Skip to content

SQL Change Automation

SQL Change Automation works with your CI server and release management system, so you test, build, and release your database alongside your application code. To find out more please visit our website.

We need your help to shape SQL Change Automation into a great product that helps database professionals. We’d love to hear about your feature ideas and suggestions, so please enter them below.

If you have any questions or need help with SQL Change Automation, please visit our support forums.

SQL Change Automation

Categories

JUMP TO ANOTHER FORUM

(thinking…)

How can we improve SQL Change Automation?

You've used all your votes and won't be able to post a new idea, but you can still search and comment on existing ideas.

There are two ways to get more votes:

  • When an admin closes an idea you've voted on, you'll get your votes back from that idea.
  • You can remove your votes from an open idea you support.
  • To see ideas you have already voted on, select the "My feedback" filter and select "My open ideas".
(thinking…)

Enter your idea and we'll search to see if someone has already suggested it.

If a similar idea already exists, you can support and comment on it.

If it doesn't exist, you can post your idea so others can support it.

Enter your idea and we'll search to see if someone has already suggested it.

7 results found

  1. Enhance Hybrid Model to support automatic creation of static data migration scriptsts

    When the Hybrid Model is used (where state-based changes are managed using SQL Source Control) and SQL Change Automation draws from SSC as its Development Source, it would be great if SQL Change Automation could detect changes to static data scripts in SSC and automatically create migrations for them. As it stands, the SCA user must manually code those migration scripts. Not a huge deal, but it would seem like a natural capability to add to the Hybrid Model given the way it already nicely handles structural (aka DDL) changes made in SSC.

    1 vote
    Vote

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
    You have left! (?) (thinking…)
    1 comment  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
    under review  ·  Kendra responded

    While this item isn’t specifically on our roadmap at this time, we have plans to improve and evolve the hybrid model in our offerings in 2021, and this will be a good candidate for consideration.

  2. SSMS Plugin should warn if user clicks push before committing any changes.

    Using the SCA SSMS plugin, the Version Control tab makes it very clear that you need to click "Push", but not so clear that you should commit changes before pushing. It would be helpful if it warned that you haven't commiited anything rather than just quietly saying "Push Successful".

    1 vote
    Vote

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
    You have left! (?) (thinking…)
    under review  ·  1 comment  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close

  3. Flag to Force a deployment

    Occasionally the only changes in a specific build is the addition to the PostScript post-deployment script. Since there are no schema changes, the PostScript change is not executed.

    Faking a schema change by adding a comment or something is a poor workaround in an automated CI process.

    A simple flag -AlwaysRunUpgrade to always run the PreScript and PostScript as part of the deployment would be ideal.

    17 votes
    Vote

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
    You have left! (?) (thinking…)
    3 comments  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
    under review  ·  Kendra responded

    For clarification for readers, this request is specific to SQL Source Control projects which are deployed by SQL Change Automation. Comments in the item give more detail.

  4. Linux Compatility

    Given that no GUI is required with Release and dotnet core is out, has this option been considered? Most deployment tools are Linux based and Octopus is limited in usefulness, or at least our application has outgrown it.

    31 votes
    Vote

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
    You have left! (?) (thinking…)
    under review  ·  1 comment  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close

  5. Ability to exclude static table columns when deploying static data

    Currently I have option to include or exclude data compare using -IgnoreStaticData switch (New-DatabaseRelease cmdlet).

    But since part of my static data tables columns are environment based (in each environment dev/qa/prod I got different url)
    I have to exclude columns.

    Via Data Compare commad line I am using /Project switch which contains the exclude columns definitions.
    (Another method that exists is IncludeColumns and /ExcludeColumns switches)

    I need this options in order to start using SQL Release, otherwise static data deployment will make undesired changes.

    27 votes
    Vote

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
    You have left! (?) (thinking…)
    2 comments  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
    under review  ·  Kendra responded

    We have a couple of options for this which may help some folks who have voted or commented.

    For SQL Change Automation projects, the SSMS plugin now allows users to select only specific columns to add to the project for static data tables.

    For both SQL Change Automation projects and for SQL Source Control projects, you also have the option to use a post-deployment script to dynamically control how static data is deployed to a given environment.

    An example post-deployment script for this is here: https://documentation.red-gate.com/soc7/common-tasks/working-with-pre-post-deployment-scripts/static-data

  6. Rollback deployments

    I would like to be able to rollback deployments done with SQL Release.

    20 votes
    Vote

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
    You have left! (?) (thinking…)
    4 comments  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close

  7. Deploy to multiple databases concurrently

    I want to be able to release database changes across several databases. Once confident that the targets are all ready to go, and that the deployment script is correct, I want the deployment to be concurrent (so that it takes less time).

    12 votes
    Vote

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
    You have left! (?) (thinking…)
    4 comments  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback
    Signed in as (Sign out)
    Close
    Close
    under review  ·  Kendra responded

    While we haven’t implemented this exact feature, I want to share some information with similar patterns which may help some readers, or inspire comments or feedback in others.

    One common approach is to manage multi-database deployments via an orchestrator, such as Azure DevOps, Octopus Deploy, or similar. This may be managed concurrently or in a simple loop depending on the needs. One example of this with Azure DevOps is demonstrated here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rZxLCRrgmI

    When using a single release artifact to deploy to many databases, it’s important that you control for database drift on a regular basis outside of the deployment process. One way to do that is to set up monitoring that alerts you to schema changes that occur. An example of monitoring for this in SQL Monitor is in this custom metric: https://sqlmonitormetrics.red-gate.com/unauthorized-object-changes/

  • Don't see your idea?