Question

I want to use a stored procedure to copy a table from my test database to a linked server with the same ID’s / Identity but I can’t get it to work..
I’ve set the IDENTITY_INSERT to ON but it still complains about the ID column.

Here’s my procedure:

CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[TEST2PROD_CopyUIDataSServer]
AS Begin
declare @sql nvarchar(max)
-- First truncate target table
set @sql = 'EXEC [LINKEDSERVER].tempdb.sys.sp_sqlexec' + char(39)+ 'TRUNCATE Table [ProductManager].dbo.[UIData]' + char(39)+  ';'
---- SET IDENTITY_INSERT ON
set @sql = @sql + 'EXEC [LINKEDSERVER].tempdb.sys.sp_sqlexec' + char(39)+ 'SET IDENTITY_INSERT [ProductManager].[dbo].[UIData] ON' + char(39)+  ';'
---- INSERT UIDATA records from DB1 into linked server DB2
set @sql = @sql + 'WITH TestData as (SELECT * from ProductManager.dbo.UIData UID)' + NCHAR(13)+  'INSERT INTO   [LINKEDSERVER].[ProductManager].[dbo].[UIData]' + NCHAR(13) + 'select * from TestData;'
print @sql
exec (@sql) 
end

But when I execute the SP it gives me the following error:

The OLE DB provider “SQLNCLI10” for linked server …. could not INSERT INTO table “[LINKEDSERVER].[ProductManager].[dbo].[UIData]” because of column “Id”. The user did not have permission to write to the column.

Linked server properties RPC and RPC out are set to true. I hope someboy can help me out here?

UPDATE: I decided to pull things apart, first I copy the data from the local server to the linked server in a TEMP_TABLE where I don’t have to deal with IDENTITY issues.

Then I wrote a stored procedure on the linked / remote server, since I’m not using SELECT * but specify the column list. Chances are this will work from the local server in an SP too but I don’t have the time or interest to check it out yet..

USE [ProductManager]
GO
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO
CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[TEST2PROD_CopyBaseTables]
AS BEGIN
DECLARE @DestTable VARCHAR(50)
DECLARE @DestPath VARCHAR(50)
DECLARE @SrceTable VARCHAR(255)
declare @sql nvarchar(max)
DECLARE @columnList varchar(max)
DECLARE @err int

Begin TRY

declare @comma_delimited_list varchar(4000) 
--- FIRST TRY WITH ONE TABLE, EXTENDABLE...
set @comma_delimited_list = 'UIData' 

declare @cursor cursor 
set @cursor = cursor static for  
  select * from dbo.Split(@comma_delimited_list,',') a 

declare @naam varchar(50)
open @cursor 
while 1=1 begin 
  fetch next from @cursor into @DestTable
  if @@fetch_status <> 0 break 

    --Create tablenames
    SET @SrceTable = '[ProductManager].[dbo].TEMP_' + @DestTable
    SET @DestPath = '[ProductManager].[dbo].'+ @DestTable 
    print @srceTable;
    print @DestTable;

    --Truncate target table
    set @sql ='TRUNCATE TABLE '+ @DestPath + ';'

    --Insert statement needs column names
    set @columnList =''
    SELECT  @columnList = coalesce(@columnList + '[' + name + '],','') FROM sys.columns Where OBJECT_NAME(OBJECT_ID) = @DestTable
    if RIGHT(RTRIM(@columnList),1) = ',' 
    begin
        SET @columnList = LEFT(@columnList, LEN(@columnList) - 1) 
    end

    --Transfer data from source table 2 destination
     set @sql = @sql + ' SET IDENTITY_INSERT ' + @DestPath + ' ON;' + ' INSERT INTO ' + @DestPath + '(' + @columnList + ') SELECT ' + @columnList + ' FROM ' + @SrceTable

    print @sql;

    exec (@sql)
end 
-- not strictly necessary w/ cursor variables since the will go out of scope like a normal var 
close @cursor 
deallocate @cursor 

End Try
Begin Catch
 declare @ErrorMsg nvarchar(MAX);
 select @ErrorMsg =  ERROR_MESSAGE();

SELECT @err = @@error IF @err <> 0 Return @err
end Catch
END

Answer 1

IDENTITY_INSERT doesn’t work with linked servers AFAIK, unless you execute dynamic SQL that includes the SET IDENTITY_INSERT in the batch or have some code (Stored Proc for instance) on the remote server which does that for you.

The IDENTITY_INSERT is per-session (see MSDN) and when you use the remote server this will probably be in a different session from your statement executed via [LINKEDSERVER].tempdb.sys.sp_sqlexec, which causes it to fail as you see it happening.