Question

What is the easiest way to setup a test environment on my local machine using Visual Studio 2008 with a website that that has a mssql database, which is hosted through a webhost?

I am web designer and I am re-skinning a live website that is built in .NET C#. I have access to the files and when I run it in Visual Studio (localhost) only the static files are obviously pulling up , which is problematic for testing. I need to be able to run the entire website on my local. I am not going to be messing with the database at all, but I know that I am going to need it to be able to have a local copy that works. I am not extremely savvy on these types of things. I was hoping that someone could either point me in the right direction (ie. search terms, keywords) or give me some instructions on how to make this work. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks.

Answer 1

You should set up MSSQL server first. You can take backup from your production database using

RMC on DB -> Tasks -> Backup..

Then you use the generated .bak file on your local server to insert the copy of the database into your SQL Server instance like this:

RMC on Databases -> Restore Database -> Path to your backup..

At this step your instance should contain the database with all the tables and data. Next thing to do would be to change your web.config file connection string (or any place else, where the “Connection string” is set pointing the website to the database) accordingly to your instance. If it’s MSSQLSERVER instance name, you can just use following connection string:

Data Source=(local);Initial Catalog=<database name>;Integrated Security=True;

After this compiling and running your source codes should be returning you the site in its fullest.