Detecting Database Drift with ReadyRoll and Octopus Deploy

kellyr

I am currently testing this workflow:

1. Developer commits to git repo
2. TeamCity builds nupkg file for the migration and sends it to Octopus Deploy
3. I have the following environments on the Octopus Deploy side:
Dev -> Test -> Staging -> Production
4. I run the migration against the Dev environment using the built in ReadyRoll step in Octopus Deploy
5. If that passes, then I run it against the Test environment
6. Repeat for Staging, Prod

To be clear, TeamCity knows absolutely nothing about the target environments, Octopus Deploy manages them. I do not want to duplicate variables across both sides.

The problem I am having is that if I manually make a change to the test environment through SQL Management Studio (like adding a new column to a table) and then I deploy to Test using ReadyRoll I do not see any warning that drift has occurred.

I was under the impression that when running a migration drift detection should be occurring.

Do I need to configure my ready roll project in a particular fashion to make this occur?

kellyr

I've slowly begun to figure this out. It looks like you need to run msbuild each time you want to look for drift in an environment. Currently I have Octopus calling back to TeamCity to kick off a build..does this sound right?

dnlnln

Unfortunately it is currently not possible to generate a drift report/re-sync script within Octopus Deploy. As it seems you've already discovered, it is only possible to generate these artifacts at build time at present.

Improving the functionality and transparency of deployments is something that the team is currently looking at, however. I have forward your comments on to the team to help inform future development on this.