T-SQL Tuesday #091 – Databases and DevOps

Implementing DevOps with databases presents a unique set of challenges. However, just because something might be hard doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be done.

I had the opportunity to work with a team of developers, database developers and DBAs under a management team that all agreed on the common goal we had, delivering more, better performing applications, faster. We didn’t know it at the time, but we were doing DevOps.

DevOps gets a bad name because, well, the problems that DevOps sets out to solve, poor communication, bad teamwork, dysfunctional development and badly configured and maintained processes, are  done by the same team that attempts to implement DevOps. However, they look on it as a purely mechanical switch that they throw, assign some poor person to the role of DevOps Coordinator (or something) and then maintain the status quo in regards to their culture and approach to software. Shocking that implementing this doesn’t work.

Then, toss in databases with the whole issues around persistence, and things go nuts.

This then, is my choice for T-SQL Tuesday. How do we approach DevOps as developers, DBAs, report writers, analysts and database developers? How do we deal with data persistence, process, source control and all the rest of the tools and mechanisms, and most importantly, culture, that would enable us to get better, higher functioning teams put together? Please, tell me your DevOps stories.

Housekeeping

Please, get your posts together for publication on Tuesday, 13 June 2017, no later than 23:59 UTC. That is the deadline. For some reason trackbacks don’t always work (not sure why, they are enabled), so if you notice that yours is not here, please post a link in the comments below. Follow the rules as follows:

1. Anyone can participate and anyone should.
2. Your blog topic must be on the topic of the month (in this case, DevOps and Databases)
3. The blog post must be live within the time of the deadline (Tuesday, get it)
4. Blog posts need not mention T-SQL Tuesday in either the title or body
5. Participants must include the T-SQL Tuesday logo (above). That logo must link back to the invitation post (you’re reading it). Adam adds some additional verbiage here that I won’t repeat, even though I agree with it.
6. Have fun. Write content. Get it linked back here.

If you’re interested in hosting your own T-SQL Tuesday event, read up on the rules here and get in touch with Adam Machanic.