Posted by Simon Hayes on 09/15/05 14:18

Backup/restore is easy, but it's not a very good solution. Once the
user has added their own data, you can't just drop and replace the
database when you need to update a stored procedure to the next
version. So it's fine for a first installation at a client site, but
probably impossible or very difficult after that.

If you need to protect your source code, then the best solution is a
legal contract. The encryption for stored procedure source can be
broken (some Googling should find the mechanism), so it's only useful
to stop casual users seeing the source, not serious attackers.

Scripts are almost certainly the best, most flexible solution for
deployment, when used together with a source control system. There are
also third-party deployment tools available which you could consider
(Google again).

Simon

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