Nowadays, DevOps is a key technology in the world of software development. With the advent of microservices and cloud technologies, the delivery process of software has been modified much. IT companies are actively involving DevOps Engineers in creating and maintaining a competitive product on the market.
While DevOps Engineers are busy automating processes, Database Administrators’ (DBAs’) role in the development process is becoming more meaningful. A final stage of this tendency must be the alliance of DBAs’ skills and experience with the DevOps practices.
In this article, we are going to review three ways to boost DBAs to use the DevOps methodology.
Three ways to motivate DBAs to use the DevOps approach in their work
There are three ways how to help DBAs see the advantages of the DevOps principles for their routine work. They are:
- Show DBAs their relevance and indispensability in the DevOps process.
- Collaborate DBAs’ expertise and DevOps Engineers’ mindset.
- Provide DBAs with respective tools.
Let’s discuss each way in turn.
Show DBAs their relevance and indispensability in the DevOps process
It isn’t a secret that the DevOps approach is more about developing applications architecture. That is why many DBAs think that all these DevOps things are not for them. They cannot see benefits from using microservices or CI/CD pipelines in database management and administration. But in fact, DBAs are almost the main people in a DevOps team.
A DBA must be a major member of development and operations teams to be involved in each stage of an application release process. This way of working is successful because a well-incorporated database can have a positive impact on organizational efficiency. It’s impossible to achieve business continuity with a solution that includes all the development aspects in the DevOps pipeline without the database.
Collaborate DBAs’ expertise and DevOps Engineers’ mindset
Data is the key in the development process, and it’s a connecting link in DBAs and DevOps Engineers collaboration. This collaboration is extremely favorable because DBAs, for example, can share their expertise, for example, in data modeling in order to provide efficient data structures. Their experience in improving database performance also matters. In their turn, DevOps Engineers can better define a reason why the access to production data must be protected to avoid failures and other issues. If there is a need to use data for competitive benefit, these two teams must work closely.
Provide DBAs with respective tools
Unfortunately, DBAs don’t have the same variation of tools as DevOps Engineers. To encourage DBAs to embrace DevOps, they should have a right and convenient tool. It must be the tool that greatly simplifies DBAs’ work and has the functionality innate in the DevOps practices.
Devart can suggest the product, which bridges this gap between DBAs and DevOps—DevOps Automation for SQL Server that is included both in the SQL Tools pack and in dbForge Studio for SQL Server.
DevOps Automation for SQL Server is a great solution for a smooth switch to the DevOps approach. Actually, the tool is used along with a stack of other tools, available in the SQL Tools pack. It allows implementing the database DevOps automation on four common stages: Development, Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery, and Operation. DevOps Automation for SQL Server can be integrated with PowerShell and Jenkins. The tool provides an automated approach for database development and deployment, including testing, detecting and fixing failures in the early stages.
dbForge Studio for SQL Server is a powerful product that includes all the database tools, required to automate the database delivery process. Just like the DevOps Automation for SQL Server, it can be used on four stages. dbForge Studio for SQL Server is rich in advantages, in fact, it is an all-in-one solution that is bound to speed up the database development and deployment processes. Using this tool, you can be 100% sure that the database release process is stable, reliable, and fast.
Conclusion
DevOps is not just a whim or something trendy. It’s a philosophy that has already proved its efficiency. It’s difficult to imagine how much this industry will get developed in several years. But it’s very impressive what we can see today.
Nevertheless, some teams still cannot decide to operate the DevOps methodology in practice. We have shared our thoughts on why it may happen and how to resolve it. In short, to prompt DBAs to use the DevOps principles, it’s required just to unite them with DevOps Engineers to work together and provide them with the right tool. As for the latter, you can download 30-day trial versions of dbForge Studio for SQL Server and DevOps Automation for SQL Server and start discovering DevOps benefits yourself.
