Continuous integration with ssdt

Question

So I've been looking at sql server data tools (ssdt) and seen some info to suggest it was possible to do continuous integration with Microsoft database projects and I'm just wondering if anyone is actually doing this in practice.

The dacpac approach looks really appealing and at first attempt seems feasible but not sure. Looking at visual Studio 2013 with latest ssdt.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Yes it is possible and I am currently doing it and have set it up in a number of environments.

If you have any specific questions please ask!

Basic approaches are:

• Create dacpac on build
• Use sqlpackage.exe to push to a Sql DB
• Run tSQLt unit tests
• Possibly generate scripts to deploy to other environments or deploy to other environments

You can switch sqlpackage for things like redgate sql compare or look at the redgate CI tools if you want an easier setup time - I prefer to run sqlpackage as part of the build and control it myself but that is a personal preference.

Whatever approach you take to creating scripts / deploying databases (either sqlpackage or redgate) the tools are command line tools so integrate with msbuild or any ci script / server.

Ed