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Thread: What is the best way to set up development environment

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2000
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    76
    In my previous job, since the production db is not too big, so we just refresh the development db nightly so the data would be just a day old, which is good enough for the developers. My new job has a db that is more than 100Gig, and the above approach is not accepted by my boss. So what is a good way of setting up the test environment? Should I refresh the test db say, every week, and keep say three months of most recent data in it? If so, who should do the export/import to refresh the test environment? My boss (a dba) said this export/import business should be the job for the developers who needs the data. We as dbas should not get involved. Is he correct? It does not sound right to me though. As a dba, isn't it my job to maintain both the production and development databases?
    J.T.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2000
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    Saskatoon, SK, Canada
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    Yes it should be a DBA's job. But if you are going to put things in a script, then it would be a cron's job.

    Sam
    Thanx
    Sam



    Life is a journey, not a destination!


  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2000
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    greenwich.ct.us
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    Originally posted by sambavan
    Yes it should be a DBA's job. But if you are going to put things in a script, then it would be a cron's job.

    Sam
    I agree. However, I'm not your boss.
    Jeff Hunter

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2000
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    521
    Is your production db running in archive log mode ? If yes, then hot backup of production database should help you in creating a developement database. This, of course, is viable if you have (and you plan to continue to have) same disk available for you developement database.

    Normally, refreshing devl database data is a tricky job and no 'tool' can do the job completely. The developers want some 'selective' data to become available to them in their devl database. You have to write you own job to accomplish these kind of requests.

    Once you write a job to refresh devl data, it can very well be handed over to the developers for running it. There needs to be a good understanding covering factors like WHEN will they run it, how long will it run (depending on amount of data they need to extract from production), etc.

    And yes, congratulations on finding a new job in these days (I guess you are in USA). Furthermore, congratulations again for getting a good boss who is out to reduce your resposibilities. Isn't that good ?
    svk

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2000
    Posts
    76
    Thank you all for the information. I do have a better understanding of the issues now. The thing is that we've had this fight with the developers for some time. The dev. box does not have enough space and is already filled up. Data is not refreshed, and the developers gets around to test their scripts on production (well, they don't have privs. to real production tables, but they can create temp tables- and some temp tables gets really big and causes real problem to performance etc.) My boss's attitude is "that is not my business" but I really think the dbas should provide a workable dev. environment.
    J.T.

  6. #6
    Join Date
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    Yes, you are correct. But your boss is suppose to provide you with the resoureces. like hardware and etc to impliment the dev environment correctly.

    No comming to the point of creating a script and giving it to the developers is like you are opening a "flood gate". Instead, I would suggest that you take control of it and put it in a cron job or batch file and execute it periodically. Such that you are sure of WHEN and HOW your program will be executed and the status of your performance on the production. It can always be a possible scenario that a developer could invoke this script at the time of peak production time and then you as a dba would be forced to run around and figuring out whats going on.

    Sam
    Thanx
    Sam



    Life is a journey, not a destination!


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