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Rafael42's avatar
Rafael42
Copper Contributor
Aug 28, 2021

Azure SQL Web Portal .dacpac Functionality

I've had so far success in creating SQL Server databases using .bacpac through the Azure Portal web interface.

That said, what I need is a way to update said databases' structures using a .dacpac through through the Azure Portal web interface as well.

I understand this might be possible using SSMS, but I find the over the network interaction response time to be less than optimal.

Is there such functionality available using the Azure Portal web interface (not to create a new database using a .bacpac file but to update its structure using a .dacpac file.) If not, will there be such a feature implementation in the near future?
  • Hi,

    It doesn't seems the right direction to look for. A DACPAC is a package containing a new structure for the database. SSDT will make a schema compare between the DACPAC and the production database and generate the script you need to update the database structure. The generation of the script involves queries to the database schema, they are not heavy queries at all.

    The script itself, once you decide to execute, will be executed on the Azure SQL DB, all the transformations will be made on the server side. There is not a huge amount of network traffic as you suggest that could cause a so terrible response time. Anyway, we are talking about DACPAC, updating only the structure, not a BACPAC, with the data.

    This kind of compare can be made using Azure Data Explorer, Visual Studio, a stand-alone installation of SSDT and maybe even visual studio code.

    This kind of deployment can be automated in Azure DevOps pipelines. There is a task to update an Azure SQL Database based on a DacPac.

    Kind Regards,

    Dennes

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