On my current project we're making extensive use of SourceSafe to store our packages. We're using it directly from within BIDS and on the surface it works very nicely but we have had the odd problem here and there.
The main one being that we get a periodic failure when trying to check stuff in. The error is:
Windows was unable to save all the data for the file "...". The data has been lost. This error may be caused by a failure of your computer hardware or network connection. Please try to save this file elsewhere
We haven't yet identified the exact cause -though network latency is a prime candidate- but what we HAVE identified is that there is a correlation between the size of a .dtsx file and the frequency of this occurring. Our ASP.Net developers who are using the same solution never have this problem because their files are alot smaller. Our .dtsx files range in size from 500K to 5MB and it is definately these bigger ones with which we have the most problems.
At the heart of the matter is the relative flakiness of SourceSafe and the limitations of the product are pretty much accepted in development circles. This post is a heads-up to those of you thinking of using SourceSafe in conjunction with SSIS - don't expect it to fly as you would hope.
So some tips based on my experience:
- Keep your packages as small as can be. A modular approach to development can be of real benefit here.
- Backup your SourceSafe on a nightly basis. In the worst cases SourceSafe becomes corrupted and you lose history for certain files.
-Jamie