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How to load files (image, Microsoft document, pdf, etc.) in azure file share to SQL managed instance?
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Hi Junhui Ma,
Azure SQL Managed Instance does not support Azure Files directly via BULK INSERT. Instead, you need to copy the data to Azure Blob Storage first and then use BULK INSERT or OPENROWSET from there.
To load data from an Azure file share to a SQL Managed Instance, please follow the below steps
create an Azure file share in your storage account. You can do this using the Azure portal, PowerShell, Azure CLI, or REST API
Mount the Azure file share on a Windows client using the SMB protocol.
Since SQL Managed Instance does not support BULK INSERT from Azure File Share, you must first copy the data from the Azure File Share to Azure Blob Storage (e.g., using AzCopy, Azure Data Factory, or PowerShell).
Create a SQL Credential
In SQL Managed Instance, create a SQL Credential using a Shared Access Signature (SAS) Token for Azure Blob Storage authentication:
CREATE CREDENTIAL [AzureBlobCredential]
WITH IDENTITY = 'SHARED ACCESS SIGNATURE',
SECRET = 'your_sas_token';
Define an external data source pointing to Azure Blob Storage:
CREATE EXTERNAL DATA SOURCE AzureBlobDataSource
WITH (
TYPE = BLOB_STORAGE,
LOCATION = 'https://yourstorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/yourcontainer',
CREDENTIAL = AzureBlobCredential
);
Use BULK INSERT to load data into SQL Managed Instance:
BULK INSERT YourTable
FROM 'your_file.csv'
WITH (
DATA_SOURCE = 'AzureBlobDataSource',
FORMAT = 'CSV',
FIELDTERMINATOR = ',',
ROWTERMINATOR = '\n', FIRSTROW = 2 -- Skips header row );
Instead of BULK INSERT, you can also use OPENROWSET:
SELECT *
FROM OPENROWSET(
BULK 'your_file.csv',
DATA_SOURCE = 'AzureBlobDataSource',
FORMAT = 'CSV',
FIRSTROW = 2
) AS DataFile;
SQL Managed Instance cannot directly access Azure File Share using BULK INSERT.
Data must first be copied from Azure File Share to Azure Blob Storage before loading into SQL Managed Instance.
I hope this information helps. Please do let us know if you have any further queries.
Hi Junhui Ma,
We haven’t heard from you on the last response and was just checking back to see if you have a resolution yet. In case if you have any resolution please do share that same with the community as it can be helpful to others. Otherwise, will respond with more details and we will try to help.
I will have to admit that I am not familiar with Azure file shares. But I believe that you can only load data from Azure Blob Store.