Best way to insert a lot of data in a database

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Best way to insert a lot of data in a database

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franck.maton

Posted Friday, October 12, 2012 7:02 AM

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Hello,

I've generated one file per table of my database. Each file contains 'insert' statement for each records of the table. (did that for data migration purposes with bad collation, blablabla)

I first tried to use SQLCMD to load data into my tables but, apparently, if my file is too big (or there are too many inserts to do) it doesn't work.

I got that error, for big files/tables:

Shared Memory Provider: No process is on the other end of the pipe. Sqlcmd: Error: Microsoft SQL Server Native Client 10.0 : Communication link failure.

Well, I read that "bcp" was THE tool to perform what I want to do. Okay, I gave it a try...

But I've problems with its syntax. I get many errors. Some of these are:

SQLState = 22003, NativeError = 0
Error = [Microsoft][SQL Server Native Client 10.0]Numeric value out of range

[/quote]

and

[quote]SQLState = S1000, NativeError = 0
Error = [Microsoft][SQL Server Native Client 10.0]Unable to open BCP host data-file

What my input file looks like:

INSERT CCE_DATAFILESIZES(ID_DFSIZE,CHECK_DATE,DATABASE_NAME,TABLESPACE_NAME,DATAFILE_NAME,COSTCENTRE,MIN_MB,MAX_MB,AVG_MB,SHARED_DATABASE) 
				VALUES('1',convert(datetime,'Apr 27 2012 12:00AM'),'master','PRIMARY','G:\SYS_DB\HSICTR2D\MSSQL10_50.HSICTR2D\MSSQL\DATA\master.mdf','','4.000','0.000','0','n')                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
INSERT CCE_DATAFILESIZES(ID_DFSIZE,CHECK_DATE,DATABASE_NAME,TABLESPACE_NAME,DATAFILE_NAME,COSTCENTRE,MIN_MB,MAX_MB,AVG_MB,SHARED_DATABASE) 
				VALUES('2',convert(datetime,'Apr 27 2012 12:00AM'),'master','LOG','G:\SYS_DB\HSICTR2D\MSSQL10_50.HSICTR2D\MSSQL\DATA\mastlog.ldf','','1.000','0.000','0','n')

So, what is the best way to insert a lot of data into tables and how to do it+syntax ?

Here's how i wrote my bcp command:

bcp mydb.dbo.mytable in G:\DATA_DB\Migration\mytable.sql -S server\instance -T -b10000 -c

Please help me, i'm becoming crazy using bcp Crazy

Thanks in advance.
Regards.
Franck.

Post #1372094

Lowell

Posted Friday, October 12, 2012 7:23 AM

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bulk insert expects raw data, and not formatted INSERT...statements.

if your file looked like this isntead:

1,Apr 27 2012 12:00AM
2,Apr 27 2012 12:00AM

bulk insert would insert into a two column table witht eh columns of type INT,datetime increadibly fast.
I've imported much wider files, for example a zip plus 4 database, where the text file was over a gig in size in under 15 minutes;

files with 100K rows of data in under a second are the norm.

here's a simple example, where i use bcp out to send a table to disk, and then bcp or BULK INSERT in the same data to a different table:

because I'm expecting CrLf in note and description fields, I like to use very odd delimiters that I'm sure will not exist in the same data.

--using a super special 4 char row delimiter to be sure it doesn't exist in the data
--flags explanation:
-- -c        = character data
-- -t"[||]" = field terminator
-- -r"[~~]" = row terminator
-- -T'      = Trusted connection
--out
EXECUTE master.dbo.xp_cmdshell 'bcp "SELECT EMAILTEMPLATESID, EMAILBODY FROM SandBox.dbo.EMAILTEMPLATES ORDER BY EMAILTEMPLATESID" queryout c:\Data\bcpExample.txt -c -t"[||]" -r"[~~]" -T'
--in
EXECUTE master.dbo.xp_cmdshell 'bcp Production.dbo.EMAILTEMPLATES  in c:\Data\bcpExample.txt -c -t"[||]" -r"[~~]" -T'
--in via bulk insert
BULK INSERT EMAILTEMPLATES FROM 'c:\Data\bcpExample.txt'
           WITH ( 
               DATAFILETYPE = 'char', 
               FIELDTERMINATOR = '[||]', 
               ROWTERMINATOR = '[~~]', 
               FIRSTROW = 1 
            )

Lowell

--There is no spoon, and there's no default ORDER BY in sql server either.
Actually, Common Sense is so rare, it should be considered a Superpower. --my son

Post #1372113

franck.maton

Posted Friday, October 12, 2012 7:34 AM

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Hahaha, I spent hours on exporting my data and prepare inserts Hehe

Well, thanks for your fast reply, i'll try your way and post my feedback Wink

Franck

Post #1372122

franck.maton

Posted Monday, October 15, 2012 7:33 AM

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Last Login: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 1:18 AM
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Lowell,

Thank you very much for your help. I still have some issues but it somehow works Smile

Have a nice day.
Franck.

Post #1372723

Lowell

Posted Monday, October 15, 2012 7:37 AM

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Last Login: Today @ 5:23 AM
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let us know if we can help with the additional issues you are encountering; glad i could get you pointed in a helpful direction.

Lowell

--There is no spoon, and there's no default ORDER BY in sql server either.
Actually, Common Sense is so rare, it should be considered a Superpower. --my son

Post #1372725

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