What is Flyway and use cases of Flyway?

Table of Contents

What is Flyway ?

Flyway is an open-source database migration tool that helps you manage schema changes in a safe and repeatable way. It’s designed to be vendor-neutral, working across various database platforms like MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, and more. Flyway uses version control best practices to track and apply database migrations in a controlled and automated manner.

Here’s what Flyway offers:

Versioned migrations: Each change to your database schema is represented as a migration script with a version number. This allows you to track the evolution of your database and easily roll back to previous versions if needed.
Repeatable deployments: Flyway ensures that migrations are applied in the correct order consistently across different environments, like development, testing, and production. This helps avoid inconsistencies and potential issues.
Automatic checksums: Flyway verifies the integrity of migration scripts before applying them, ensuring you’re applying the correct version and avoiding unexpected changes.
Flexible scripting: You can write migration scripts in various languages like SQL, PL/SQL, and T-SQL, depending on your database platform.
Integration with CI/CD pipelines: Flyway can be easily integrated into your continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipeline, allowing you to automate database schema changes along with code deployments.

Top 10 use cases of Flyway ?

Top 10 Use Cases of Flyway:

Managing schema changes in complex applications: Flyway helps manage complex applications with frequent database schema changes, ensuring a controlled and organized evolution.
Maintaining consistency across environments: Flyway ensures your database schemas are consistent across development, testing, and production environments, avoiding discrepancies and potential errors.
Rolling back changes easily: If you encounter issues after a migration, Flyway allows you to easily roll back to a previous version, minimizing downtime and impact.
Automating database deployments: Integrate Flyway with your CI/CD pipeline to automate database schema changes alongside code deployments, streamlining the process and reducing manual intervention.
Collaboration and version control: Flyway promotes collaboration among developers by tracking changes and allowing for easy review and rollback of migrations.
Improved database governance: Flyway helps enforce database schema versioning and change management policies, leading to better governance and control.
Reduced risk of errors: By automating migrations and verifying checksums, Flyway helps minimize the risk of human errors and unexpected changes.
Supports diverse database platforms: Flyway’s vendor-neutral approach provides flexibility to use it with different database platforms, avoiding vendor lock-in.
Open-source and community-driven: Flyway is an open-source project with an active community, offering access to resources and support.
Scalability and performance: Flyway is designed to handle large databases and complex migrations efficiently.

Whether you’re working on a small project or a large-scale enterprise application, Flyway can be a valuable tool to manage your database schema changes effectively and efficiently.

What are the feature of Flyway ?

Now, Let’s explore the features of Flyway, a popular database migration tool:

Version Control for Databases:
- Flyway enables version control for your database schema.
- You can track changes over time, making it easier to manage and deploy updates.
Simple and Reliable:
- Flyway follows the “plain old SQL” approach.
- No proprietary XML formats or complex configurations.
- It just works, with zero required dependencies.
Convention Over Configuration:
- Flyway encourages convention over configuration.
- It simplifies the setup process and decreases boilerplate code.
SQL and Java Migrations:
- Write migrations in plain SQL or Java.
- SQL migrations support database-specific syntax (e.g., PL/SQL, T-SQL).
Automated Deployment Pipeline:
- Flyway integrates seamlessly into your deployment pipeline.
- From version control to continuous delivery, it automates database development.
Change Reports and Drift Detection:
- Flyway provides change reports to track modifications.
- Detect drift between your database schema and expected state.
Migration Script Auto-Generation:
- Flyway can generate migration scripts based on changes detected in your schema.
- Saves time and ensures consistency.
Schema Comparison and Static Data Versioning:
- Compare schemas between databases.
- Version static data alongside schema changes.
Built-in Git Client:
- Flyway includes a Git client for seamless integration with version control.
Technical Support and Enterprise Features:
- Flyway offers different editions (Community, Teams, and Enterprise).
- Enterprise includes advanced features like migration script auto-generation, drift detection, and SQL code standard checks.

Flyway extends DevOps to your databases, accelerating software delivery while ensuring quality code! 🚀🗄️

How Flyway works and Architecture?

Flyway is a powerful database migration tool that simplifies managing and applying changes to your database schema. Let’s explore how it works and its architecture:

Schema History Table:
- When you point Flyway to an empty database, it looks for its schema history table.
- If not found, Flyway creates it. This table tracks the state of the database.
Scanning for Migrations:
- Flyway scans the filesystem or classpath for migration scripts (written in SQL or Java).
- Migrations are sorted by their version number and applied in order.
Applying Migrations:
- Each migration is executed within a single database transaction.
- The schema history table is updated to reflect the applied migrations.
Versioned vs. Repeatable Migrations:
- Versioned migrations have unique versions and are applied exactly once.
- Repeatable migrations are re-applied whenever their checksum changes.
Upgrading to Newer Versions:
- Create a new migration with a higher version number.
- Flyway detects it and upgrades the database accordingly.
Maven Plugin Integration:
- Use the Flyway Maven plugin to perform database migrations.
- Configure it via the <configuration> tag in your pom.xml.
Other Configuration Options:
- Configure Flyway using Maven properties or an external .conf file.
- Specify database credentials, schemas, and other properties.

Flyway automates database evolution, making it easy to manage schema changes reliably! 🚀🗄️

How to Install Flyway it?

Now, Let’s find how to install Flyway, a powerful database schema change management tool:

Download Flyway:
- Visit the official Flyway website to download the Flyway distribution.
- Select the accurate version for your operating system (Windows, macOS, or Linux).
Extract the Archive:
- Once downloaded, extract the Flyway archive to a local directory.
- You’ll find the Flyway executable and necessary files inside.
Set Up Environment Variables (Optional):
- Add the Flyway installation directory to your system’s PATH environment variable.
- This step ensures you can run Flyway from any location in the command prompt or terminal.
Verify Installation:
- Open a terminal or command prompt.
- Type flyway --version and press Enter.
- If successful, you’ll see the Flyway version information.

That’s it! You’ve successfully installed Flyway. Now you’re ready to manage your database schema changes with ease. 🚀🗄️

Basic Tutorials of Flyway: Getting Started

This step-by-step guide will introduce you to Flyway’s basic functionalities through a simple example. We’ll focus on the Community Edition, but note that some features mentioned here might only be available in the Teams Edition.

1. Prerequisites:

Java Runtime Environment (JRE): Download and install if not already present.
Database: Choose a compatible database like MySQL, PostgreSQL, or Oracle. Set up your database and user credentials.
Flyway download: Download the Flyway Community Edition from https://flywaydb.org/. Extract the downloaded archive.

2. Project Setup:

Create a new project directory.
Inside the project directory, create a file named flyway.conf (configuration file).
In flyway.conf, add the following basic configuration details:

# Database connection details
url=your_database_url
user=your_database_user
password=your_database_password

# Database schema
schemas=public

# Placeholders for migration scripts
locations=filesystem:migrations

Replace placeholders with your actual database details and desired location for migration scripts (usually a folder named migrations).

3. Create Initial Migration:

Create a new folder named migrations under your project directory.
Inside migrations, create a file named V1__create_users_table.sql. The V1__ prefix indicates the version number.
Add the following SQL script to create a users table:

SQL

CREATE TABLE users (
  id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
  username VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL UNIQUE,
  email VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL UNIQUE
);

4. Run Flyway Migration:

Open a terminal and navigate to your project directory.
Run the following command to execute the migration:

flyway migrate

Flyway will connect to your database, detect the migration script, and apply it. You can check your database to confirm the users table creation.

5. Add Another Migration:

Create a new file named V2__add_password_column.sql within the migrations folder.
Add the following SQL script to add a password column to the users table:

SQL

ALTER TABLE users ADD password VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL;

Run flyway migrate again to apply this new migration.

6. Additional Notes:

You can add multiple migration scripts with unique version prefixes to manage schema evolution gradually.
Flyway offers various commands for advanced tasks like checking migration status, rolling back changes, and more.
Consider using a version control system like Git to track your migration scripts alongside your codebase for better management and collaboration.

This basic tutorial provides a starting point for using Flyway.