How to Upload Excel Data to SQL Azure

Question

Hi,

What are the options i have to upload Data into SQL Azure Database. Please let me know.

Does it have its own ETL or should i have an premise SQL Server Integration services

Thanks,

Gautam

Answer 1

SSIS (on premise) is one option. Other option is a Beta project called "data transfer" in SQL Azure labs: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlazurelabs/labs/datatransfer.aspx

[edit] I forgot to add that currently data transfer supports file smaller than 200 mb.

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Paras Doshi (Blog: ParasDoshi.com | Twitter: @Paras_Doshi )

Answer 2

Gautam,

There are multiple options. However, there aren't any robust ETL services like SSIS available in Windows Azure. 

If you need capability of SSIS for orchestrating a complex data migration, you should use SSIS on-premise and connect to your SQL Azure database.

If you simply need to upload a relatively small CSV to SQL Azure, checkout "Data Transfer" in SQL Azure Labs. Here's a post from Roger Jennings that walks through this process. 
http://oakleafblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/test-drive-sql-azure-labs-new-codename.html

If you have a sizable amount of data, bcp might be the best answer for you. Lubor Kollar and George Varghese from the SQL Server Customer Advisory Team created an interesting blog post from their experience migrating data to SQL Azure.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlcat/archive/2010/07/30/loading-data-to-sql-azure-the-fast-way.aspx

Lastly, if you want to include your own logic and/or embed this into your own app, you could use the Bulk Copy API (System.Data.SqlClient.SqlBulkCopy). 
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.data.sqlclient.sqlbulkcopy.aspx

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Eric D. Boyd - Founder + CEO of responsiveX 
Blog | twitter | responsiveX

Answer 3

Gautam,

There are multiple options. However, there aren't any robust ETL services like SSIS available in Windows Azure. 

If you need capability of SSIS for orchestrating a complex data migration, you should use SSIS on-premise and connect to your SQL Azure database.

If you simply need to upload a relatively small CSV to SQL Azure, checkout "Data Transfer" in SQL Azure Labs. Here's a post from Roger Jennings that walks through this process. 
http://oakleafblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/test-drive-sql-azure-labs-new-codename.html

If you have a sizable amount of data, bcp might be the best answer for you. Lubor Kollar and George Varghese from the SQL Server Customer Advisory Team created an interesting blog post from their experience migrating data to SQL Azure.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlcat/archive/2010/07/30/loading-data-to-sql-azure-the-fast-way.aspx

Lastly, if you want to include your own logic and/or embed this into your own app, you could use the Bulk Copy API (System.Data.SqlClient.SqlBulkCopy). 
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.data.sqlclient.sqlbulkcopy.aspx

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Eric D. Boyd - Founder + CEO of responsiveX 
Blog | twitter | responsiveX

I am so confuse, "there is not any roboust SSIS services in the AzureCloud"; I though SSIS is replaced by BizTalk or Service Bus; is not it?. I am a researcher and I am compareing different clould infracture from a technical and architecture point of view. for that I try to create some prototype which i create in a client/server archtecture.