Database Migration Testing
The Database Lab Engine's (DLE) ability to instantly create full-size clones of your production database allows you to integrate fully automated DB migration testing into your CI/CD pipeline. Learn how the DLE works.
Realistic DB Migration Testing is Hard​
Nearly every software organization invests in a full suite of automated tests that validate an application's runtime behavior. However, very few are able to automatically validate an application's deploy-time behavior.
For most organizations, automated DB migration testing is simply too time-intensive and costly. Using conventional methods, provisioning a full-size copy of the database could take hours (or days!) and significantly increase compute and storage costs.
No Testing Means Unexpected Problems​
However, the absence of realistic migration testing presents significant risks including failed deploys and unexpected application downtime.
Here are just a few of the most common problems when migrations aren't tested in a realistic environment:
- A lock is held for an extended time period causing a cascade of failures
- A query hits a
statement_timeoutand aborts the DB migration (or leaves the application in a partially migrated state) - The database contains unanticipated values causing unexpected behavior or even data loss
Database Lab Makes Realistic Testing Easy​
The Database Lab Engine (DLE) eliminates the time and cost that make it difficult to set up automated testing of database migrations. Companies can use the DLE to build a migration specific CI job which:
- Instantly creates a thin clone of the production database
- Executes pending migrations against the clone
- Reports status, statistics, and valuable metadata
Companies that use Database Lab to test their DB migrations will gain full visibility into their applications' deploy-time behavior eliminating a major source of risk.
Explore our examples to see how this works in practice using GitHub Actions.