Deploying a ReadyRoll project

jimbo

I'm looking in to finding an alternative to DACPACs and SqlPackage for deploying our application database at our end users sites.

I've just started to look at ReadyRoll and it seems to be a good solution for upgrading databases from one version to another, however what I don't see is how I could use ReadyRoll to deploy my database in my customers environments.

Would it be possible to deploy a ReadyRoll project as part of an installer, preferably an MSI?

Ideally I'd like to be able to run an MSI and it would create the database if it didn't already exist. If a database already exists it would upgrade it to the latest version. Could ReadyRoll be used in such a scenario?

dnlnln

ReadyRoll's deployment packages are output in SQLCMD format, which makes it possible to bundle them with your installer and deploy using the sqlcmd.exe tool which ships with SQL Server. To make this easier, ReadyRoll produces a PowerShell script at build time which can be used to invoke the package deployment. Read more about this method in the documentation:
https://documentation.red-gate.com/display/RR1/PowerShell+Deployment

If you're not able to rely on all of your end user's having the sqlcmd.exe utility present, then you can create a C# library or console application with an embedded version of SqlCmd that can be called from your installer; no other dependencies are required. More about the embedded deployment method is available here:
https://documentation.red-gate.com/display/RR1/Embedded+Resource

I hope this makes sense. Please let me know if you have any questions