SSMA Grrr!

[thunderlizard]

SSMA being Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Migration Agent for Oracle V4.

You let me specify a data type mapping for my Oracle NUMBER columns: at project level, schema level, or table level. But why not column level, which is surely the only level at which it makes sense to be able to specify it? So if I've got a table with an integer ID column and a couple of finer-precision other columns, I have to get round it by cowboying the script (which incidentally took much less than the 2.4 hours that you estimated for a "manual fix time", based on Jesus alone knows what).

once again Microsoft promises so much and falls at the final hurdle.

[Spacecadet]

Considering what SSMA does - i.e. convert ALL oracle objects to SQL Server even when there is no direct equivalent AND the fact that it's free I think you're being a tad harsh

Having had a look at the documentation, the mapping from number to int/float does look fairly comprehensive and shouldn't need much fiddling with.
I'll have to have a proper play with this whilst I'm still with a client who has Oracle and SQL Server

[thunderlizard]

well that's another thing. When you do come across an untranslatable object (like a sequence), it's strongly in favour of creating an "emulation" of the Oracle object that is so bizarre you might as well have stayed in Oracle. It does give you the option of converting sequences to IDENTITY, which I'd guess is the more sensible option, but you have to work for it. It's also created a load of kooky INSTEAD OF UPDATE triggers that I can hopefully strip out in the morning.

Yes it is nice that it's free. But I'd prefer it if it was robust instead! Still, a few hours to do a data migration isn't to be sneezed at (touch wood - can't run my unit tests until I've decided what to do about users and roles and stuff) - for a client I'd have barely started the feasibility study. And in its favour, once you've tweaked the DML the data migration runs like a dream.

Incidentally, doing all this because my RDBMS of choice is Oracle but I'm facing up to the fact that Oracle hosting services are like hens' teeth. Thank goodness for a nice ORM layer, and keeping 95% of the business rules out of the DB.

[NickFitz]

once again Microsoft promises so much and falls at the final hurdle.

They're good at that.

Yes it is nice that it's free. But I'd prefer it if it was robust instead!

Indeed. A free dog turd is preferable to an expensive one, but either way it's a dog turd.

It's also created a load of kooky INSTEAD OF UPDATE triggers that I can hopefully strip out in the morning.

grep is your friend - probably your best friend at this point