SQL 2012 introduced a new deployment model. Many of us, for various reasons didn’t move along with Microsoft…and continued to use and deploy the old SSIS Packages (.dtsx) … even to SQL 2012. So, that being the case, how do you get to these old packages?
VS 2012 is looking for “Project Deployment Files”…or for “Integration Services” catalogs. We didn’t have those things before 2012. And, we can operate without them, still. But, how?
Some of us, (like me) only occasionally deal in SSIS. Today was one such day. I wanted to see what a junior developer had deployed to our SSIS server. I opened VS2010 with the intent to pull in the package from the server. Seemed reasonable. So, i chose the “new project”, “Integration Services Import Project Wizard” … see below:
That leads you to this dialog:
The problem here is that you know you don’t have a project deployment file, and when you pick the only other choice… “Integration Services catalog” you pick your server only to get the following:
An Integration Services catalog (SSISDB) was not found on this server instance (“MyServerXXX”). To deploy a project to this server, you must create the SSISDB catalog. Open the Create Catalog dialog box from the Integration Services Catalogs node.
Now, you’re dead in the water. What to do, what to do? Backup, punt.
Cancel everything. Start with a fresh Visual Studio, (or Data tools). Pick new project, but this time, select “Integration Services Project”…this will lead you to a blank project. Now, the simplest solution is to right click “SSIS Packages” in the solution explorer window, and “add existing package”. This will now lead you thru a dialog to get to your server and then, because it is looking for a “Package”, not a project…it will find any packages there. 🙂