Automate deployments and daily administration tasks

DBAs worldwide are using SQL Farm Combine™ to standardize, monitor, schedule and automate the deployment of routine administration tasks. Read below to find out why...

SQL Farm Combine™ allows users to organize code, scripts and queries as projects and packages, and then deploy and roll out projects in one click against multiple SQL Server databases and servers in parallel. When scripts and queries are executed, Combine launches the code in real-time, lets you control the execution process, and then returns and displays detailed information and results from all databases and servers.

Using SQL Farm Combine™ you can run distributed queries and multiple SQL scripts on multiple databases and servers simultaneously to return a single result set, push updates, rollouts and configuration changes to many SQL Server databases and servers, and obtain execution plans from multiple databases and servers without any remote installations or agents. Results received from all databases and servers (including the content of your scripts, data and query output, text & graphical execution plans, messages, and more) can then be saved into a single file or written to central monitoring databases. The results output file contains a complete audit trail of your changes and can then be viewed, shared or passed to local and remote users (e.g., remote DBAs, change managers and developers).

To date, SQL Farm Combine™ is the only tool that fully automates deployments in both connected and disconnected environments and data centers. Based on a patent-pending technology, SQL Farm Combine™ offers many novel features for change managers and DBAs:

Secure, reliable, and fast deployment Before SQL Farm Combine™ starts any deployment task it performs many thorough tests to validate your project, permissions, and ensure proper database connectivity. If any tests are not 100% successful, Combine will prompt and walk you through detailed warnings and alerts to ensure a successful project deployment, or completely abort the execution. SQL Farm Combine™ is used by enterprises in industries that are subject to strict compliance and regulation policies, and fully meets all audit and compliance requirements. Deploy objects, schema, jobs, users, logins, and custom scripts on all your servers in one click With SQL Farm Combine™ you can map each script in the rollout project to a pre-configured group of target databases on any number of servers. When a project is executed, Combine automatically deploys the project code against the appropriate groups across all servers and allows you to easily configure and control the code content and target databases for your deployments. Automated deployments and command line options All deployment features that are available in the SQL Farm Combine™ user interface are also available through command line utilities. The command line utilities are extremely useful to schedule and automate the execution of routine tasks, or schedule data collection from all servers for monitoring and reporting applications. Collect data from all your databases and servers for monitoring and reporting purposes Combine offers distributed querying and data retrieval capabilities to collect data from multiple databases and servers in parallel. When distributed queries are executed, Combine automatically aggregate all the data into a single result set and can be configured to auto-save the collected data to one or more databases (possibly on different servers). Using Combine, you can easily get data from groups of databases and servers for monitoring and reporting applications. Scheduled deployments and data collection tasks SQL Farm Combine™ has built-in scheduling features allowing users to schedule deployment tasks, execution of code, as well as schedule distributed queries and data collection operations to automatically store the data results. The scheduling and schedule management are built in the tool, enabling users to easily define scheduled executions. Restart SQL services on all servers & instances on the network SQL Farm Combine™ allows users to select all SQL servers and instances on the network and then stop and start SQL services on multiple instances and machines in parallel. Automatic updates, path-Tuesday and SQL server configuration changes can now be followed by an easy restart of all the approriate instances and services in a single click from the client machine, without requiring any remote installations or agents. One-click password synchronization on all SQL servers The password synchronization code package and user manual are available for download from our web site and allow you to synchronize the sa password (or passwords for any other logins) across all your SQL servers. Alternatively, you can schedule password updates to sync password(s) in an automated fashion. Synch results are tracked and recorded in a single report, to help you meet all auditing and compliance requirements. Enterprise SQL Server Configuration management The SQL Server configuration code package and user manual enable you to store a template for SQL Server configuration, push the template settings to new SQL server installations, compare the configuration between multiple SQL servers, synchronize the configuration between servers, or restore the default MS config values on one or more servers. All changes and comparisons are performed in a single click and change results can be saved to provide a complete audit trail. Monitor databases, SQL jobs & backup status across the enterprise SQL Farm Combine™ can be easily used to return monitoring data from all your databases and servers and monitor the status of SQL jobs, backups, database status and uptime, performance metrics, and much more. Need help writing those monitoring scripts? We'll do it for you! Simply post your request on the SQL Education Center™ and our SQL experts will provide you with everything you need. Replication a problem? Replicate data with one SELECT statement or monitor publishers and subscribers Combine allows you to push schema and data to all databases and servers in one click and can be installed anywhere on the network. Unlike replication, you can publish data and push schema from any machine using portable components so you do not have to tie yourself to distribution databases. Furthermore, Combine is extremely useful to compare data between subscribers, create the initial schema on the subscribers in one click, reinitialize your replication data, or monitor the status of subscribers and articles. Need to prevent developers access to production? SQL Farm Combine™ allows you to save scripts, data, execution plans, messages, and all other production information requested by developers in a single output file. You can then send the output file to developers and allow them to view, examine, and analyze this information as it was captured in production. Deploy scripts, projects, maintenance tasks, and move data between distributed environments and data centers SQL Farm Combine™ allows you to configure your scripts and projects and then send a single package file that contains all the project code and configuration to different (including remote or distributed) environments and datacenters. DBAs and change managers in remote environments can then execute all the code against the databases and servers in their data center without reconfiguring or changing the package content. In addition, remote users can save all deployment results and return and transfer them for verification and tracking purposes. 100% secure. Guaranteed. SQL Farm Combine™ does not require any special user accounts or permissions and integrates with your existing active directory, NT authentication, or SQL access accounts. When deploying projects and tasks across databases and servers, you can instruct Combine to prompt you for credentials (in which case your credentials are never saved or stored) or have Combine securely store your credentials using advanced hashing and encryption techniques. Unlike many other administration tools, Combine does not require you to log in and execute deployments using the sa account, and lets you use your existing accounts and credentials. Need assistance with T-SQL code? Let us write it for you! Our SQL experts are at your service 24x7, free of charge. If you have any questions or need assistance in writing code, please post your questions on the SQL Education Center (or email us directly), and we will provide you with all your T-SQL and scripting needs. Advanced and custom services are available as well - please visit our services offerings for more information. Rich editor: Intellisense, code snippets, templates & more SQL Farm Combine™ contains a rich editor that will make it very easy for you to write code, scripts, and maintenance tasks: Intellisense in Combine covers almost the entire T-SQL language and uses a built-in T-SQL parser; code snippets and templates can be used to automatically compose code or write scripts, as well as enable you to write and store custom snippets and templates. Integration with a wide range of source control systems SQL Farm Combine™ integrates and support a wide range of source code control systems, including Team Foundation Server (TFS), IBM Rational ClearCase, Perforce, SubVersion, CVS, VSS, SourceGear Vault, Serena PVCS Version Manager, and others. Share configuration settings, scripts, projects, and deployment results with other users The Combine Repository allows you to store all the settings for the application in a central location. The repository contains several roles with different levels of permissions and lets you share settings and configuration between users. Minimal (near zero) learning curve The user interface is SQL Farm Combine™ is similar to other popular tools, is extremely simple to use, and does not require you to spend time adjusting to new interfaces. To demonstrate this fact, after participating in an online demo one Combine user started deploying projects and scripts against 800 databases only 15 minutes after installing the software. Support for all SQL Server versions SQL Farm Combine™ fully support SQL Server 7, 2000, and 2005. Combine does not have any special prerequisites and installation requirements, and can be run and operated in computers that are not running SQL server or SQL client tools.