Connection string hell in .NET / LINQ-SQL / ASP.NET

Question

I have a web application that comprises the following:

• A web project (with a web.config file containing a connection string - but no data access code in the web pr

Answer 1

Roll your own ConnectionFactory based on .config files:

• Define a custom config section to map key/connectionstring pairs
• Teach your ConnectionFactory to sniff into that config section using hostname or machinename as appropriate
• Populate key/connectionstring values for your various dev/qa/prod servers, and drop them into your various app.config, web.config etc. files.

Pro:

• All lives inside the project, so no surprises
• Adding additional deployment target is a copy/paste operation in a .config file

Con:

• Makes for big ugly XML sections, especially if you have a dozen production servers
• Needs to be duplicated between projects
• Needs code change & redeploy to add new target
• Code needs to know about the environment in which it will live