I had many posts that share my experiences with using package configuration files to make my SSIS packages portable from my local development BIDS environment, to the test environment, and the production environment.

In the next few blogs, I’ll share with you a few simple steps to create your own XML configuration files and then how to use them to make your SSIS packages dynamic and portable.

Benefit of using package XML configuration files

There are many resources on this topic. In a nutshell, using package configuration files is a powerful way to make your SSIS package extremely versatile.

Example 1 – Make a connection string for a connection manager dynamic

We typically have our server name, database name, user name (password as well sometimes) embedded in our Connection Manager.

When we are ready to move our packages from development to test, or to production, the least we would expect is that the server name will be different.

In this case, the goal of using a package configuration file is:

1) no modification to our packages themselves

2) the only change we will make is to the package configuration file. I’ll need to change the Data Source and the Initial Catalog accordingly.

Example 2 – Make a Value for a variable dynamic

A typical example is a path where we fetch our incoming files. This file path will be most likely different from what is on our local PC and what is on our test or production server, especially the root folder will be most likely different.

Again the goal of using a a package configuration file in this case is:

1) no modification to our packages themselves

2) the only change we will make is to the package configuration file. I’ll need to change the ConfiguredValue accordingly when I move my package to the test or the production server.

So, it’s fair to summarize the benefits of using package configuration files as:

• no modification to our packages themselves
• the only change we will make is to the package configuration file

If it’s your first time to use a package configuration files, and you received it from a co-worker, you might wonder how the package configuration file is created.I’ll share two examples with you. One example is to create a package configuration file for a connection manager. Another example is for a variable.The steps of creating package configuration file is simple enough. There are two things that are not crystal clear though:1) The multiple choices of properties that are available to us. All the properties are exposed to us. Which one do we need?

2) What are we going to do about the configuration file?

I’ll continue to share with you these two tasks when I get time in the future.