Question

What is the maximum number of columns witin SQL Server 2008? I know at least in 2005 the limitations were related to row size, does this still apply?

Right after I define and populate this ridiculously wide table I will need to write an SSIS package against it. Are there different limitations for SSIS for number of columns than there are for SQL Server?

In essence I have a very large number of attributes about an entity that for a number of reasons will need to be stored on one table and then extracted in that same columns wide format and I want to make sure what the rules are within SQL Server 2008 and SSIS 2008.

Answer 1

SQL Server 2008 has a max for Wide and NonWide. Unless you’ve taken special steps to use sparse columns, you’ve got a NonWide table.

Columns per nonwide table 1,024
Columns per wide table 30,000

Row size limitations (with a caveat, see details in specs below):

Bytes per row 8,060

• Maximum Capacity Specifications for SQL Server 2008
• More on Wide and NonWide at MSDN.