In this next stage of the Stairway to Integration Services, Andy Leonard looks at how you can manage multiple source locations in a flexible way.  Read more...

Integration Services can be used to load data from a number of source files stored in different folders. This next level in the Stairway Series for Integration Services shows exactly how you can use parameters, variables and the ForEach Loop Container to do this.  Read more...

A common method to detect if a row has changed is to compare hashes. Integration Services itself doesn’t have a hash implementation, so in this tip I’ll show how you can implement a hash detection mechanism using a script component, as an alternative to the pure T-SQL solution.  Read more...

Recently we presented a procedure for uploading data to a Windows Azure SQL Database from an on-premise SQL Server instance. Today we will accomplish the same objective by employing a more traditional approach to data extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) that relies on SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS).  Read more...

If you have a number of SQL Server instances with versions ranging from 2005 upwards, with a whole host of databases, and you want to be alerted about a number of diverse events that are useful for first-line problem-diagnosis and auditing, then Feodor's homebrew solution, using SSIS and Robocopy is likely to be what you're looking for.  Read more...

The next level in the Stairway to Integration Services looks at Parameters and how you can incorporate them into your packages.  Read more...

Excel spreadsheets are useful for distributing data generated by SQL Server, but SSIS lacks direct support for writing Excel files. EPPlus is an open source .NET library that reads/writes Excel 2007/2010 files using the Open Office XML format (XLSX). It is a mature project, and plays well with SSIS.  Read more...

SQL Server 2012 introduced the new project deployment model for Integration Services. This tip will guide you through the process of setting up security for the SSIS 2012 catalog.  Read more...

As we continue on with our look at Integration Services, this step talks about how to convert projects to the SSIS 2012 format.  Read more...

Learn how to create and use templates in BIDS in this short SQL Spackle article.  Read more...

Although BIML is very powerful, you wouldn’t use it to generate one package at a time. Using metadata, we can generate multiple packages on the fly. Koen Verbeeck illustrates how to convert the BIML script for generating the import package to a dynamic package generating machine.   Read more...

This article will show you how to use SSIS to create inferred dimension members on the fly during a fact table load process.  Read more...

This article shows the steps to set-up distributed transactions for SSIS.  Read more...

This article includes an examination of how I improved update performance. We examine four methods of loading data into a data warehouse.  Read more...

SSIS is able to take sorted data from more than one OLE DB data source and merge them into one table which can then be sent to an OLE DB destination. This 'Merge Join' transformation works in a similar way to a SQL join by specifying a 'join key' relationship. this transformation can save a great deal of processing on the destination. Annette Allen, as usual, gives clear guidance on how to do it.  Read more...

With all of the ETL tools in the marketplace, which one is best? Jeff Singleton brings us simple performance comparison pitting SSIS against open source powerhouse Talend.  Read more...

In this article, we will take a look at the following Tips and Tricks for Connection Managers: Adding an "Application Name" property to the connection string; Creating Two Connection Managers for each Database Connection; and Capturing Connection Manager details in Package Configurations  Read more...

This article provides a solution to executes 32 bit SSIS packages in 64 bit environment.  Read more...

When discussing SQL Server 2012 Integration Services, we have been dealing mainly with the traditional data management model, where the entire SQL Server environment resides on-premise. This once predominant paradigm is obviously changing, with hosted solutions (in the form of both private and public clouds) becoming increasingly common. In order to properly account for this trend, we turn our attention to the role that SSIS can serve in a mixed environment, where a part of the SQL Server estate is located in Windows Azure.  Read more...

In this article Marcin Policht discusses different methods of executing SQL Server 2012 Integration Services packages deployed by employing the traditional Package Deployment Model, focusing in particular on those stored in the .dtsx file system format.   Read more...