Development server vs Live server deployment

How do you guys handle this? I want to create and develop our reports on our
development report services server with its own SQL server 2005 server...
then later when they are tested and working deploy them to our live server
with a completly different instance of SQL Server 2005 (enterprise edition)
and have them run there on its report services server with its data source
as itself... how would you go about doing this? thanks! Also is there a way
to change the database and database server at runtime (say in a VB.NET
application?) thanks!Smokey,
Check this page :
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms160854.aspx
for "PublishSampleReports.rss"
This should answer your "how would you go about doing this" part of the
question...
Andrei.
"Smokey Grindle" <nospam@.dontspamme.com> wrote in message
news:%23fQIZjOOHHA.1248@.TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> How do you guys handle this? I want to create and develop our reports on
> our development report services server with its own SQL server 2005
> server... then later when they are tested and working deploy them to our
> live server with a completly different instance of SQL Server 2005
> (enterprise edition) and have them run there on its report services server
> with its data source as itself... how would you go about doing this?
> thanks! Also is there a way to change the database and database server at
> runtime (say in a VB.NET application?) thanks!
>|||any idea how you would change the dataset's database and database server at
runtime of a report?
"Andrei" <andrei.toma@.era-environmental.com> wrote in message
news:O4ukonOOHHA.2236@.TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> Smokey,
> Check this page :
> http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms160854.aspx
> for "PublishSampleReports.rss"
> This should answer your "how would you go about doing this" part of the
> question...
> Andrei.
> "Smokey Grindle" <nospam@.dontspamme.com> wrote in message
> news:%23fQIZjOOHHA.1248@.TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> How do you guys handle this? I want to create and develop our reports on
>> our development report services server with its own SQL server 2005
>> server... then later when they are tested and working deploy them to our
>> live server with a completly different instance of SQL Server 2005
>> (enterprise edition) and have them run there on its report services
>> server with its data source as itself... how would you go about doing
>> this? thanks! Also is there a way to change the database and database
>> server at runtime (say in a VB.NET application?) thanks!
>|||Are you supporting multiple databases with the same structure or is this
just going from development to production? If you use shared datasources
then you configure it once on each server and after that you are good to go.
The reports go against the shared datasource which defaults to not being
overwritten so when you deploy it is left alone.
--
Bruce Loehle-Conger
MVP SQL Server Reporting Services
"Smokey Grindle" <nospam@.dontspamme.com> wrote in message
news:eRK0myOOHHA.3212@.TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> any idea how you would change the dataset's database and database server
> at runtime of a report?
> "Andrei" <andrei.toma@.era-environmental.com> wrote in message
> news:O4ukonOOHHA.2236@.TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>> Smokey,
>> Check this page :
>> http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms160854.aspx
>> for "PublishSampleReports.rss"
>> This should answer your "how would you go about doing this" part of the
>> question...
>> Andrei.
>> "Smokey Grindle" <nospam@.dontspamme.com> wrote in message
>> news:%23fQIZjOOHHA.1248@.TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> How do you guys handle this? I want to create and develop our reports on
>> our development report services server with its own SQL server 2005
>> server... then later when they are tested and working deploy them to our
>> live server with a completly different instance of SQL Server 2005
>> (enterprise edition) and have them run there on its report services
>> server with its data source as itself... how would you go about doing
>> this? thanks! Also is there a way to change the database and database
>> server at runtime (say in a VB.NET application?) thanks!
>>
>|||multiple databases, We have this structure in our application...
Our Live server can have multiple databases with the same exact schema (we
have a Live system with real time data, and a testing system with weekly
data from the live system for testing out stuff) when we log into our
application you select the server and which database you are going to work
with... in crystal reports we manually changed the mappings in the report to
get it to work with the different databases on the server then ran the
report, just wondering how you can do something similar in reporting server.
90% of the time the reports are ran in the live system, but we still have to
support the other 10% and dont want to make copies of reports for each
database, because techincally, someone could make another database at any
point in time with the same schema
"Bruce L-C [MVP]" <bruce_lcNOSPAM@.hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:uiAgLBSOHHA.4848@.TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> Are you supporting multiple databases with the same structure or is this
> just going from development to production? If you use shared datasources
> then you configure it once on each server and after that you are good to
> go. The reports go against the shared datasource which defaults to not
> being overwritten so when you deploy it is left alone.
> --
> Bruce Loehle-Conger
> MVP SQL Server Reporting Services
> "Smokey Grindle" <nospam@.dontspamme.com> wrote in message
> news:eRK0myOOHHA.3212@.TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>> any idea how you would change the dataset's database and database server
>> at runtime of a report?
>> "Andrei" <andrei.toma@.era-environmental.com> wrote in message
>> news:O4ukonOOHHA.2236@.TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>> Smokey,
>> Check this page :
>> http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms160854.aspx
>> for "PublishSampleReports.rss"
>> This should answer your "how would you go about doing this" part of the
>> question...
>> Andrei.
>> "Smokey Grindle" <nospam@.dontspamme.com> wrote in message
>> news:%23fQIZjOOHHA.1248@.TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> How do you guys handle this? I want to create and develop our reports
>> on our development report services server with its own SQL server 2005
>> server... then later when they are tested and working deploy them to
>> our live server with a completly different instance of SQL Server 2005
>> (enterprise edition) and have them run there on its report services
>> server with its data source as itself... how would you go about doing
>> this? thanks! Also is there a way to change the database and database
>> server at runtime (say in a VB.NET application?) thanks!
>>
>>
>

Development & Lives databases

Hello all, apologies if i've posted this in the wrong forum!
I have 2 databases development and live. Development has the correct
structure (SP's and tables) and live has the correct data. I would like to
make live match the development database but not to loose any data. Is
replication the best method?
If so, any simple www's that could help me?
Thanks all,
Jon
you have to pick an authority. Sounds like you have to ensure that live has
the correct schema, and then push your live data to development.
Transactional replication is ideal for this. It does require that every
table has a pk though, which it should.
Hilary Cotter
Looking for a SQL Server replication book?
http://www.nwsu.com/0974973602.html
"Jon" <Jon@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:128F3236-EBD2-4034-8A3A-A72248CD3011@.microsoft.com...
> Hello all, apologies if i've posted this in the wrong forum!
> I have 2 databases development and live. Development has the correct
> structure (SP's and tables) and live has the correct data. I would like to
> make live match the development database but not to loose any data. Is
> replication the best method?
> If so, any simple www's that could help me?
> Thanks all,
> Jon

Developer Environment vs. Live Server

I am experiencing a situation where certain functions work perfectly when I run it on my local machine under MVS, but when I upload it to the server, then it does not?!

Here is an example:

I am using a drop down box (in a FormView) that is databound in an online submission form. When I run the application in MVS, then I can edit the records by opening the form, and selection the new value in the drop down list. The new value is then also saved to the database when I hit the update button. When I upload the code to the server, then the drop down list shows the correct information (so the databinding to the control seem to work correctly), but the new value is not saved to the database.

Here is the code for the drop down list:

"DropDownList1" runat="server" DataSourceID="SqlDataSource3"
DataTextField="UserName" DataValueField="UserId" SelectedValue='<%# Bind("UserId") %>'
CssClass="text">
"SqlDataSource3" runat="server" ConnectionString="<%$ ConnectionStrings:LocalSqlServer %>"
SelectCommand="SELECT [UserName], [UserId] FROM [vw_aspnet_Users] ORDER BY [UserName]">

Here is the code updating the database with the record (I have removed some records as well as the Insert and Delete parts):

<asp:SqlDataSource ID="SqlDataSource1" runat="server" ConnectionString="<%$ ConnectionStrings:tourism_connect1 %>"
UpdateCommand="UPDATE Resorts SET typeid = @.typeid, destrictid = @.destrictid, UserId = @.UserId, WHERE (resortid = @.resortid)"
OnInserted="SqlDataSource1_Inserted">

<UpdateParameters>
<asp:Parameter Name="typeid" />
<asp:Parameter Name="destrictid" />
<asp:Parameter Name="UserId" />
<asp:Parameter Name="resortid" />
</UpdateParameters>
</asp:SqlDataSource>

What I can mention further, is that if I connect to the database that is on the live server (so the application runs in MVS on my local machine, but it then retrieves the info from the online database), then it also works fine. It is just giving this issue when the online application is trying to update the values.

There is also no errors during the process.

I will appreciate any advise on how to overcome this, as I really do not know where to look anymore...

Thanks in advance!

Regards

Jan

Have you checked logs? My first guess is a permission error, but it's a guess at this point with the given information.

Jeff

|||

Hi Jeff,

I had a look at all possible permission settings, and I just could not find anything! Unfortunately my service provider can not give me access to the logs at this time, so since everything else failed, I decided to redo the whole lot. The good news is that I got it working, and the problem seem to have been due to date formatting.

I have a Text Box that I update in the Page_Load event with the current date when the record is edited. The code looked like this:

TextBox varLastRevised2 = ((TextBox)(FormView1.FindControl("LastRevisedTextBox")));
varLastRevised2.Text = DateTime.Now.ToLongDateString();

For some reason, when this value needed to be placed back into the database, then the format of the date was not recognised. So I have changed the code to the following:

TextBox varLastRevised2 = ((TextBox)(FormView1.FindControl("LastRevisedTextBox")));
varLastRevised2.Text = DateTime.Now.ToString();

With this, it seem to be working.

The strange part is that I would think that there would be some sort of error if the date format was giving an error, but instead it just did not do anything. I am sure that the logs might have contained some info about this, but this is something I'll have to clear up.

Thanks for your advise in any case.

Best Regards
Jan

|||

This is maybe beacuse the database objects (e.g. tables, stored procedures,..etc) is created on the MVS with a user (say UserA), and now in the live server you are using another user (say UserB) who has the right permission to SELECT data (for example), but he can not see the table. Why? because it might be located in a schema that "UserB" can not access to it.

Make sure that the database user in the live server can see tables in the schema where you put the tables you got from development.

Good luck.

Dev/Learning Environment

I haven't used RS yet as we have leaned on Crystal Reports but I want to
learn and design in RS. We already have a live intranet RS page or two
developed by former employees hence I want to fill that gap of knowledge.
My questions :
While playing and designing, is it better to take my SQL dev box and add RS,
IIS, .net etc or should I just to tap into the live server that's already set
up? Any risks to running dev on the live box?
The data would reside on a third sql server.
Thanks for any best practice advice you can spare.
--
Mike
If data falls in the woods and nobody is there to see it ...... ?One gotcha that I had was getting SharePoint to use RS. Apparenlty I needed
to install some additional DLL to allow SharePoint to display RS as web
parts and for about an hour I had production SP down as things didn't go
smoothly.
I know you didn't mention SP - but in case you are gong to look forward to
it as your web portal.
"Tigermikefl" <Tigermikefl@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:23619A8F-2482-4CAA-9241-9C854FCE7898@.microsoft.com...
>I haven't used RS yet as we have leaned on Crystal Reports but I want to
> learn and design in RS. We already have a live intranet RS page or two
> developed by former employees hence I want to fill that gap of knowledge.
> My questions :
> While playing and designing, is it better to take my SQL dev box and add
> RS,
> IIS, .net etc or should I just to tap into the live server that's already
> set
> up? Any risks to running dev on the live box?
> The data would reside on a third sql server.
> Thanks for any best practice advice you can spare.
> --
> Mike
> If data falls in the woods and nobody is there to see it ...... ?

dev to UAT to Live using linked server catalog to default the database

Hi all,

Im trying to have one set of TSQL code that uses global settings in 'linked servers' so code can migrated from development, to test to UAT and finally to live without change. e.g.

select *
from [oursystem].ourDB.dbo.table
join [linked_server_othersystem]..dbo.tablename ...

By using no database name (and expecting the catalog set at the linked server to be used) the same code is equivilent to:

select *
from [oursystem].ourDB.dbo.tablefrom [oursystem].ourDB.dbo.table
join [linked_server_othersystem].developmentDB.dbo.tablename

select *
from [oursystem].ourDB.dbo.table
join [linked_server_othersystem].testDB.dbo.tablename ...

select *
from [oursystem].ourDB.dbo.table
join [linked_server_othersystem].UATDB.dbo.tablename ...

select *
from [oursystem].ourDB.dbo.table
join [linked_server_othersystem].LiveDB.dbo.tablename ...

Nice. One code set over multiple environments thereby preserving numerous audit and 'best practices' guidlines for source control. (And stopping our live system from accidentially linking to a UAT or test 'othersystem' database. )

Problem is, try as I might, the catalog seems to be REQUIRED when the provider is SQLNCLI. I.e. it must be specified in the TSQL code. Thus any attempt to use a default catalog (database) fails with the following error:

Msg 7313, Level 16, State 1, Line 1
An invalid schema or catalog was specified for the provider "SQLNCLI" for linked server "test".

Linked server set up as follows:

EXEC master.dbo.sp_addlinkedserver @.server = N'LINKED_SERVER_OTHERSYSTEM', @.srvproduct=N'SQLNCLI', @.provider=N'SQLNCLI', @.datasrc=N'servername', @.catalog=N'testdatabase'

Is this bahaviour 'by design'?

Is there a workaround? (e.g. another provider to SQL Server 2005 that respects the catalog value)

Hotfix?

Any help - from someone who has actually done this (or not) much appreciated. And yes, I've read the doco and it suggests it should work and does not suggest it will not work.

Cheers,
Belgarion

Were you able to solve this problem? I have a similiar case with the same results.

Thanks,

Chris

|||

Hi Chris,

Alas no. I've concluded it's 'by design', and I might add, poorly documented as there appears to be nothing in the documentation that says this won't work.

Anybody tried this and suceeded? A chocolate fish awaits ...

Cheers,
Belgarion.