SQL Server 2008 R2 provides an easy way to author, deploy, and manage data-tier objects as a single entity through data-tier applications. A data-tier application (DAC) is an entity that contains all of the database and instance objects used by an application.
You can create DACs using two methods. First, you can use the Extract Data-tier Application wizard to extract database and instance objects from a database in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS). This wizard will take you through a couple simple steps and create the DAC for you.
After you have extracted the DAC, you can author it in Visual Studio 2010 or you can deploy it to an instance of SQL Server using the Deploy Data-tier Application wizard. The Deploy Data-tier Application wizard will guide you through several steps to deploy the DAC to the instance you select.
You can create a DAC in Visual Studio 2010 or author a DAC you extracted by starting a Data-Tier Application project. After a DAC has been imported, you can add several elements to the DAC project: DAC properties, definitions of all the database objects used by the application, definitions of the instance-level objects, a server selection policy that defines the pre-requisite conditions an instance of the Database Engine should have to host the DAC, and files and scripts that can be embedded in the DAC.
There are two ways to view DACs: through Object Explorer and through Utility Explorer. Object Explorer will let you see a list of DACs on the instance. Utility Explorer will give you a more detailed view of the DAC, and allows you to view utilization information just like managed instances.
Posted Thursday, March 25th, 2010 at 2:56 pm by peterl
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