Database Lab Engine is an open-source tool for building powerful development and testing environments based on thin cloning of PostgreSQL databases. Using Database Lab open-source CLI or API (and if you are using Database Lab SaaS, proprietary GUI), on a single machine with, say, a 1 TiB disk, you can easily create and destroy dozens of database copies of size 1 TiB each. All these copies are independently modifiable and created/destroyed in just a few seconds. This can become a game-changer in your development and testing workflow, improving time-to-market, and reducing costs of your non-production infrastructure.

In version 2.1 contains numerous improvements. Main new features are:

• Better data protection and security:
  • robust configuration defining how data is patched when snapshots are automatically created (both shell and SQL scripts are now supported),
  • new option: preserve passwords for the existing DB users.
• [experimental] DLE API and the CLI tool are extended to have a new feature: “CI Observer” helping control DB schema changes a.k.a. DB migrations (see CLI reference, watch demo). This is a small step towards the big goal: have 100% coverage for testing DB migrations in CI using full-sized thin clones.

Links:

• Database Lab Engine 2.1.0 release notes
• Resources – an interactive tutorial, case studies
• Blog
• Tutorial for RDS users
• Tutorial for any PostgreSQL database
• Database Lab Engine configuration reference

Any feedback is highly appreciated:

• Twitter: @Database_Lab
• Community Slack (English), and Telegram group (Russian)
• Database Lab Engine repository, with the issue tracker