“Why are you building this in Streamlit?” That’s the question I was asked when I first started working on an IQOQ validation app for database migrations. Honestly, it’s a fair one. With powerful web frameworks like React, Vue, and even Dash out there, why choose a Python-based tool that’s often considered just a data scientist’s dashboarding playground?
However, here’s the thing: Streamlit is deceptively simple yet wildly powerful — especially when your goal is to transform raw backend checks into an intuitive, interactive interface. For developers and infrastructure engineers who prefer not to work with HTML, CSS, or JavaScript, Streamlit provides the ideal middle ground. It lets you stay in Python-land, plug directly into data sources, and quickly create clean, functional interfaces. That’s precisely what IQOQ needs.
React, while far more customizable, would require setting up an API layer, managing state manually, handling all styling, and writing every tiny UI element from scratch. For internal tools and validation frameworks like IQOQ, where the users are technical, the UX doesn’t need marketing polish, and rapid iteration matters more, Streamlit wins. It’s fast, focused, and integrates beautifully with the data-heavy nature of database validation.
So, what exactly is IQOQ?
Understanding IQOQ in the Context of DB Migrations
IQOQ stands for Installation Qualification (IQ) and Operational Qualification (OQ). These are formalized steps taken after deploying or migrating a database system to ensure two things: first, that the system has been installed correctly (IQ), and second, that it is operating as intended (OQ). In regulated industries, these checks aren’t optional. They’re mandatory, forming the core of compliance, audit readiness, and operational trust.
When migrating a SQL Server instance — say, from an on-prem setup to a cloud-based infrastructure, you don’t just hope everything works. You validate it, line by line, setting by setting. IQOQ ensures that critical configurations, policies, performance thresholds, and security baselines are met post-migration and that they align with organizational or regulatory standards.
The Power of Automation and Interaction
Traditionally, these validations are done manually: someone runs a series of SQL scripts, copies the output to Excel, eyeballs the differences, and logs a pass/fail for each check. This is time-consuming, prone to human error, and hard to standardize across environments.
With Streamlit, I built an app that automates these checks, connects to target environments, and runs side-by-side comparisons in real-time, highlighting mismatches, allowing filtered views, and even exporting the final IQOQ report. It turned a tedious compliance checklist into an engaging diagnostic tool.
What We Check — IQOQ Parameters in Practice
Let’s talk about the core validations. These checks are rooted in SQL Server best practices and aim to ensure your migrated environment is secure, performant, and compliant.
We usually begin by verifying that the instance name and type follow expected naming conventions and that the SQL Server version and edition fall within the supported range, typically from SQL Server 2016 to 2022. A correct Service Pack or Cumulative Update is also essential for stability and supportability.
From a configuration standpoint, SQL Server mustn’t be installed on the OS drive (C:) and is instead located on a dedicated volume like D:. We also check that it's running on a static, non-default port, reducing exposure to default-targeted attacks.
Security is a key focus. We ensure that authentication mode is set to Mixed (for flexibility) and that login auditing is enabled to track both successful and failed attempts. We confirm that SQL Error Logs retain adequate history and that features like XP_CMDSHELL and Ad Hoc Distributed Queries are disabled, as they pose unnecessary risk if left open.
Performance-wise, we check that SQL memory usage is capped appropriately (usually some percentage of total server memory) and that TempDB is configured with multiple files on a separate drive. Max Degree of Parallelism (MAXDOP) settings are validated to ensure they align with the workload.
For database-level settings, we verify that AUTO_CLOSE and TRUSTWORTHY are disabled and that the GUEST account has no unnecessary access. We also confirm that password policies and expirations are enforced for SQL-authenticated users to maintain access hygiene.
Lastly but not least, we inspect system databases — MASTER, MSDB, MODEL, and TEMPDB — ensuring they’re online and set to the appropriate recovery model for their role in the environment.
These validations which are part of a much larger and complicated scripts give us a solid picture of whether a migrated SQL Server instance meets operational and installation standards and whether it’s truly ready for production use.
Putting It All Together in Streamlit
All these validations — over 50 distinct checks — are run through a dynamic Streamlit app. Each check is visually marked as Pass/Fail, with supporting values, expected standards, and optional remediation hints. Users can filter by check type (security, performance, or configuration), download a CSV report, or even trigger the validations across multiple servers via a batch mode.
Streamlit’s native interactivity allows even non-developers to explore, validate, and document the state of their SQL Server instances post-migration. It’s no longer about running 50 scripts — it’s about running one intelligent, interactive platform.
Conclusion
Sure, I could have built this in React, but that would’ve meant weeks of front-end development for something that Python and Streamlit solved in days. For data-rich internal tools where clarity and speed matter more than pixel perfection, Streamlit is hard to beat.
IQOQ is not just a compliance box to tick, it just got a whole lot smarter. — it’s your early warning system. And by automating it using Streamlit, you make that system fast, repeatable, transparent, and accessible to more than just the DBAs. You empower the entire team to be confident in their post-migration environments.
Shubham Anand,
Hewlett Packard Enterprise ( GCC - PS )
I work at HPE
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[Any personal opinions expressed are mine, and not official statements on behalf of Hewlett Packard Enterprise]
