Direct Deployment with the Database Publishing Wizard to Go Daddy Shared Hosting
Summary
This article provides a step-by-step walkthrough with screenshots to show you how to use the Database Publishing Wizard to deploy directly to a Go Daddy Shared Host.
History (first you couldn't, now you can!)
If you're been working with Go Daddy shared hosting before August 2007 you'll be aware that in general you can't connect tools in your local environment to the live database. In August, Go Daddy made an exception for the Database Publishing Wizard.
The hosting provider now allows you connect directly via the Database Publishing Wizard to deploy full or partial database changes. This includes deploying the database structure (tables etc) and also loading data.
Caveats (you can but should you?)
The Database Publishing Wizard gives you two methods of deployment. The first method is to generate a SQL script which you can run against the live database using the Go Daddy Query Analyser. The second method is to let the Wizard connect directly to the live database and push the changes.
Many database administrators will always prefer to review a generated SQL script and apply it manually - amending it if necessary.
Our clients have asked us for a tutorial on direct deployment with the Wizard and this article answers that request. We offer the following advice for situations other than first-time deployment of a database - do these two things before publishing directly:
1. Back up your database (read our article on how to do so)
2. Generate the SQL script and review it. For partial changes such as new tables, you may be surprised to see the Wizard decide to recreate existing tables and populate them from development database data. This may not be what you want at all!
Getting the Wizard
You should download the free Database Publishing Wizard installation from the Microsoft website and install it on your PC. Once installed, you can launch the wizard directory. The installation also integrates it with Visual Studio or Visual Web Developer Express, so you can launch it within your development environment.
If you're using SQL Express databases, launching it from Visual Studio or VWD Express is the easier option.
Pushing Changes to Go Daddy
Fire up the Wizard and select the database you want to publish.
In the "Output Location", specify "Publish to shared hosting provider".
The first time you use this method you won't have any pre-defined targets to you'll need to click the More button to continue.
Figure 1. Publish to Host
From here, you'll get the opportunity to create a new connection to your live database server. Click New on this screen.
Figure 2. Hosting Providers
The Provider Configuration screen requires you to enter some details that you'll need to get from the Go Daddy Control Panel
Figure 3. Provider Configuration
The first item to enter, the Name, is up to you. If you have a number of host sites then be sure to call it something which will allow you to distinguish easily between your databases.
The next item is the Web service address. Log into the Go Daddy Control Panel and access the SQL Server Database Information screen (the little pencil icon opens this screen).
The Web Service Address is found by clicking on the Configuration icon in the toolbar.
Figure 4. Opening the Configuration Window
The last entry in the configuration window is the URL you enter into the Publishing Wizard "Web Service Address" box. Copy-and-paste it now (be sure to include the https://).
Figure 5: Web Service Address
The next items to enter are the web service authentication details: the User name and Password for your web site. Note that this is not your database login and password - this is the login and password for your web server. It's actually easy to forget what these are. The login name is up in the top right of the Control Panel, where you see the text Logged in as.
Once these details are entered, click the New button to set up the database connection. This screen appears:
Figure 6: Database Connection Details
The server name, database name and user name are available from the Database Information screen in the Go Daddy Control Panel. Enter these details into the Database Publishing Wizard screen.
You now get the opportunity to test the connection.
Running the Deployment
The "Publish to Provider" deployment must connect to the live database and send all changes to the remote site. Depending on the speed of your connection and the volume of changes, this could take a while. In particular, if you are uploading data the process could be quite lengthy
This is the screen that you want to see when it finishes:
Figure 7. Successful Deployment
Troubleshooting
But what if you see this instead?!
Figure 8. Unsuccessful Deployment
If you get an error, the highlighted link provides a description of the error that stopped the deployment. These descriptions can be quite cryptic. If the reasons for the error are not obvious to you, then trouble-shooting problems can be difficult unless you look "under the hood" at the precise details of the deployment.
By the "precise details" we mean the SQL script that the deployment process ran against the live database. We recommend that you don't spend too much time trying to trouble-shoot the direct publishing route. Instead, use the Publishing Wizard to generate a SQL script and work with that instead.
Need to Know More?
If you're deploying databases to a live site, then (like it or not) you have become a database administrator, otherwise known as the DBA. You should start thinking about:
- planning for database disaster recovery
- performing live and local database backups
- loading live databases into your development environment
- deploying partial database changes
We've written an e-book that covers these topics on more. It walks walks step-by-step through the process of copying SQL Server databases between Go Daddy Shared Hosting and your development environment. We assume little knowledge of SQL Server and explain the basics as we go along.
Summary
This article provided a step-by-step walkthrough with screenshots to show you how to use the Database Publishing Wizard to deploy directly to a Go Daddy Shared Host.
Submitted: 18 August 2007
Author: Margaret Cruise O'Brien
(c) M.C.O.B. Technology 2007