Question

I’ve got three files on AIX that I need to import into a SQL Server 2005 database. The files are created by an AIX script that I have control over. There are several options that I know will work, but I’d like to find out what others have done before and what works best.

Here are the options I’m looking at.

1. Have the AIX script sftp the files to Windows and then have a Windows batch job bcp them into SQL Server.
2. Same thing except have the Windows batch job GET the files instead of having the AIX script PUT them.
3. Same as #1 except use scp instead of sftp (what are the pros & cons?)
4. Set up a samba share on AIX and have the Windows batch job bcp the files into SQL Server from there
5. Same as #4 except use SSIS to import them as flat files from the samba share (not sure how this will work with line endings).

Are there other good options I’m overlooking? Does any of these stand out as better for some objective reason?

Answer 1

My recommendation would be SSIS, it gives you greater control over the parsing and reading of the controls before insert.