Knight's 24-Hour Trainer: Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 Integration Services

Chapter 42. Deploying Packages

So you've created a set of packages, and you're now ready to get those packages to production. This lesson focuses on the deployment of packages from your development environment to each subsequent environment like Q&A or production. You can use several mechanisms to deploy your packages:

• By using the deployment utility

• From within BIDS or Management Studio

• From a command line using dtutil or xcopy

Each mechanism has its pros and cons that really depend on if you're storing your packages in the msdb database in your SQL Server instance or in the file system. This lesson touches on each of these deployment approaches and these two storage methods.

Deploying Packages Using a Deployment Utility

In SSIS, you can create a deployment utility that helps a user install your project of packages and any dependencies. This deployment utility is like creating a program like InstallShield and is perfect for times when you want to pass a set of packages to a customer or a production DBA that may not know how to install SSIS packages manually. When you create a deployment utility, all the files that are necessary to install the project are copied into a centralized directory and an .SSISDeploymentManifest file, which opens the Package Installation Wizard, is created for the installer to run.

To create a deployment utility, simply right-click the SSIS project in the Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS) and select Properties. In the Property Pages dialog box, go ...