SSIS Packages - File System or MSDB?

2009 August 26
by amorts

Had a bit of an interesting discussion today over the pros and cons of where best to store SSIS packages. So where is best to store them? The file system or in MSDB?

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South Wales User Group - Agenda Confirmed

2009 August 24
by amorts

Download the flyer here

Agenda

18:30 - 18:45 - Introduction, Networking and Food

18:45 - 19:00 - Round Table problems and answers, SQL nuggets - bring a tip or 1 - 5 minute demo and share with your peers.

19:00 - 19:45 - Ensuring Business Continuity - Tony Rogerson, SQL Server MVP

Business Continuity is essential (period); in this session we talk about creating your Backup and Recovery strategy, we dive into Database Mirroring and Log Shipping and possibly Clustering if time; we also look at monitoring by diving into the SQL Server 2008 Event Notifications features of the product to assist you in building a solid and reliable method of being notified when something is going wrong.

19:45 - 20:00 - Break

20:00 - 21:00 - Integration Services in SQL Server 2008 - Allan Mitchell, SQL Server MVP

In SQL Server 2005 Microsoft introduced their new ETL tool (SSIS).  It is a complete rewrite of the beloved DTS (Data Transformation Services).  It is incredibly quick and incredibly flexible.  In SQL Server 2008 they have made it even better.  In this session I want to show some of the things that make it better.  Most of them are engine enhancements but I will show you why they are good news.  Things that will be included

Persistent Lookups
Pipeline Limiter
Threading
C# Scripting Language
Change Data Capture

A fun fast paced session that will show Microsoft is committed to making ETL a priority product in their BI suite of tools.

Automated Deployment - Part 2

2009 August 21
by amorts

I promised I would write again about the Automated Deployment piece so here is the long overdue 2nd part. Thankfully we’re over the hard part - deploying the database objects is far more complex then simply deploying SSIS packages!

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South Wales User Group Date Confirmed

2009 August 21
by amorts

Great news! I’ve been able to secure a venue for the very first SQL Server User Group in South Wales. The first event will be held on Thursday 8th October at Principality House, situated just off Queen Street in Cardiff city centre. We’re delighted to welcome both Tony Rogerson and Allan Mitchell as guest speakers on the night and from initial feed back we feel the 30 odd places we have available are going to fill up pretty quickly.

To register and for the latest agenda information Tony should be adding the details up on www.sqlserverfaq.com very soon.

Hope to see you there!

Automating Deployment - Part 1

2009 July 9
by amorts

At the moment I am working on creating a 1-click deployment solution for a client. Shortly after getting into this company it was obvious that source control was not being used effectively. This was one of the first things I addressed by pulling all objects into SourceSafe 2005 to create a baseline and training the users on the VS 2005 intergration with source control.

In order to prove that I had captured all the components required I decided to build to a clean environment. So in order to deploy this new build and to support future incremental deployments I split this into 4 distinct areas of work;

  • Database Deployment
  • SSIS Deployment
  • SSAS Deployment
  • SSRS Deployment

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Best Data Warehouse book?

2009 July 5
by amorts

I think so. This has been one of the few technical books I have read which I cannot praise enough. For anyone who wants to gain a good end-to-end understanding of Data Warehousing using SQL Server 2005 this book is essential. It explains all data warehousing concepts in a clear, friendly manor without alienating the reader by explaining all the terminology. I wonder if they’ll do the same for SQL Server 2008?

SQL Server User Group coming soon to Cardiff!

2009 July 5
by amorts

Yes you heard it right…in Cardiff! I’m getting involved in the UK SQL Server user group arena by organising the South Wales SQL Server User Group. read more…