How to deploy SQL database on several different SQL Server instances and databases

When work on a database in a development environment is completed, developers are required to send the new version in for testing. If the testing is done on one or two machines – this is not a problem. However, if there is a need to test the new version on 10 or 15 machines (with different operating systems, SQL Server versions, or service packs installed), this can be tedious.

Another situation where scripts need to be executed on multiple servers is if there are many databases for different clients that were all derived from the same database and share many common objects. Any changes made in the development must be pushed to all users.

April 4, 2013

How to build a SQL database from source control without dependency problems


One of the caveats of having your SQL database under a source control system, is the overhead when the time comes to deploy a new database build. Even if a single copy of the database isn’t shared among the developers, but rather each developer has its own local copy of the database objects’ scripts which are synchronized with source control on a regular basis, building a deployment SQL script may prove to be a rather challenging task.

April 4, 2013

How to create a SQL build script from the source control repository

It’s quite common for developer teams to use database object versioning. The creation scripts for every table, view, stored procedure, and other objects in the database are added to a source control system. That way, everything is versioned and the team is safe.

Applying a specific version of a source control system to a database is not a problem and it can be done by using a source control client.

April 4, 2013

How to re-order scripts to avoid dependency-based errors

Having a database scripted to a script folder or to a source control, it enables to use these DDL scripts to recreate it. However, it might not go smoothly due to some missing dependencies.

When creating a database object from scratch, the needed objects are created along the way. The objects can be tied in relationships and constraints to make them dependent on each other.

April 4, 2013