The training went where the roadmap went. The work didn’t. [also posted at Engineer of Data Substack] tl;dr – Sign up for SSIS Premium, use the coupon code “alblog” and save 10%! You didn’t learn SSIS in a classroom. You learned it because someone left and the packages stayed. You learned it at 11:00 PM, …
Continue reading We Stopped Teaching What We Never Stopped Running
Category:SSIS
SSIS 2025 Microsoft.Data.SqlClient Connection Error
Recently, I was developing an SSIS package that read from an Azure SQL DB table and wrote to an on-premises SQL Server 2025 database table. I encountered the following error: [ADO NET Source [41]] Error: ADO NET Source has failed to acquire the connection {<ConnectionManagerGUID>} with the following error message: “Could not load file or …
Continue reading SSIS 2025 Microsoft.Data.SqlClient Connection Error
Microsoft Just Made SSIS-to-Fabric Easier
Upcoming Live Training A Day of Fabric Data Factory | 19 May 2026 | Live online, 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM EDT Registration closes 16 May 2026 Register → Here’s what “easier” means Your SSIS packages still pay the bills. They’ve earned that. The orchestration logic, the error handling, the parameter discipline, the framework patterns …
Continue reading Microsoft Just Made SSIS-to-Fabric Easier
SSIS Extension Updates – Apr 2026
Back in June 2024, I announced I was changing the way I report updates to the SQL Server Integration Services extension for Visual Studio (in a post titled SSIS Extension Updates – Jun 2024). I have a calendar reminder that reminds me to check the links every quarter, and that reminder did its job admirably …
Continue reading SSIS Extension Updates – Apr 2026
The Day Our SSIS Catalogs Didn’t Match
I knew what I was doing. I wrote the lifecycle management chapter in the Wrox SSIS 2005 book. I implemented SSIS lifecycle management at Unisys. We’d done everything by the book. Well, by the books. This book and this book. In 2013, I led a team that designed an SSIS project that included over 300 …
Continue reading The Day Our SSIS Catalogs Didn’t Match
Fabric SSIS Public Preview: What It Changes – and What It Doesn’t
The conversation around SSIS is heating up again.
Some see the signals and conclude SSIS is on the way out. Others point to the strength of the ecosystem and say it is far from done.
Both perspectives miss something important.
The introduction of Fabric SSIS public preview does not settle the debate. It reframes it.
Announcing: SSIS Lifecycle Advisory
I’ve launched a new fixed-scope advisory offer for organizations running SSIS in production. Many teams do not have an SSIS problem.They have a lifecycle management problem. Deployments feel risky.Change visibility is limited.Governance is inconsistent.Modernization questions keep piling up. The SSIS Lifecycle Advisory is designed to help teams get clear on: deployment and release risk governance …
Continue reading Announcing: SSIS Lifecycle Advisory
SSIS 2016 and SQL Server 2016 End-of-Life 14 Jul 2026
A tip o’ the hat to Brent Ozar who included a link in his 9 Feb 2026 newsletter to the SQLFingers post titled “SQL Server 2016 Ends in July. Here’s What Will Break.“ Regarding SQL Server 2016, SQLFingers says: After July 14, 2026: No more security patches No more support calls No longer compliant You …
Continue reading SSIS 2016 and SQL Server 2016 End-of-Life 14 Jul 2026
Upgrading from SSIS – Can We Talk?
A Tale of Two Worlds At the outset of 2026, I live in two worlds. I continue to support clients who use SSIS for enterprise data engineering. Some of the enterprises are small-ish by comparison. Others are huge. Some friends also continue to support these clients and clients like them. That’s World 1. World 2 …
Continue reading Upgrading from SSIS – Can We Talk?
Separating Concerns in SSIS
I recently read a social media post from a data engineer that I found both encouraging and heartbreaking. This data engineer shared that he used an AI engine to successfully convert an SSIS package, roughly 1MB in size, into a different data engineering platform. Why encouraging? First, it is genuinely encouraging that AI engines are …
Continue reading Separating Concerns in SSIS