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Tag: database management

DataOps and Automation: The Future of Database Management

Database bottlenecks undermine deployment velocity across businesses. Complex operational tasks introduce delays and outages that directly impact time-to-market. While DevOps has transformed application delivery, database management remains manual and error-prone, reinforcing the friction DevOps aims to eliminate. An alternative is to extend the proven DevOps practices into database operations through a DataOps approach. By treating database infrastructure with the same automation, version control, and continuous delivery principles that revolutionized software development, organizations can eliminate manual bottlenecks and free database teams to focus on strategic initiatives that drive competitive advantage.

Why DataOps and Automation are Imperative

Despite the widespread embrace of DevOps practices across software development, many organizations ignore the drag manual database management imposes on their operations. Legacy processes, such as manual provisioning, patching, backups, and schema changes, are inefficient liabilities. Each manual handoff introduces human error, delays, and unplanned downtime, slowing the pace of application delivery and innovation.

Automation becomes a strategic necessity as data infrastructure scales and application environments grow more complex. Automating database workflows addresses this complexity head-on by reducing routine operational burdens and enabling consistent, reproducible processes. By stabilizing deployments, this transition allows teams to redirect valuable time toward higher-impact work.

The opportunity cost of inaction is steep. Research from Forrester shows that 31% of companies cite an inability to adapt to market or competitive pressure due to data management challenges. Missed insights, slower deployment cycles, and reactive firefighting translate to lost revenue. Conversely, organizations that have implemented automated DataOps pipelines demonstrate what is possible when the database layer is no longer an obstacle. For example, a mining company applied continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, infrastructure as code, and monitoring tools, which reduced monthly operating costs from over $1 million to less than $5,000 while cutting breach risks by 17%. A national retail chain automated integrations and introduced orchestration tools and real-time alerts to resolve data pipeline issues, reducing time-to-insight to minutes rather than days and driving a 10% increase in sales.

From Manual Bottlenecks to Automated Efficiency

Using infrastructure as code to automate database provisioning and deploying changes through CI/CD pipelines moves database operations from fragile, manual steps to repeatable, scalable processes. Organizations can leverage these tools to provision and configure database infrastructure in minutes instead of weeks, enabling teams to roll out features and updates with reduced lead times. This shift from manual effort to automated efficiency supports consistent environments and eliminates drift, even at 100x scale.

Automated schema testing further strengthens the pipeline by identifying issues early in the development cycle, reducing bugs, downtime, and time spent troubleshooting post-deployment. Combined with robust monitoring and alerting tools, such as those used by the retailer, teams can build greater resilience into the data stack, catching anomalies before they disrupt operations.

These practices translate into measurable business outcomes. According to the vice president of IDC’s Data Integration and Intelligence Software service, “Organizations that have implemented DataOps have seen a 40% reduction in the number of data and application exceptions and errors, and a 49% improvement in the ability to deliver data projects on time.”

Culture, Collaboration, and the New DBA

DataOps redefines roles and responsibilities. For database administrators (DBAs), this means evolving from system caretakers into strategic enablers. Where DBAs once focused on maintaining schemas and keeping systems running, they’ll now provision infrastructure, manage code-driven schema changes, and operate at a massive scale.

The DataOps evolution also transforms team dynamics. Instead of staying in their silos, DBAs, data engineers, and data scientists work across traditional boundaries, collaborating closely with developers and infrastructure teams. A DataOps approach fosters a culture of shared responsibility and ownership over projects. By promoting open communication and the use of shared tools and platforms, a new team dynamic encourages all stakeholders to work toward common data goals and align efforts with business objectives.

Yet cultural change is often more challenging than technical adoption. Teams may resist learning unfamiliar tools or fear being automated out of relevance. The key is reframing automation as a way to move from reactive work to more innovative, value-driven contributions. Leadership can build team confidence, enhance capabilities, and transform current employees into a DataOps workforce by offering training and hands-on sandbox environments. When teams feel safe experimenting, they’re more likely to embrace the change.

What Sets High-Impact DataOps Adoption Apart?

High-performing organizations treat DataOps as a driver of business value, not a tooling exercise. Rather than measuring success solely in deployments or uptime, they also track metrics like time-to-insight, return on investment, and defect leakage to understand how data practices impact strategic outcomes. This orientation ensures that DataOps efforts align with innovation, customer experience, operational efficiency, and business objectives.

Change management that goes beyond upskilling to focus on the structure of how change is led and sustained is another hallmark of mature adoption. High-impact teams engage leadership early, establish clear objectives, and reinforce progress through accountability and visible wins. Rather than relying on top-down mandates, they cultivate a mindset of continuous improvement that helps DataOps principles take root and evolve.

Architecturally, these organizations take the long view. They design for scalability and governance from the outset, often using automated policy enforcement and auditability to support regulatory compliance. In industries with strict oversight requirements, this foundation ensures faster feature delivery that doesn’t come at the cost of control. Ultimately, successful DataOps adoption reflects a mindset shift from managing infrastructure to enabling intelligence.

The Untapped Advantage

Most companies have yet to extract the full value buried in their database operations. This lag creates room for bold adopters to gain ground, as only 4% of Forrester survey respondents said they don’t experience any data management challenges. The opportunities for those companies willing to embrace change and invest in modernizing their database management practices are vast. The tools and techniques are well-established, but making the necessary mindset shift often stalls. Organizations that recognize the strategic value of a DataOps framework will reclaim productive time, reduce deployment friction, and build a more resilient data foundation that supports faster innovation and long-term business agility.

June 27, 2025
Improving the Developer Experience by Deploying CI/CD in Databases
Software development is all about speed and efficiency. That’s why continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) have become a fundamental part of software engineering, as they empower developers to deploy rapid updates to end users without disruption.

In simple terms, CI/CD is an automated set of practices for securely and reliably delivering software. CI/CD benefits businesses with faster release cycles, reduced errors and fewer inefficiencies. However, while commonly applied to application code, the ability to deploy CI/CD in databases is lagging. This results in manual deployment that strains developers with unmanageable amounts of coding to be deployed.

This strain negatively impacts development timelines and the developers’ experience. So, how can developers use CI/CD to improve their database software deployment process, and where should they begin?

Understanding CI/CD for Databases

Characteristically less mature than CI/CD for application code, CI/CD for databases enables developers to manage schema updates such as changes to table structures and relationships. This management ability means developers can execute software updates to applications quickly and continuously without disrupting database users. It also helps improve quality and governance, creating a pipeline everyone follows.

The CI stage typically involves developers working on code simultaneously, helping to fix bugs and address integration issues in the initial testing process. With the help of automation, businesses can move faster, with fewer dependencies and errors and greater accuracy — especially when backed up by automated testing and validation of database changes. Human intervention is not needed, resulting in fewer hours spent on change management. Developer productivity skyrockets and quick rollback and audit tracking the changes brings peace of mind in those rare instances when something needs to be undone.

The CD stage picks up after initial testing and delivers the above database changes to a production environment before integrating with the application code. This development stage relies on a seamless hand-off between environments, which often means that the rhythm breaks when environment sync issues occur and developer frustration grows. CD can help avoid this issue by keeping the feedback cycle small and automating and standardizing the process. In turn, CD ensures consistency and optimum synchronization between teams.

Overcoming Challenges in Database CI/CD

Managing databases in a CI/CD pipeline requires overcoming several unique challenges to ensure the process creates solutions, not problems, for development teams. These challenges include:
- Managing schema changes and data migrations: Managing schema changes and data migrations without disrupting applications can be difficult — and organizations must ensure that database changes do not impact the data or the overall state of the system.
- Handling dependencies between application code and database changes: Changes in one database can directly impact the other. Therefore, businesses must effectively manage dependencies — such as database migration scripts, database seedings and deployment strategies — and have watertight version control.
- Ensuring data integrity and minimizing downtime during deployments: One method to minimize downtime is to treat application code and database code as one. Not breaking these into different components means that CI/CD can shine and set teams up to deploy a full application, from compute to application code to database changes, in a single pipeline.
- Addressing security concerns with automated database deployments: There are always concerns about new processes, particularly automated ones. To ensure uptake is as smooth and well governed as possible, developers must invest time in outlining the system and its benefits and debunk concerns such as unauthorized access and a lack of oversight.
Best Practices for CI/CD in Database Development

To ensure the CI/CD database development process is resilient against these challenges, teams can adhere to these best practices:
- Establish a standardized Git structure for database code: Establishing a standardized Git structure can help improve the developer experience with environment configurations, object-level versioning and well-governed and standardized processes.
- Create a standard set of data scenarios: Developers can safely test changes without affecting the production environment through temporary testing environments. These environments can confirm that the code behaves as expected when it reaches production.
- Implement version control and change management for database objects: Version control and change management are essential. Tools like GitHub and Artifactory allow organizations to manage and collaborate on different versions of their code, ensuring that only tested and approved versions deploy to production and that all changes are tracked.
- Use automated testing frameworks for database changes: This step can reduce the friction between database changes and enable faster and standardized feedback, which in turn can reduce debugging time, improve quality, and lessen developer strain.
- Continuous monitoring and feedback loops to improve the CI/CD process: In addition to recording metrics like failure rate and time to production, teams should be encouraged to feed back into the process as a whole. This way, they can ensure that what they had on day one has evolved to meet their needs.
What the Future Holds for Developers

Deploying CI/CD for databases empowers developers to focus on what they do best: Building better applications. Businesses today should decide when, not if, they plan to implement these practices.

For development leaders looking to start deploying CI/CD in databases, standardization — such as how certain things are named and organized — is a solid first step and can set the stage for automation in the future. The earlier businesses get on board, the better.

The outlook of CI/CD in database development is exciting, with bigger providers such as Snowflake and Databricks prioritizing developer experience with CI/CD. Every day, CI/CD features and tooling are evolving to become more intelligent, more integrated and more automated — whether through AI/ML, granular feedback tools, advanced rollback mechanisms or something else.

With such an enormous push from providers to evolve CI/CD for databases, companies should strive to be part of this development and ensure their developers — and their software — are in a prime position to benefit.
November 14, 2024
DevOps Brings Pressure to Bear on Database Management

The rise of DevOps is starting to have a significant impact on the rate at which databases now need to be deployed and updated. A global survey of more than 2,000 developers, database specialists and IT leaders conducted by Redgate Software, a provider of tools for automating the management of databases, finds nearly half (49%) are now deploying database changes in production at least once a week or more.

Kendra Little, DevOps advocate for Redgate Software, said most of the changes are being driven by the adoption of best DevOps practices that are now having a cascading impact on other functions in the IT environment.

However, the survey shows the adoption of DevOps remains uneven. Only 18% of respondents said they have adopted DevOps across all projects, while 36% said they have adopted DevOps across some projects. Another 14% said they are at the proof-of-concept stage. Only 13% said their organizations have no plans to adopt DevOps at all. Survey respondents in the financial services and insurance industry sectors have the highest levels of adoption, with more than 77% of respondents saying their organizations are either in proof of concepts (16%), have adopted across some projects (41%) or have adopted across all projects (20%).

Progress appears to be rapid among those that have adopted DevOps. Well over a third (37%) report that only 1% or less of their deployments introduce code defects that require hotfixes. That compares to 30% for all other groups.

The survey also revealed that more than half of respondents (55%) perform most or all of their business-critical database deployments while their systems are still online, with 75% of that group reporting that 10% or less of those deployments caused defects that require hotfixes. Nearly half (46%) are also employing some of automation to deploy databases, according to the survey.

Nevertheless, the survey makes it clear challenges remain. Disruptions to existing workflows and business was cited as the top barrier to adoption (23%), followed by lack of skills (22%) and lack of alignment between developers and operations (16%).

Little said the survey makes it apparent that database management needs to become more aligned with the software development life cycle (SDLC) with organizations transitioning to DevOps. Over a quarter of respondents (26%) said it is still somewhat or very difficult to get code reviews for database changes. A further 16% said that no code reviews are done for database changes early in the development cycle.

Less clear is who precisely is managing the database. Developers in the Age of DevOps are exercising more influence over what databases are employed. However, Little noted that 43% of organizations still have a database administrator managing their databases. That compares to 34% that rely on developers and 21% that have a combination of both. Over time, Little said most organizations will continue to shift toward a combination of both. That, of course, will require a significant amount of cultural change within most IT organizations, where all too often developers have tended to view DBAs as a bottleneck to be eliminated whenever and wherever possible.

— Mike Vizard

March 5, 2020
Quest Software Extends DevOps Reach to MySQL Databases

Thanks mainly to the rise of DevOps, the number of open-source database deployments in the enterprise has risen sharply in the last two years. The driving force behind those deployments has been developers that have shown a marked preference for downloading an open-source database instead of requesting access to a commercial database from a database administrator (DBA) working in an IT department. As more of those applications get deployed, however, either the developer or a DBA still needs to find a way to manage those open-source databases.

To address that issue, Quest Software is now making available its Toad Edge tools for managing databases available for IT organizations that have deployed MySQL databases. Greg Davoll, executive director of product management and marketing, says Quest Software already supports open-source Postgres databases and will be adding support for other open-source databases.

In a lot of instances Davoll says the same DBA that is being tasked with managing IBM DB2 or Oracle databases is being tasked to manage MySQL databases. Most of them are already familiar with Toad database tools that are already widely used by internal IT organizations. Davoll says Quest Software is well aware there are a variety of open-source tools available for managing open-source databases. But Davoli says most of those offerings are not nearly as rich in terms of features as Toad database management tools that have been continually enhanced now for the better part of a decade.

For example, Toad Edge can be used to identify and manage schema differences and initiate changes in real time. Toad Edge can also be used to explore and edit JSON data as well as keeping all the scripts being employed to manage databases up to date.

Davoll notes that Toad Edge has also been integrated with Jenkins Continuous Integration server to allow databases to better facilitate continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) processes.

Most DBAs have come to terms with the fact they are being required to support multiple databases. They don’t always appreciate the extra work that involves. But as the number of applications deployed across the enterprise dramatically increases, the cost of employing commercial databases to support them all would be prohibitively expensive. Developers often download an open-source database on their own because they don’t want to spend time participating in an extended procurement process involving salespeople and purchasing managers.

Developers don’t always appreciate what’s required to keep the databases their applications up and running. Many of them initially believed they would be able to eliminate the need for a DBA altogether. But developers soon discover how much time is required to do routine database maintenance. DBAs may not always get the respect they deserve. But as most developers have come to appreciate, it’s difficult to have a truly integrated DevOps process that doesn’t include at the very least someone willing to manage those tasks.

— Mike Vizard

September 8, 2017
8 Advantages of Using MySQL
MySQL is a free-to-use, open-source database that facilitates effective management of databases by connecting them to the software. It is a stable, reliable and powerful solution with advanced features including:
1. Data Security
MySQL is globally renowned for being the most secure and reliable database management system used in popular web applications including WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, Facebook and Twitter. The data security and support for transactional processing that accompany the recent version of MySQL can greatly benefit any business, especially if it is an eCommerce business that involves frequent money transfers.
1. On-Demand Scalability
MySQL offers unmatched scalability to facilitate the management of deeply embedded apps using a smaller footprint, even in massive warehouses that stack terabytes of data. On-demand flexibility is the star feature of MySQL. This open-source solution allows complete customization to eCommerce businesses with unique database server requirements.
1. High Performance
MySQL features a distinct storage-engine framework that facilitates system administrators to configure the MySQL database server for a flawless performance. Whether it is an eCommerce website that receives a million queries every single day or a high-speed transactional processing system, MySQL is designed to meet even the most demanding applications while ensuring optimum speed, full-text indexes and unique memory caches for enhanced performance.
1. Round-the-Clock Uptime
MySQL comes with the assurance of 24×7 uptime and offers a wide range of high-availability solutions, including specialized cluster servers and master/slave replication configurations.
1. Comprehensive Transactional Support
MySQL tops the list of robust transactional database engines available on the market. With features such as complete atomic, consistent, isolated, durable transaction support; multi-version transaction support; and unrestricted row-level locking, it is the go-to solution for full data integrity. It guarantees instant deadlock identification through server-enforced referential integrity.
1. Complete Workflow Control
With an average download and installation time of less than 30 minutes, MySQL means usability from day one. Whether your platform is Linux, Microsoft, Macintosh or UNIX, MySQL is a comprehensive solution with self-management features that automate everything from space expansion and configuration to data design and database administration.
1. Reduced Total Cost of Ownership
By migrating current database apps to MySQL, enterprises enjoy significant cost savings on new projects. The dependability and ease of management can save troubleshooting time that is otherwise wasted in fixing downtime issues and performance problems.
1. The Flexibility of Open Source
All the fears and worries that arise in an open-source solution can be brought to an end with MySQL’s round-the-clock support and enterprise indemnification. The secure processing and trusted software of MySQL combine to provide effective transactions for large-volume projects. It makes maintenance, debugging and upgrades fast and easy while enhancing the end-user experience.

About the Author / Michelle McLean

Michelle McLean is VP of Marketing at ScaleArc, responsible for overseeing all of the company’s marketing strategy and initiatives. She has more than 20 years of networking and market positioning experience. Prior to ScaleArc, she held director of product marketing positions at Silver Spring Networks, ConSentry Networks, Peribit Networks and Trapeze Networks, and prior to that, she was director of strategic marketing at Pluris. She previously served as program director at the research firm META Group, providing technology and strategy direction to global 2000 enterprise clients. Before that, she tracked technical developments, networking trends and vendor strategies as a journalist for two leading networking publications, LAN Times and LAN Magazine. Michelle earned her BA in English from the University of California at Berkeley. Connect with her on Twitter.
July 26, 2017
Walgreens reminds us to keep our database healthy

It’s clear that the super app you developed with your team, is really something, and it has high chance to be the “Bread and butter 3.0”, but are you prepared for the worst? There is a good chance that some combination of data, events and circumstances out of your control will eventually collude against you, to cause a failure or a software defect. You can try to anticipate and reason about all of the things that can go wrong with your application to prepare, but in a complex system it’s impossible to predict everything.

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September 8, 2014