Importing and Exporting Bulk Data
Microsoft SQL Server allows you to import and export data in bulk (bulk data) between a SQL Server table and a data file. This is essential to efficient transfer data between SQL Server and heterogeneous data sources. Bulk exporting refers to copying data from a SQL Server table to a data file. Bulk importing refers to loading data from a data file into a SQL Server table. For example, you can export data from a Microsoft Excel application to a data file and then bulk import that data into a SQL Server table.
In This Section
| Topic | Description |
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Lists and briefly compares the various methods that are available for bulk importing and exporting data. Compares in-process and out-of-process operations, describes format files, provides information about the query processor and bulk-import operations, and offers performance considerations. |
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Provides a list of important guidelines for bulk importing data. |
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Provides an overview for using the bcp utility to bulk import or bulk export data. |
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Importing Bulk Data by Using BULK INSERT or OPENROWSET(BULK...) |
Provides an overview for using the Transact-SQL BULK INSERT statement or OPENROWSET function to bulk import and export data. Also, presents security considerations and information about using Transact-SQL statements to bulk import data from a remote data file. |
Describes how to create a table that is used by the examples in several importing and exporting bulk data topics. |
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Contains explanation of restrictions and considerations that are related to data format requirements. This topic also tells you how to specify data formats for compatibility. |
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Contains descriptions of format files. Format files provide a flexible way for SQL Server to write or read data files, and thereby increase performance. Also contains an explanation of how to use the bcp utility to create a format file. |
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Contains descriptions of several typical scenarios for importing or exporting data. |
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Contains introductions to alternative ways to copy databases to other servers. |
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Contains descriptions of techniques to optimize performance for bulk-import operations. |
See Also
Other Resources
Integration Services Documentation Map