Question

I created a link server using SQL Server 2008 R2 to an Excel File.

My first question is, is it possible to have all your tables on a single link server? Like creating multiple data sources for a link server or do you have to create an individual Link Server for each Excel file (external data)?

Finally, even when I create multiple Link Server, how do I query all the tables or use a JOIN so that I can query multiple tables?

Answer 1

I cannot answer your first question, having no experience with linked servers into Excel documents.

To join across multiple lined servers, the tripe dot notation is usually easier than using OPENQUERY().

SELECT
  t1.col1,
  t1.col2,
  t2.col3
FROM LINKEDSERVER1...table1 t1 JOIN LINKEDSERVER2...table2 t2 ON t1.col1 = t2.col1