Professional SQL Server™ 2005 Integration Services

12.5. Summary

In this chapter, you learned about DTS 2000 package migration, about running DTS 2000 packages within SSIS, and about metadata management for packages.

Eventually, you will have to migrate all your DTS 2000 packages into SSIS packages. If you have many packages and they are fairly complex, you can choose to install DTS 2000 runtime and continue running them within SSIS. You can start migrating smaller and simpler packages with the Migration Wizard. As you gain more experience, you can start to tackle more complex packages. As mentioned earlier, you will probably have to rethink how the old package was designed and then redesign it using SSIS's enhanced functionality. This way, you will be able to fully take advantage of the richer functionality and better performance and scalability provided by SSIS.

As to metadata management and package storage, that depends on your environment and your particular needs. If you work in a team that has a few developers, you may want to use centralized storage for all your packages so that developers can share and manage those packages easily. If you choose to use dtsx XML files for storage, you can save them on the network or a shared folder. If you store them in MSDB, consider storing them in a centralized database. In any case, if you manage those packages within SSMS, you can create one single MsDtsSrvr.ini.xml file. You will then have a consistent view of all your packages, thus making package management easier.