Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 5.6
Deployment settings.
5.3 Data-Tier Application
During the application development process, typically, two servers are used: one is used for sup-
porting production and one is used for application development. Since the environments in the
production server and development server are not exactly the same, some of the database objects
and programming scripts that work perfectly on one server may not work on the other server.
Databases and their applications are very dynamic. hey are often upgraded and modiied. he
changes made to a database on one server may not work for the database on the other server. To
support data transaction in and out of Windows Azure SQL Database, the data management
software DAC is developed to help with the moving of database objects between applications and
Windows Azure SQL Database. DAC is designed to reduce the hassle in data transaction. DAC
handles tasks such as data import/export, data deployment and upgrade, data extraction, and user
proile analysis. he following describes how DAC works.
Application developers often request database objects from the production server so that they
can keep their applications up-to-date. When a database administrator receives a request for data-
base objects from an application developer, the database administrator will extract the database
objects and package the requested database objects with DAC. Both schemas and data are pack-
aged together into a .bacpac ile. Schema objects such as logins, users, schemas, tables, columns,
constraints, indexes, views, stored procedures, functions, and triggers are packed together with
various types of data. To establish a DAC with the existing databases, the database administrator
irst registers the requested databases to participate in the DAC. Once the databases are registered,
the database administrator can then package the databases and deliver the DAC package to the
application development server. SSMS supports the DAC operation. With SSMS, the database
