Database Reference
In-Depth Information
How it works...
There are three key components of a data-tier application project initiation—SQL Server
objects, a server selection policy, and custom scripts (sometimes referred to as additional
or extra files).
In order to get started, define the schema of an application. Developers can import a DAC
package into the project system, or they can select an instance of SQL Server and import
objects from an existing database. Then, users can create and modify database objects and
SQL Server instance objects that are associated with the database.
Programming users can utilize advanced code editing features (such as IntelliSense
technology, auto-completion, code snippets, and the Transact-SQL compiler) to write Transact-
SQL code for stored procedures, functions, users, and logins.
After adding tables to the data-tier application projects, developers can create a DAC package
and deploy the project to a target instance of SQL Server to test the release. For the control
deployments, a server selection policy enables developers to set prerequisites and conditions
on the target instance of SQL Server where the data-tier application is deployed. This process
helps to dictate prerequisite conditions on target instances.
The server selection policy helps developers to express and dictate deployment intents. Each
time a DAC package is deployed, the policy is evaluated against the target to ensure that the
instance meets the application requirements.
Custom deployment actions and data manipulation operations are also available in the
data-tier application project through custom scripts. Users can provide Transact-SQL scripts
and include them in the DAC package. While the system does not automatically execute or
reason over custom scripts, users can manually execute these scripts during DAC deployment
or upgrade.
The unpack functionality is provided to let users view the content of a DAC package and
generate the Transact-SQL script that corresponds to the deployment or upgrade of a data-tier
application. The best practice is to use the unpack feature before you deploy or upgrade a
DAC package in production, to review the code and compare or identify changes.
There's more...
In order to simplify the management of SQL Server environments, the health of DAC resources
(for example, CPU, and disk space) across multiple computers and instances can be viewed in
a central interface called the Utility Explorer in SQL Server Management Studio.
The Utility Explorer displays aggregated data and information, enabling DBAs to easily obtain
utilization reports and statistics for their SQL Server installations. Furthermore, in order to
customize CPU and disk space performance reports, DBAs can use Utility Health Policies to
tune and control views showing the DAC resource consumption.
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