Knight's 24-Hour Trainer: Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 Integration Services

Welcome to SSIS

SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) is one of the most powerful applications in your arsenal for moving data in and out of various databases and files. Like the rest of the business intelligence (BI) suite that comes with SQL Server, it's not part of SQL Server other than being included on the DVD and in the license that you've already purchased. Because of that, even if your environment is not using a lot of SQL Server, SSIS can still be used as a platform for data movement.

Though ultimately this book is more interactive in nature, this introductory chapter first walks you through a high-level tour of SSIS so you have a life preserver on prior to jumping in the pool. Each topic touched on in this introduction is covered much deeper throughout the book in lesson form and in the supporting videos on the DVD.

Import and Export Wizard

If you need to move data quickly from almost any OLE DB–compliant data source to a destination, you can use the SSIS Import and Export Wizard (shown in Figure 1). The wizard is a quick way to move the data and perform very light transformations of data, such as casting of the data into new data types. You can quickly check any table you want to transfer as well as write a query against the data to retrieve only a selective amount of data.

Figure 1. Figure 1

The Business Intelligence Development Studio

The Business Intelligence Development ...