A few words to say about Product Packaging, especially in B7332...
..don't.....if you're small
If you only have one deployment server and a small or mid installation then
Product Packaging will really frustrate you since it does require a
significant amount of set-up and administration. Instead use PCAnywhere or
any other remote control software to give a developer remote access to a
workstation. This requires zero additional setup. If you're really keen on
developer's being disconnected from your network and doing development then
try 'Store and Forward Development'.
..do....if you're a hugh company with several deployment servers that are do
not have an identical set of objects
If you have several deployment servers with different sets of custom objects
then Product Packaging is for you. It will require a large amount of setup
and an army of peon's to maintain but this is actually one of the easier
ways to transfer objects from one deployment server to another when the
deployment servers are not identical. If your deployment servers are
identical (highly unlikely) then Oracle or SQL replication is your meal
ticket.
Yes, Product Packaging 'looks' very interesting but looks aren't everything.
It's a good tool for what it was designed for (see page 1-1 of the B7332
Product Packaging Guide) but sometimes we try and use it for other things
that it wasn't designed for.
Hope this helps
Colin
Colin Dawes, MSc
City of Guelph
B7332 SP13.1, Oracle 8.1.6, NT 4.0, Fat & WTS