CI/CD: Tenant DB Operation AWS and Flyway

In this part of my blog series, we’re continuing our deep dive into the fascinating world of Flyway and CI/CD migration. Previously, we laid the groundwork, and today, we’re building on that foundation by tackling one of the more challenging aspects of database management: handling multi-tenant database deployments. Specifically, we’ll focus on how to use Flyway in conjunction with AWS CodeBuild to simplify and streamline these processes.

Managing multi-tenant databases is no small feat, especially when dealing with complex migration scenarios. This article will break down the everyday management tasks into small, actionable steps, providing you with a clear roadmap to follow. Whether you're dealing with schema updates, versioning, or resolving potential conflicts, I will show you how to maintain efficiency and accuracy throughout the process.

Additionally, we’ll explore best practices for organizing and automating your migration scripts. This includes ensuring compatibility across tenants, and seamlessly integrating these strategies into your CI/CD pipeline. By the end of this guide, you’ll have a robust toolkit for managing migrations that not only saves time but also reduces the risk of errors.

The diagram below offers a conceptual overview of how to implement migration changes in a multi-tenant database environment. It highlights the key components, their interactions, and how Flyway and AWS CodeBuild work together to achieve a smooth, automated process.

Let's step through the procedure to get a clear understanding of the basic steps and underlying logic.

Committing the Code: The developer commits their code changes for the required database schema updates to the AWS CodeCommit repository. The migration scripts are versioned and organized according to Flyway's recommended best practices.

Transferring Code to AWS S3: The committed code is automatically assigned to an S3 migration bucket. This can be done through AWS CDK or any similar process on your workflow. This bucket must be located within the workload AWS account, where the Amazon RDS and AWS CodeBuild are deployed. This is standard and common in environments with multiple AWS accounts.

Amazon EventBridge: triggers an event when a new object is created in the AWS S3 bucket. The target for this event is a StepFunction flow, which activates the multi-tenant database migration process for each tenant database.

The AWS Step Functions: flow includes several parts. One key component is a AWS Lambda function retrieves a list of tenants managed by the Flyway migration. It then sends this list and connection details stored in AWS Secret Manager for each tenant to the AWS CodeBuild environment. Following this, AWS CodeBuild takes over and applies the changes to the databases of these tenants.

AWS CodeBuild: The AWS CodeBuild running flyway logic needs to be deployed in AWS VPC and have security group, access to Amazon RDS instance, and only necessary IAM privileges to access AWS resources such as tenants secrets, AWS CloudWatch, etc.

As we wrap this discussion, it becomes evident that integrating AWS services such as AWS Lambda, Amazon EventBridge, AWS Step Functions, and AWS CodeBuild with Flyway provides a powerful and efficient solution for managing multi-tenant database migrations. This combination empowers teams to handle even the most complex deployments with ease and precision by automating and streamlining key processes.

By adopting this approach, organizations can simplify the management of database changes across multiple tenants, ensuring consistency, reducing the risk of errors, and enhancing overall efficiency. The seamless integration of these tools not only accelerates deployment cycles but also fosters a more reliable and scalable infrastructure.

I hope this guide has offered valuable insights into optimizing your database migration journey. I’m excited to continue exploring innovative technological solutions and strategies with you in future discussions. Stay tuned for more practical tips and expert insights—and, as always, happy coding!