SQLBits 2020

Solving the dev DB problem with Docker and dbaclone

Shared dev databases have a disastrous effect on quality and throughput. However, moving to self-service dev/test databases is hard due to storage and data privacy concerns. The solution? Docker and dbaclone.

DevOps promotes self-service access to usable, production-like dev/test environments – but so many data folks are lumbered with shared development databases which are often inconsistent with production. It’s difficult to isolate the development of different features, so they are rolled together into big releases. It’s no wonder database deployments are often expensive, complicated and risky.

What if it was possible for developers to provision themselves with a disposable, masked copy of last night’s production 64 TB database on their regular workstation, with limited storage, in a matter of seconds? What if it was as easy as “git clone f5”?

In this session attendees will learn to use GitHub, Docker, SSDT and dbaclone to unshackle themselves from “Wild West” dev databases and empower them to use modern branching techniques and Azure DevOps to continuously deliver their updates to production.

The result? Empowered developers who can deliver value in smaller batches, through significantly more regular and reliable deployments, delivering value to users much more quickly.