deltaTools offers a complete agile DevOps pipeline that enables true test-driven development, automated regression testing, environment refresh, and continuous delivery in even the most complex Markit EDM environments. It is the perfect solution for Markit EDM developers who are looking to maximize delivery velocity and code quality, while dramatically reducing project risk and time spent pushing tested, trusted code into production. The deltaTools set is comprised of three products: deltaRefresh, deltaTest, and deltaDeploy.
With our recent success implementing deltaTools for a global investment management company, we wanted to dive a little further into the automated database refresh and deployment processes these tools facilitate.
What is deltaRefresh?
deltaRefresh is a tool for managing Markit EDM database provisioning and environment refresh in multiple environments. deltaRefresh makes it simple to manage a stack of Markit EDM development, testing, staging, and QA environments, and – more specifically – to manage the freshness of the data in each environment in relation to the actual production environment. deltaRefresh uses production backups or, in certain cases, production instances as a source and can provision or refresh to lower environment.
Why Automated Database Refresh?
Automated database refreshes with deltaRefresh make it easy to generate clean and consistent Markit EDM environments with fresh and up-to-date data. It fully validates and tests your important database backups each time a lower environment gets refreshed. With all environments automatically in sync, deltaRefresh supports automated testing and deployments by bridging gaps and failures caused by dirty data or environment drift.
deltaRefresh gives control to the team and the ability to refresh non-Production environments on a scheduled or ad hoc basis. The automated database refresh process supports a continuous integration model and is extensible, allowing for table structures, data, permissions, and parameters to be retained in the target environment. Combined with deltaDeploy, the ability to import Markit Packages and SQL allows for the rebuilding of an environment quickly and efficiently. This assists the testing process, as the user can have current data in the target environment and allows for repeated deployment of changes to a production-like environment to ensure the production deployment goes smoothly. It also enables users to easily rollback changes and redeploy a release if necessary.
deltaRefresh automates the environment refresh and provisioning processes and databases can be spun up and down as needed and where needed, with the capability of being self-service for development teams. It gives developers the ability to expedite releases with confidence due to consistent data across environments and the to go through the develop/deploy/test/re-develop/re-deploy/re-test cycle as frequently as required. deltaRefresh prevents unnecessary breaks in productivity by allowing production issues to be duplicated in lower environments and tests to be run on meaningful data. It also works in sync with deltaDeploy and deltaTest as an integrated CI/CD solution, creating a seamless unification of the deltaTools set.
What is deltaDeploy?
deltaDeploy is a tool for managing change deployments to SQL Server databases and Markit EDM systems. deltaDeploy pushes live iterations up the deployment chain, without pausing or slowing the pace of development. It is an automated deployment tool that allows for the separation of duties and SOC 1 compliance for Markit EDM developers and supports an automated build of Markit deployment packages, accommodating SQL DML and SQL DDL.
deltaDeploy is built on a flexible framework that integrates with a company’s change management system and workflows to deploy changes as they meet change management approval and can accommodate customizations based on an organization’s deployment workflow. It is a continuous integration and delivery pipeline for SQL databases, Markit EDM, and OS Flat File changes. It creates standardized SQL and XML code artifacts to deploy a change consisting of SQL database objects and Markit EDM objects.
Why Automated Deployment?
With deltaDeploy, reusable deployment artifacts are automatically versioned, controlled, immutable, and stored in a source control repository. The tool supports a continuous integration model and deploys change artifacts to an environment on an ad hoc, batch, or scheduled basis. It also links to change management ticketing systems to control releases and approvals and keep your data management projects moving forward with true continuous delivery with organizational controls. The automated deployment facilitated by deltaDeploy is a key piece of the puzzle for DevOps teams and can be used to deploy all types of Markit objects and to all Markit environments.
Interested in learning more about deltaTools for Markit EDM? Contact us today to chat with our Markit EDM experts!
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