Databases often need more than just the database objects to run. There may be certain server objects and components, and SQL Agent objects, that are required as well. For an automated deployment, these need to be identified and their build script placed in source control. They then need to be deployed via the pre, or post deployment script. Phil spells out how and why.  Read more...

Alex talks through a simple practical example of a database deployment, First creating a empty database and then upgrading it through three steps by writing T-SQL scripts, adjusting configuration files and the change log, before generating a full build script containing all schema objects.  Read more...

There are a number of challenges that make the deployment task more difficult. Alex reviews the common techniques for deploying new databases and upgrading existing ones, and their flaws, and argues the advantages of an automated, incremental, script-based approach to deployments.  Read more...

Although databases have no inherent way of recording their version numbers, SQL Server provides the means of doing so, and much more besides. This is a great advantage to anyone faced with the task of deploying databases without errors.  Read more...

Often, an existing database application must evolve rapidly by incremental steps. Alex describes a tried and tested system to provide an automated approach to deploying both new and existing database systems, whilst dealing with common security and configuration issues.  Read more...

When you are about to deploy a new version of a database by updating the current version, one of the essential pre-deployment checks is to make sure that the version in production is exactly what it should be. If changes have somehow slipped in, you'll need to understand them and deal with them before you can deploy.  Read more...

Today Steve Jones talks about deployment and how well it can work. He also asks about the problems from you and how easily it can fail.  Read more...

As part of Simple-Talk's long-running Cribsheet series, they asked William Brewer to write a guide to deployment that described in general terms what is involved in the deployment of a database application, and the sort of issues you're likely to come up against.  Read more...

Occasionally, when deploying a database, you need to copy data out to file from all the tables in a database. Phil Factor shows how to do it, and illustrates its use by copying an entire database from one server to another.  Read more...

Quite often, the database developer or tester is faced with having to load data into a newly created database. What could be simpler? Quite a lot of things, it seems.  Read more...

Although, generally speaking, source control is the truth, a database doesn't quite conform to the ideal because the target schema can, for valid reasons, contain other conflicting truths that can't easily be captured in source control. Dave Ballantyne explains the problems and suggests a solution.  Read more...

In a guest editorial, Rodney Landrum offers a light-hearted guide to role of each member of the cast in a typical SQL code deployment.   Read more...

For those of you still using SQL Server 2000, learn how to use SQL-DMO to create DML scripts to deploy new records or data changes to other servers. From Oscar Garcia.  Read more...

With the GDR release, a whole new set of deployment functionality has become available to VSTS: DB.  Read more...