All Things SQL Server : Hosting

RC of SQL Server Hosting Toolkit released!

danwinn — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 22:27:00 GMT

Hey folks. This week we posted the Release Candidate for the SQL Server Hosting Toolkit to the web! This includes both the Database Publishing Wizard and the Database Publishing Services.

New in this release:

- Integration into Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Web Developer Express 2005. You can now right-click on a database in the VS Server Explorer and select “Publish to provider”!

- Full support for SQL 2000 as a source database

- Coverage of all object types

- Support for integrating sqlpubwiz.exe into hoster automation. This change was based on feedback from hosters on how they want to provide database download services.

Looking forward, we plan to officially RTW in 8 languages in mid January.

Also, last night Scott Guthrie posted a great tutorial on using the Database Publishing Wizard to deploy a database to a hoster that hasn't yet adopted the Database Publishing Services.

Dan

New CTP of SQL Server Hosting Toolkit released

danwinn — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 04:48:00 GMT

Today, we’re excited to announce the release of the 2nd CTP of the SQL Server Hosting Toolkit!

This CTP contains both a dramatically enhanced Database Publishing Wizard as well as the new Database Publishing Services.

Major enhancements to the Database Publishing Wizard include support for almost all database-level objects and data types, a wizard-based GUI, and integration with the Database Publishing Services.

The Database Publishing Services enable hosters to provide a seamless deployment story for their customers who’ve downloaded the Database Publishing Wizard. The services are designed to be easy to deploy and require minimal resources. With this CTP, hosters can do test deployments in preparation for our formal release next month.

If you're a hosting customer, download the Database Publishing Wizard, give it a shot and tell us about your experience.

If you're a hoster, download the whole toolkit and shoot us a mail. We'd love to talk to you about your experience hosting SQL Server and how we can shape the toolkit to suit your needs.

Dan

Deploying a DB to your Hoster

danwinn — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 03:42:00 GMT

So you got a hosting account and you're ready to deploy your site/app to the web! (If you haven't yet, there are lots of great hosters out there offering Windows/ASP.NET/SQL hosting solutions)

Pushing the ASPX pages has always been pretty straight-forward, but moving the database (along with its data) from a dev box up to a hoster has been tricky (read: very hard) until recently. With the release of the first CTP of the Database Publishing Wizard, it's now an easy task.

Ibra Bordsen (a developer on the SQL Hosting Team) recently posted a great tutorial on how to use the Database Publishing Wizard to deploy a DB to a hoster. Check it out and let us know if you find it helpful.

SQL Server Hosting Toolkit Launched

danwinn — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 12:30:00 GMT

The SQL Server group at Microsoft has just launched the SQL Server Hosting Toolkit with the release of the Database Publishing Wizard Community Technology Preview 1.

The objective of the SQL Server Hosting Toolkit is to enable a great experience around hosted SQL Server. The Database Publishing Wizard works toward this mission by making it easy to upload a database from a development box up to a shared hoster. In its first incarnation, the Database Publishing Wizard is a command line tool that generates a T-SQL script designed to be executed in the script execution windows provided by most hosters in their database management consoles. In the coming months we'll be adding a GUI and building seamless integration between the tool and an upload service we'll provide to hosters for deployment.

Details on the Database Publishing Wizard as well as the download can be found at http://www.codeplex.com/Wiki/View.aspx?ProjectName=sqlhost&title=Database%20Publishing%20Wizard.

We plan to be releasing advances in the Toolkit frequently so check out this first CTP and give us your feedback!

Hosted SQL Server

danwinn — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 10:13:00 GMT

Thought I'd post a useful link for finding hosters that provide SQL Server 2005 services:

http://www.asp.net/hosters/Default.aspx?PromotionID=23