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SqlPkg is a 64-bit .NET command line (CLI) wrapper for the Microsoft SqlPackage CLI tool with the goal of making common backup and restore operations easier and more powerful. It does this through new Backup and Restore actions that provide additional features like the exclusion of specific table data in backups and destination prep prior to restore.

Visit the repository to see how you can install this tool to begin using it right away.

New Action Modes:

/Action:Backup
This mode is equivalent to Action:Export to create a .bacpac file, with the following differences.

• Specify one or more /p:ExcludeTableData= properties to exclude specific table data from the bacpac file. The table name format is the same as the /p:TableData= property.
• /SourceTrustServerCertificate: defaults to true.
• /SourceTimeout: defaults to 30.
• /CommandTimeout: defaults to 120.
• /p:VerifyExtraction= defaults to false.
• Destination file paths will be created if they do not exist.

/Action:Restore
This mode is equivalent to Action:Import to restore a .bacpac file, with the following differences.

• The destination database will be purged of all user objects (tables, views, etc.) before the restoration.
• If the destination database doesn't exist it will be created.
• /TargetTrustServerCertificate: defaults to true.
• /TargetTimeout: defaults to 30.
• /CommandTimeout: defaults to 120.
• Destination file paths will be created if they do not exist.

/Action:Backup-All
This mode will back up all user databases on a server.

• Provide a source connection to the master database.
• Provide a target file path ending with 'master.bacpac'. The path will be used as the destination for each database backup file, ignoring 'master.bacpac'.
• Optionally provide a log file path ending with 'master.log'. The path will be used as the destination for each database backup log file, ignoring 'master.log'.
• Accepts all arguments that the Backup action mode accepts.

/Action:Restore-All
This mode will restore all *.bacpac files in a given path to databases with the same names as the filenames.

• Provide a source file path to 'master.bacpac' in the location of the bacpac files. The path will be used as the source location for each database backup file to restore, ignoring 'master.bacpac'.
• Provide a target connection to the master database.
• Optionally provide a log file path ending with 'master.log'. The path will be used as the destination for each database backup log file, ignoring 'master.log'.
• Accepts all arguments that the Restore action mode accepts.

When not using SqlPkg special action modes, the entire argument list is simply piped to SqlPackage and will run normally. So you can use sqlpkg everywhere SqlPackage is used.

Installation

1. Install Microsoft .NET

SqlPkg requires that you already have the .NET 8.0 runtime installed, which you can get at https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download.

Because SqlPkg uses Microsoft SqlPackage, you will also need to install the .NET 6.0 runtime as well as SqlPackage.

2. Install SqlPkg

Run the following command in your command line interface (e.g. cmd, PowerShell, Terminal, bash, etc.):

Later you can update SqlPkg with the following command:

Uninstall

If you need to completely uninstall SqlPkg, use the command below: