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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-29T15:22:56+00:00

I have written a VBScript to extract data from Active Directory into a record

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I have written a VBScript to extract data from Active Directory into a record set. I’m now wondering what the most efficient way is to transfer the data into a SQL database.

I’m torn between;

  • Writing it to an excel file then firing an SSIS package to import it or…
  • Within the VBScript, iterating through the dataset in memory and submitting 3000+ INSERT commands to the SQL database

Would the latter option result in 3000+ round trips communicating with the database and therefore be the slower of the two options?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Sending an insert row by row is always the slowest option. This is what is known as Row by Agonizing Row or RBAR. You should avoid that if possible and take advantage of set based operations.

    Your other option, writing to an intermediate file is a good option, I agree with @Remou in the comments that you should probably pick CSV rather than Excel if you are going to choose this option.

    I would propose a third option. You already have the design in VB contained in your VBscript. You should be able to convert this easily to a script component in SSIS. Create an SSIS package, add a DataFlow task, add a Script Component (as a datasource {example here}) to the flow, write your fields out to the output buffer, and then add a sql destination and save yourself the step of writing to an intermediate file. This is also more secure, as you don’t have your AD data on disk in plaintext anywhere during the process.

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