DBOps: DevOps for The Database
These days, databases and other infrastructure services are commonly held in the cloud. As such, you would be forgiven for thinking you no longer need DevOps. Surely your provider has automated tools to ensure your underlying database remains secure, reliable and available?
The truth, however, is that DevOps remains an important factor in monitoring performance so you can spot potential issues early and deal with them before they become problems. And that’s where DBOps comes into play.
What is DBOps?
DBOps (Database Operations) is the acronym for Database Operations, a term that is used to describe the formalization of best practices and standard operating procedures for effective management of cloud-based data and databases.
Here, we look at the best practices for Database DevOps to keep your systems secure and functioning to maximum capacity.
DevOps Best Practices
The implementation of Database DevOps should streamline your operations, speed up processes and reduce errors. These factors alone should get business leaders salivating at the thought of increased productivity and improved ROI.
But the benefits go wider than that. When you simplify and speed up processes, you give your employees that most valuable commodity – time. So, once you have your Database DevOps process in place, you should be able to start planning how you are going to use your human resources to further boost your business.
But it is not that simple. Without protocols and best practices in place, you will fail to get maximum benefit from the introduction of Database DevOps.
And the first thing to do is get those employees on board.
1. Change the culture
People are resistant to enforced change. It’s human nature. Which is why changing the culture is the first step in successfully implementing any change in the workplace.
That’s not always easy, but it starts with simple things like letting people know why changes are being made. You effectively need to sell it to your employees, which means understanding the features and benefits and letting them know why it’s important and how it will make life better for them and the organization as a whole.
2. Start small
Tackling that resistance to change means starting small. Too much too soon and you can overwhelm people. Often the easiest thing to do is put a small team together who will take charge of part of the workload. Ask them to do it the traditional way and track every activity and result
Next, introduce the new method and track it using the same metrics. By starting small, you will ensure that the team can cope and the end result should be that things become easier, faster, less cumbersome, or all three.
Once you have data and a team of acolytes to support you, getting others on board will be a whole lot easier. Ideally, you want to choose a small task that has a big impact for this step to really highlight the benefits of DBOps.
By implementing DevOps incrementally, you can avoid sudden changes, and make sure that each aspect of it is fully tested before going live.
3. Smart, self-serve data provisioning
Self-service data provisioning is a great tool for the prevention of data breaches and compliance issues. The system stops developers from gaining access to systems they shouldn’t be getting into, or from removing/taking data they don’t have permission to touch.
Plus, with the whole process moving so much quicker, there is less temptation for developers to want to go searching for shadow IT alternatives.
4. Smart database automation
Integrating database changes into your DevOps allows you to leverage continuous delivery. This is another step where you could potentially face resistance. But if anyone tells you that you can't put the database into source control and treat database changes like application changes, they’re wrong.
There are some additional things to consider, such as inserting a migration script to make sure existing data fits into a changed schema. But the whole purpose of what you’re doing is to automate changes and put the database code into source control so that continuous delivery becomes a reality. Once you have continuous integration of database changes and application code working together, application delivery becomes faster and more accurate. As an added bonus, it also beefs up your audit process by effectively implementing its own audit trail.
5. New roles for new process
When you change the way you work, it changes what you need people to do. This is the ‘planning how you’re going to use your human resources’ aspect we mentioned earlier. There is no single answer to how you do this. Even similar companies in the same sector will find different solutions.
And it’s important to realise you might not get it right first time. It makes sense to have a plan but be open to discussion and change. Ask your team what they think. After all, they’re the ones at the sharp end.
Also, take some time to think about the skills and abilities of each team member. Remember, integrating DevOps and establishing best practices, is all about providing your team and your business with opportunities to do things differently and better.
6. Use the same process for all code delivery
It is likely you already have tools in place to move your application code. So, use them. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Check all code into source control and make use of CI/CD in the same manner for application code and database code. Database code will require some additional attention, and this can be done using a database rules engine and database change simulator.
7. Make it easy to merge database changes from multiple sources
It is rare that organizations have a single storage space for all their data. So, when planning your move, make sure you consider all the various databases you have and that your system will support merging information from multiple sources and locations.
8. Use database change versioning to give you granular control of features
This allows you to see each aspect of the project in isolation. It can help identify where issues have occurred in the event that things don’t go to plan and, if you choose to hold a particular feature back at any point, it’s quick and easy to identify which database changes are connected to that feature.
9. Test early, test often
Continuous testing is pretty much second nature these days. But don’t neglect it or hope the system automatically flags up problems. Check in source code, run parallel tests and let developers if the build is rejected as soon as possible.
To ensure your application code and database code changes work in harmony when they go live your develop and test environment should be as close to real life as you can get it.
10. Instrument the process for visibility, consistency, and reliability
Perhaps the most crucial aspect of the whole project is that you set up your process to identify issues and communicate transparent data to all relevant users. Actionable, accessible data is what underpins DevOps, and this is what will keep your business running smoothly.
Ultimately, your applications should provide comprehensive data on your business as well as its applications, databases and infrastructure.
Why you should choose a database solution
DBOps allows business leaders and individuals within the team to focus more of their time on activities that make a real difference to bottom line profits. Database DevOps takes care of repetitive time-consuming tasks while also ensuring that, by automating them, they become more consistent and reliable.
