At work we wanted to start using Biml to speed up development in our existing projects without making too many changes at once. I decided to start by writing Biml files that generates SSIS packages exactly like the ones we already have so we can implement changes faster, and step one was to figure out how to create Package Configurations and Connection Managers in Biml:

• Create an XML configuration file Package Configuration
• Create the Connection Manager specified in the XML configuration file
• Create SQL Server Package Configurations that use the Connection Manager specified in the XML configuration file
• Create Connection Managers specified in the [SSIS Configurations] table in SQL Server
• Create a Parent package variable

I recommend reading Understanding Integration Services Package Configurations by Rafael Salas (@RafSalas) and Getting Started with BimlScript by Paul S. Waters (@pswaters) if you’re not already familiar with the basics of SSIS Package Configurations and Biml.

The table below is a simplified mapping between SQL Server, SSIS and Biml Data Types. It does not include all possible mappings or all data types, but is meant as a quick reference while developing and learning Biml. I mainly created it as a cheat sheet for myself, but I hope other Biml developers will find it useful!

Cheat Sheet for SQL Server, SSIS and Biml Data Types

(* These data types will be removed in a future version of SQL Server. Avoid using these data types in new projects, and try to change them in current projects.)