SQL Server Data Tools for Visual Studio - Versions, Downloads and Compatibility

In Visual Studio, SQL Server enables four different project categories under the umbrella of “SQL Server Data Tools” that target various components in the SQL Server product. There is a lot of confusing advice and no single overview of the various versions and downloads available. This blog post hopes to remedy this.

Project types

The four project types are:

SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) for creation of various types of Analysis Services models

SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) for creation of reports and related artifacts

SQL Server Integration Service (SSIS) for creation of data integration and workflow solution, including ETL (extract, transform, load) workflows

The three project types above are distributed together under the name: SQL Server Data Tools – Business Intelligence (SSDT-BI)

SQL Server Data Tools  (SSDT) database project and SQL Server Object Explorer (SSOX) provides an integrated environment for database developers to carry out all their database design work for any SQL Server platform (both on and off premise) within Visual Studio. Database developers can use SSOX in VS to easily create or edit database objects and data, or execute queries.

Releases

An overview of current releases download links are available on the MSDN page here.

The following packages are available:
SSDT-BI for Visual Studio 2012 (SSDT-BI 2012)
SSDT-BI for Visual Studio 2013 (SSDT-BI 2013)

SSDT for Visual Studio 2012 (SSDT 2012)
SSDT for Visual Studio 2013 (SSDT 2013)

Version support

Once you have determined what kind of project is relevant for your task at hand, you need to decide which download and Visual Studio version to use, based on the SQL Sever version that you target:

NOTE: For SQL Server 2008 based SSRS, SSAS and SSIS projects, you use Business Intelligence Development Studio, which is installed from the SQL Server installation disk.

NOTE: If you open a SSIS project created in SSDT-BI 2012 with SSDT-BI 2014, a one way upgrade will occur, so be careful and use source control. More info here.

Hope this helps.