SQL Server 2005 – SQL Server Integration Services – Part 1

One of the SQL Server 2005 Beta 2 features that has undergone considerable
architectural, functional, and interface changes, compared with its earlier
versions, deals with extraction, transformation, and loading (also known as
simply ETL) of data. (In other words, allowing you to move data between a variety
of stores and to modify it in the process, according to your arbitrary
requirements). While in SQL Server 7.0 and 2000, such capabilities have been
provided by Data Transformation Services (DTS in short), Microsoft decided that
the degree of modifications introduced in the new version justified re-branding
it, hence its rearchitectured and significantly improved implementation has
been introduced under the new name of SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS).
For the same reason, rather than pointing out changes that have been
implemented since the release of DTS in SQL Server 2000, in the next few
articles, we will provide a comprehensive analysis of its SQL Server 2005
equivalent. For review of the SQL Server 2000 version of Data Transformation
Services refer to our
earlier series
covering this topic and published on the Database Journal
Web site).

Let’s start with an overview of the most essential terms and ideas that are
critical to understanding how ETL operations are handled in SQL Server 2005.
The concept of the DTS Package has been inherited from the earlier versions of
SQL Server and still is considered as the centerpiece of the data
transformation object model, representing a unit of work that can be
independently saved, retrieved, or executed, and which serves as a container
for all other DTS objects. Within a package, you can distinguish two main
categories of objects – control flow or data flow. Objects in the first
category determine processing sequence within the package and consist of
containers, tasks, and precedence constraints. Objects that belong to the
second category define the flow of data. They can be further divided into
source adapters, transformations, and destination adapters. Control flow
dictates architectural structure of a package and can contain any number of
data flow units (defined independently of each other and consisting of any
number of data flow objects). The following are short descriptions of each of
the control and data flow object types:

  • Containers – group variety of package components (including other
    containers), affecting their scope, sequence of execution, and mutual
    interaction. With graphical utilities (which we will describe shortly), this is
    done by simply placing components inside them during initial package creation or
    subsequent modifications. Alternatively, the same goal can be accomplished with
    programmatic methods or by using wizards (while the former offers the best
    degree of versatility, the latter is restricted to pre-defined options and its
    customizability is very limited – although note that it is possible to further
    edit packages created with wizards). Depending on their characteristics,
    containers can be divided into the following types – Package (since each
    package also qualifies as a special type of container), Sequence, For Loop, ForEach
    Loop, TaskHost, and Event Handler. We will be discussing them in more details
    later in this series of articles.

  • Tasks – are responsible for performing actual work, ranging from
    retrieval and loading of data across a variety of repositories, through
    interacting with other entities (including other DTS packages, Message Queues,
    Windows Instrumentation Management processes, SQL Server or Analysis Services
    objects, etc.), to performing data transformation and execution of SQL Server
    administrative tasks. In general, they belong to one of following seven
    categories – Data Flow, Data Preparation, Workflow, SQL Server, Scripting,
    Analysis Services, and Database Maintenance. The total number of pre-defined
    tasks has increased almost twofold compared with SQL Server 2000 (and custom
    ones can be developed with either legacy COM-capable or .NET programming
    languages). Tasks will also be covered more thoroughly as part of our series.

  • Precedence Constraints – define links among containers and tasks
    and evaluate conditions that determine the sequence in which they are
    processed. More specifically, they provide transition from one container (such
    as For Loop, ForEach Loop, and Sequence) or task to another. Conditions that
    control whether transitions will occur are evaluated based on constraint
    properties and may involve execution outcome (success, failure, completion) of
    the preceding executable, a result of an arbitrary expression, or outcome of
    other precedence constraints.

  • Source Adapters – facilitate the retrieval of data from various
    data sources (such as flat files or variety of databases) using flat file, OLE
    DB and .NET Framework data providers (relying for this functionality on their
    respective connection managers, which we will describe shortly). They also
    include the script component, which allows implementing and executing custom
    code, whenever functionality offered by built-in providers do not suffice (for
    example, when it is necessary to incorporate into a data flow business rules
    specified in external .NET assemblies). Script component can also be used to
    implement transformations and destination adapters.

  • Transformations – perform modifications to data, through a variety
    of operations, such as aggregation (e.g. averages or sums), merging (of
    multiple input data sets), distribution (to different outputs), data type conversion,
    or reference table lookups (using exact or fuzzy comparisons).

  • Destination Adapters – load output of the data flow into target
    stores, such as flat files, database accessible via various providers, or
    in-memory ADODB recordsets (similar to source adapters, they rely on
    appropriate connection managers to accomplish this). As you might expect, most
    commonly, data flow takes the path from one or more source adapters, through an
    arbitrary number of transformations, to target data stores defined using
    destination adapters.

On a more granular level, data and control flow elements include other types
of package components, such as connection managers and variables. Connection
managers are logical representations of connections to various types of data
stores (such as ActiveX data objects and ADO.NET objects, file system folders
and files, message queues, OLE DB- or ODBC-compatible databases or SMTP mail
servers) along with their properties (for example a connection string, data
source identifier, or description). Connections can be defined as part of tasks
or transformations, and are used when setting up source and destination
adapters. Variables provide temporary storage for parameters whose values can
change from one package execution to another, accommodating package reusability
(for example, allowing to execute the same T-SQL statement or a script against
a different set of objects). They can be incorporated into containers, tasks,
event handlers, and precedence constraints. In general, there are two types of
variables – system (pre-defined) and custom (created on an as needed basis at
the time of package development). We will demonstrate their use in future
articles of this series.

Also among new DTS package components introduced in SQL Server 2005 are event
handlers and log providers. With the former, you can write custom code that is
invoked in response to a specific type of event triggered by executable
components, such as ForEach Loop, For Loop, Sequence, and TaskHost containers
(as well as packages themselves). For example, by creating a handler for the OnError
event, you might be able to gracefully resolve a particular type of error
condition or provide notification about its occurrence. Log providers allow
the capturing of events taking place when tasks execute within ForEach Loop,
For Loop, and Sequence containers and record them in a text or XML file, SQL Profiler
log, SQL Server databases, or the Windows Application Event log.

Now, following our short introduction into ETL concepts, let’s look next
into their implementation, in particular focusing on management lifecycle of
DTS packages. In our
discussion
about the utilities present in SQL Server 2005 Beta 2, we
briefly mentioned Business Intelligence Development Studio. This is the primary
environment for package development. As with the SQL Server Management Studio,
its interface follows the design philosophy derived from Microsoft Visual
Studio .NET, reflecting this way its main purpose (as far as Business
Intelligence solutions are concerned). Within its scope, besides Analysis
Services and Reporting Services-related features, there is also a set of
utilities and wizards that provide the ability to create, modify (with proper
version control through integration with Visual SourceSafe), debug, and deploy
packages. Packages are developed based on the paradigm of a solution consisting
of one or more DTS specific projects, which also can be combined with Analysis
or Reporting Services projects. Subsequently, such solutions can be managed
with SQL Server Management Studio, which includes the ability to store them in
the msdb database (in addition to using .dtsx file format – option that is also
available from Business Intelligence Development Studio), schedule, and execute
them (but not modify, deploy, debug, or provide version control).

The main ETL development utility included with SQL Server Business
Intelligence Development Studio is DTS Designer. DTS Designer is a sophisticated
and highly versatile tool, giving access to an overwhelming majority of DTS
functionality. In addition, SQL Server Management Studio offers DTS
Import/Export Wizard (also accessible by invoking the DTSWizard executable, which
resides in C:Program FilesMicrosoft SQLServer90ToolsBinnVSShellCommon7IDE
folder, from the Command Prompt). It provides a limited ability to create
packages outside of the primary development environment (but at the same rate,
simplifying the development process by delivering an intuitive, step-by-step guide).
It is also possible to fully manage packages with purely programmatic methods.
Package execution is triggered with the Start entry from the Debug menu (or
equivalent toolbar button) in the DTS Designer interface (corresponding to F5
function key shortcut). The same can be accomplished with DTExec or DTExecUI
command line utilities (both located in the C:Program FilesMicrosoft SQL
Server90DTSBinn folder). Besides running packages interactively, you also
have an option of scheduling them for unattended execution with SQL Server
Management Studio. The DTUtil command line utility (also residing in C:Program
FilesMicrosoft SQL Server90DTSBinn folder) offers the ability to copy
packages between files, msdb SQL Server database, or DTS Package Store, as well
as signing them in order to protect their content. To deploy packages, use DTS
Package Deployment Wizard, which installs packages either to the file system or
msdb database. Package Configurations, new in SQL Server 2005, facilitate the changing
of properties of package components at run time, by applying values stored
outside of it (it is possible to use environment variables, registry entries,
XML-formatted files, or variables contained in a parent package for this
purpose).

While each edition of SQL Server 2005 includes the ability to execute
packages, the level of the remaining ETL related functionality varies. In
particular, no additional features are available in the Express and Workgroup
versions. Starting with the Standard edition, you have access to Business
Intelligence Development Studio, which allows you to develop packages with DTS
Designer. More advanced transformations and tasks, dealing with data and text
mining or fuzzy operations (such as Analysis Services Partition Processing
Destination, Analysis Services Dimension Processing Destination, Data Mining
Training Destination, Data Mining Query Component and Task, Term Extraction and
Lookup, as well as Fuzzy Grouping and Lookup) are available only when you
switch to the Enterprise product. Fuzzy operations, new in the SQL Server
product line, provide the ability to clean up data, either at the time of its
loading (Lookup) or already existing in a data store (Grouping), by comparing the
content of "candidates" rows against the ones already established as
valid, and finding the closest matches in case of inconsistencies. (This
eliminates the potential for misspellings, spelling variations of the same name,
which yield to duplications and other typical data input-related issues).

Another ETL-related change in SQL Server 2005 is the introduction of Integration
Services Service, running in the security context of NT AUTHORITYNETWORK
account,  which takes part in managing the operation of DTS packages. It
is controlled from the SQL Server Management Studio from where you have an
option of starting or stopping it (pausing and restarting states are not
available). Its main purpose is to monitor status of running
packages, but it is also required in order to launch packages from Integration
Services node in SQL Server Management Studio (although its status does not
affect the ability to invoke them via SQL Server Import and Export Wizard or
via a scheduled SQL Server Agent job). Stopping it will also trigger the
stopping of all running packages.

In our next article, we will present the process of creating a simple
package, explaining at the same time all relevant ETL functionality in more detail.

»


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Marcin Policht

Marcin Policht
Marcin Policht
Being a long time reader, I'm proud to join the crowd of technology gurus gathered here. I have a fair share of Microsoft exams behind me, a couple of acronyms after my name - MCSE, MCSD, and MCT, decent familiarity with majority of MS BackOffice products (SMS, SQL, Exchange, IIS), programming and scripting languages (VB, C++, VBScript with wsh) and several years of practical experience with Windows environment administration and engineering. My focus these days is on SQL Server and Windows 2000, and I'll attempt to share the most interesting experiences with these products.

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