Sitecore external database integration

Question

What would be a good way, and good practice when "integrating" an external SQL database, in a Sitecore project.

The Sitecore project will get alot of its content from this external database, which is maintained elsewhere, and is constantly updated. (so copying the external database or syncing, is not really prefered, and we dont plan on enriching the data either)

Are there some method of defining some objects and "pipelines" between the Sitecore, and the external database (say without having to use, too many webservices)

Answer 1

What you can do is create a custom Data Provider to connect to your external SQL database. This way you can expose the external data to Sitecore as if it were native data.

See When to Implement Data Providers in the Sitecore ASP.NET CMS for more information.