Question

I am currently transferring a large amount of records from one table to another, summarizing in the process. So, I have a SQL in this general format:

INSERT INTO TargetTable
   (Col1,
   Col2,
   ...
   ColX)
   Tot
   )
SELECT
   Col1,
   Col2,
   ...
   ColX
   SUM(TOT)
FROM 
   SourceTable
GROUP BY
   Col1,
   Col2,
   ...
   ColX

Is there any performance advantage of moving this SQL into an SSIS task when transferring records from one table to another using a SQL SELECT as a source? For example, is logging turned off?

Secondary question: Are there any tactics that I could use to ensure a maximum transfer rate? For example, removing indexes from the Target table before inserting, locking the table, etc?

Answer 1

Set logging as simple. Set the log size high enough to handle the insert. Are others on the sytems? A tablock will help the insert – TargetTable with (tablock). If you have a clustered index on TargetTable order the data that way in the select. If you can accept dirty read SourceTable with (nolock). If you are inserting more than 100,000 records you might want to break up the insert using a where.