how to install ssdt March 2014 release on windows server 2012

Question

Our development sandboxes are currently running visual studio 2013 (update 2) and ssdt March 2014 release for our database projects. The latter was downloaded via the former.

I have started to look into tfs builds for the database projects. Our build box (controller and agent on the same box) is a windows server 2012 Standard with TFS 2012 installed.

I am trying to figure out what ssdt installs are required on the build box in order for msbuild to build and publish database projects - unfortunately I am not getting a clear picture.

Questions so far:

Is http://sqlproj.com/index.php/2012/03/headless-msbuild-support-for-ssdt-sqlproj-projects (still) relevant to our build box?

Do I have to install a visual studio shell to get ssdt March 2014 release? Or is there a standalone install?

Will ssdt March 2014 release suffice to get msbuild to build and publish?

Answer 1

The sqlproj.com article you referenced is still one of the better articles to follow. Note that right now it may be easier and better to install the VS2012 SSDTBuildUtilities.msi on your TFS 2012 build server. That is downloadable from the SSDT download page - the easiest way to get specific MSIs is to create an administrative install point which will lay them all out in a specific folder.

There have been a number of changes in the March 2014 release that require updates to the install recipe:

• You need to use the SQL Server 2014 feature pack instead of 2012. The same MSIs are needed.
• The expected install directory for the DAC and SSDTBuildUtilities compoments has changed. It's now expected to be under the Visual Studio install directory and will depend on having the $(VisualStudioVersion) environment variable set to match the VS version. If you're running TFS2012 the likely location will be "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE\Extensions\Microsoft\SQLDB\DAC\120". You can confirm this by checking the targets file just as that article suggests

We are currently working on an improved TFS / Build Server configuration experience as this is clearly harder than it should be to set up right now, especially with the changes to DAC and SSDTBuildUtilities location. However we do not have a firm commit date on when this might be released.