DTS xChange - DTS to SSIS Migration

Unique 3-Phase approach for DTS Conversion Project

Profile : DTS xChange Profiler

Before your migration project starts, find out quickly what you're about to jump into. DTS xChange offers a detailed profiling tool that allows you to scope out your DTS migration project. It's perfect for project managers, DBA managers, consultants or anyone interested in determining how much of an effort the migration is going to be.

Click here to see why Microsoft recommands DTS xChange for DTS Conversion

See Larger Image of Estimation

After selecting the packages you wish to profile, DTS xChange will prompt you to determine how long each type of DTS task takes you to migrate. The program has built in estimates already in place but this gives you an opportunity to tune the program for your staff expertise. You also specify on this screen what the cost of your employee(s) will be to convert the packages.

See Larger Image of Profiler Report

After you estimate the hours to convert each type of task, DTS xChange will profile your set of packages and output a detailed report of the project effort. It will show the estimated hours to convert your set of packages you passed in as well as an estimated cost. The report is printable and exportable into a number of key formats (PDF and Excel for example) to help you integrate it fully into your project plan. Also inside the report are the details of what each DTS task does and how it is configured. If you use ActiveX Script Tasks in your DTS package, DTS xChange will review the objects that you are using inside your task and give you guidance on how to convert those tasks to a like task inside of SSIS.  See Profiler Video Demonstration

Convert : DTS xChange Migration Engine

Before your migration project starts, find out quickly what you're about to jump into. DTS xChange offers a detailed profiling tool that allows you to scope out your DTS migration project. It's perfect for project managers, DBA managers, consultants or anyone interested in determining how much of an effort the migration is going to be.

See Larger Image of Migration Rule Selection

DTS xChange will first prompt you where your packages are located at. Packages can be read from a directory of .DTS package files or from a SQL Server 2000 machine. You're also asked where you wish the output of the wizard to be written. SQL Server 2005 and 2008 are both supported and packages can be automatically deployed to your SQL Server or just written to your file system. Conversion of your packages can occur one by one or you could do hundreds at a time. Whichever method you choose, the next screen will ask you what rules you wish to apply to the packages as they're converted. The rule framework was built from best practices pioneered from converting thousands of packages to SSIS. For example, one of the rules you may want to enable is to turn on checkpointing in SSIS or to enable logging or transactions.

See Larger Image of Migration Report

After the rules are configured, the packages will begin to migrate. Migration can optionally validate each of the SSIS packages after migration. Validation will connect to the various sources and destinations that are used in package to confirm that the package will actually work once run in production. This is not the same as a full test with execution but it goes a long way to helping with that testing. After the migration, you're also presented a detailed log of what was done and anything that failed. If there were any validation warnings, you will see those in a separate tab in this screen. A sample validation warning may be that your table that the package is referring to does not exist or the database is invalid. See Migration Wizard Video Demonstration

Monitor : SSIS Enterprise Auditing Framework

DTS xChange offers easy way to add rich auditing features in converted packages using custom auditing framework developed by Pragmatic Works. This Auditing  Frameworks uses all Native SSIS features and it can track packages in real-time. Auditing Framework comes with lots of predefined reports which can give you some valuable information.


See Larger Image of Sample Auditing Framework Reports

You can audit the following information using reports provided with Auditing Framework (Note: Use Report Viewer Application to view auditing data.)

• Which packages are currently running and which task is running inside the package
• Historical package execution detail for selected date range (i.e. Run time, Errors, Warnings etc.)
• Error and Warning by Task and Package
• Run time by Task and Package
• Extracted and Loaded Records along with their source and target information (e.g. Table/View, Sql Query, File Name, Component Name, Data Flow Name, Connection String etc.).
• Run time Trend for several days/weeks/years by Package and Task
• Error/Warning/ Trend by Package and Task
• Extract/Load Trend by Package, DataFlow
• Extract/Load Trend by Data Object (e.g. File, Table/View or Sql Query)

DTS xChange Features and Comparison

• Converts hundreds of DTS packages to SQL Server Integration Services (SQL Server 2005 or 2008) in moments
• Validates packages after execution to ensure that they will work upon execution
• Deploys packages automatically to SQL Server 2005 or 2008
• Handles nearly all tasks except for MSMQ and Data Driven Query Tasks
• Applies a series of rules on DTS packages:
  • Logging to text or SQL files
  • Enable checkpoints
  • Enable transactions
  • Enable custom auditing framework for detailed auditing
  • Logging through event handlers into a robust event table
  • Migrate children packages automatically
  • Consolidate duplicate connections
  • Create configuration files automatically
  • Create sequence containers from parallel tasks
• Profiles packages for cost (man hours and hard cost) of migrations
• Converts SQL Native Client connections
• Can handle ODBC connections as a source
• Convert UDL files to connection managers
• ActiveX Script Tasks are migrated to ActiveX Script Tasks in SSIS. Use the Profiler to determine quickly which objects are created inside the tasks and determine action items to migrate the task.  

Comparison to the DTS Migration Wizard (Click Here)

Included in SQL Server 2005 and 2008 is an existing DTS Migration Wizard that's less than 30% successful. The below table shows you a comparison between the built in wizard and DTS xChange. To see a complete comparison list, please see our Complete Comparison Documentation

Feature	DTS xChange Support	DTS Migration Wizard Support
Conversion of Execute SQL Task
Conversion of Execute Process Task
Conversion of Data Pump Task		(Sometimes)
Conversion of Dynamic Properties Task
ODBC Support	as a Source
UDL File Support
Password protected Access Database
Flat File that doesn't map all columns
Data conversion between source and destination
SQL Native Client support
Full package validation after migration
Detailed logs of conversion
Enterprise rules for migration to get the benefit of SSIS
SSIS logging turned on
Checkpoint file support
Children package migration
Profiling capability

Post migration and SSIS management tool

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