace of mind while you deploy to production by using DBmaestro Release Automation and Dry run.
Dry runs are available in DBmaestro Enterprise edition only.
To learn more about our DBmaestro offering please contact us: dbmaestro@almtoolbox.com or call us: 866-503-1471 (USA / Canada) or +972-722-405-222 (International)
Written by Nehemia Litterat, senior consultant at ALM-Toolbox.
Nehemia has more than 25 years of experience in software development, DevOps, team management of both server side and front end development.
Nehemia is experienced in Java development and improving software development processes – mainly with automation and tools supporting dev tools.
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