Connectivity Portal (WIKI)

Hi All,

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a single portal to check the list of data sources SSIS can connect to? Like, if and how SSIS can connect to SAP/Oracle/DB2/SQL Server/etc? along with what to expect from that connection, such as 64-bit support, fast data load option, scalability, etc?

The know-how around connectivity in SSIS has particularly been challenging to structure in terms of gathering and reaching all sorts of connectors and data sources out there.

The challenge is due to two main reasons:

Microsoft does not have central command/control on connector developers, and the connectivity story for SSIS has mainly been the support around ADO.NET, Ole DB and ODBC libraries. Since we don’t have a certification process, it’s up to the customer to evaluate a specific third party connector before making a decision on using it.

The extensibility story offered by SSIS inherently promotes development of new/specialized connectors to new/existing data sources. Since any application can talk to any other application given the right connector, the pool of supported connectors keep growing over time.

We are working to make this story better, but in the mean time, because of this ever growing nature of connectors and their features, I thought a WIKI portal can help this community in terms of formalizing/structuring/sharing information.

And thus, I am launching a new wiki site on connectivity. Well…Blogs are kind of not as cool these days anyways J MSDN has a recent wiki initiative, but it is not quite involving the community as I’d like to have in this one.

We have a great talent pool and a huge base of know-how around connectivity in this forum. Let’s channel that into sorting out connectivity!

I created the initial site framework and provided simple samples here : http://ssis.wik.is/Home

I’ll add more stuff to it in the coming days as well, but I really want this forum to be actively editing/providing content in there.

Please take a look at it, and start growing/editing it. -> http://ssis.wik.is/Home

Ideas/questions/feedback are all welcome, you can also e-mail me directly at denizerkan@.yahoo.com

Thanks,

Deniz Erkan

PS: this is not in conflict or competition with the forum. Forum interface does not have a way to structure data to build a know-how, and the scope of this initiative is SSIS connectivity-only.

Hi Deniz,

This is commendable but are you aware of: http://wiki.sqlis.com/default.aspx/SQLISWiki/HomePage.html

-Jamie

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Yes, and I think it's full of very useful components, ideas and tips&tricks to get the best out of SSIS.

Connectivity is a slightly different and challenging area within SSIS that involves growing third party connectors, partner participation and new data sources, along with connectivity libraries (ADO.NET, OLE DB, ODBC) SSIS interfaces with, which makes it mostly an organic aspect of SSIS.

The connectivity wiki has by no means the goal of replacing other information portals, but to support and complement them. I'll see how the connectivity wiki initiative goes, and perhaps later we can consolidate SSIS wikis.

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Deniz Erkan - msft wrote:

Yes, and I think it's full of very useful components, ideas and tips&tricks to get the best out of SSIS.

Connectivity is a slightly different and challenging area within SSIS that involves growing third party connectors, partner participation and new data sources, along with connectivity libraries (ADO.NET, OLE DB, ODBC) SSIS interfaces with, which makes it mostly an organic aspect of SSIS.

The connectivity wiki has by no means the goal of replacing other information portals, but to support and complement them. I'll see how the connectivity wiki initiative goes, and perhaps later we can consolidate SSIS wikis.

OK Deniz, sounds good.

The first thing you should get up there is a webcast (or a link to one) that has exactly the same content that Jeff Bernhardt presented at PASS yesterday. It was a great session and would help to answer lots of the questions that people ask on this forum.

-Jamie