Top 10 SSIS Best Practices Tim Mitchell Artis Consulting The World’s Largest Community of SQL Server Professionals

Session Objectives Review and discuss common best practices Q&A The World’s Largest Community of SQL Server Professionals

Tim Mitchell Business Intelligence Consultant – Artis Consulting, Dallas TX Contributing author, MVP Deep Dives 2 Coauthor, SSIS Design Patterns North Texas SQL Server User Group SQL Server MVP TimMitchell.net | Twitter.com/Tim_Mitchell The World’s Largest Community of SQL Server Professionals

Housekeeping Questions Surveys The World’s Largest Community of SQL Server Professionals

Disclaimer My best practices != the only way The World’s Largest Community of SQL Server Professionals

Best Practice #1: Configurations Externalize logic for packages Easier administration, maintenance Change once globally The World’s Largest Community of SQL Server Professionals

Best Practice #1: Configurations The World’s Largest Community of SQL Server Professionals

Best Practice #1: Configurations The World’s Largest Community of SQL Server Professionals

Best Practice #2: Package Protection Level Never use EncryptSensitiveWithUserKey When possible, use DontSaveSensitive – Previous tip If you must encrypt, use EncryptSensitiveWithPassword or EncryptAllWithPassword The World’s Largest Community of SQL Server Professionals

Best Practice #2: Package Protection Level The World’s Largest Community of SQL Server Professionals

Best Practice #3: Row Count Audit In/out rowcount for proper package audit Insure precise control over data pipeline May help satisfy regulatory requirements The World’s Largest Community of SQL Server Professionals

Best Practice #3: Row Count Audit The World’s Largest Community of SQL Server Professionals

Best Practice #3: Row Count Audit The World’s Largest Community of SQL Server Professionals

Best Practice #4: Lookup Cache Modes Default = Full Cache Full Cache is case sensitive, other modes depend on database collation – UPPER() and LOWER() Partial cache No cache – avoid if possible The World’s Largest Community of SQL Server Professionals

Best Practice #4: Lookup Cache Modes The World’s Largest Community of SQL Server Professionals

Best Practice #5: Event Handlers Handle various events, errors and otherwise Address errors inline Respond to other events The World’s Largest Community of SQL Server Professionals

Best Practice #5: Event Handlers The World’s Largest Community of SQL Server Professionals

Best Practice #6: Small SSIS Packages One package = one logical unit of work – Load a fact table – Load a single dimension Easier to debug Faster validation Reusability The World’s Largest Community of SQL Server Professionals

Best Practice #6: Small SSIS Packages The World’s Largest Community of SQL Server Professionals

Best Practice #7: Logging Log errors, warnings Capture other standard events Custom logging (supplement) The World’s Largest Community of SQL Server Professionals

Best Practice #7: Logging The World’s Largest Community of SQL Server Professionals

Best Practice #8: Script instead of complex expression Replace complex expressions with script task or script component Easier to develop Inline comments Intellisense Error handling The World’s Largest Community of SQL Server Professionals

Best Practice #8: Script instead of complex expression The World’s Largest Community of SQL Server Professionals

Best Practice #9: Naming Convention Use descriptive names for containers, tasks, components Use a standard naming convention for SSIS objects No functional difference, but helps to quickly identify type SSIS API The World’s Largest Community of SQL Server Professionals

Best Practice #10: MERGE T-SQL MERGE statement usually outperforms SSIS SCD components (native or 3 rd party) Some limits on use Staging The World’s Largest Community of SQL Server Professionals

Best Practice #11: Annotations Document, document, document Easy value add The World’s Largest Community of SQL Server Professionals

Best Practice #12: Variables Naming convention Package scope Expressions The World’s Largest Community of SQL Server Professionals

Best Practice #13: ETL Frameworks Managed execution of packages Group packages according to function, dependency, and precedence Unified logging and error handling Free and commercial tools The World’s Largest Community of SQL Server Professionals

Best Practice #14: Custom Components Repetitive use of the same logic in multiple packages Custom component allows easy deployment The World’s Largest Community of SQL Server Professionals

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