Q:

How to mimic SSIS with production connection string on development machine

Scenario :
SSIS in production uses production connection and Instance name of SQL Server.
Once I open the same SSIS on my machine, the connection break since we do not have access to prod.
I can obviously change the connection and use my local dev, but that would mean that whenever I deploy to production I would have to ask my Network guys to open the SSIS and change the connections back from my local to Production, that too for EACH SQL task.
Is there a way for me to mimic production connection on my dev so that I would not have to touch the connection strings from prod and also be able to do my debugging / modifications and upload it back to production?

A:

You need to make use of SSIS Package Configurations that will allow you to store all the configurable values in one of the following options:

XML configuration file
Environment variable
Registry entry
Parent package variable
SQL Server table

Read more about package configuration on MSDN, below documentation link refers to SSIS 2012.
Package Configurations
I prefer SQL Server table because it gives the flexibility to easily update the values using T-SQL queries. When you develop the package, you will select the connection managers and variables that you think might require different values across environments. Once you create package configuration, you can move the package and simply modify the values on the package configuration XML file or SQL Server table without having to touch the package (.dtsx)
Refer the answer to the below SO question for detailed steps on how to make use of package configurations:
Run SSIS Package with 2 Different Configurations

