Hi.

I was wondering if anybody could piont me to a reference for the .bak
file format.

I need to upload a huge amount of data from a unix machine into an MS
SQLServer database and have tried lots of different things with mixed
results.

I occurs to me that if I can generate a .bak file on the unix side,
move it over to the MS side and 'restore' the database, that would
probably be the fastest possible method.

Thanks,

-jim

Assuming that you are referring to the MS-specific binary .bak DB backup
file format, I would be very surprised if MS releases those types of
details. It could/would prevent them from changing the format..

Even aside from this, generating a .bak file on the Unix side is
unlikely. There are potential big-endian, little-endian issues. You do
know that SQL Server runs only on Windows, yes?

Is there another DB on the unix side? Could you hook up to it as a
linked server w/ an OLE DB driver or something?

I would export in ascii delimited CSV format or something, and then
import into SQL server w/ the integration services import/export wizard.

hth

Allen Jantzen

jims wrote:
> Hi.
>
> I was wondering if anybody could piont me to a reference for the .bak
> file format.
>
> I need to upload a huge amount of data from a unix machine into an MS
> SQLServer database and have tried lots of different things with mixed
> results.
>
> I occurs to me that if I can generate a .bak file on the unix side,
> move it over to the MS side and 'restore' the database, that would
> probably be the fastest possible method.
>
> Thanks,
>
> -jim
>

Allen,

Thanks for the response. I had forgotten about byte ordering/native
formats.

But your two suggestions are much appreciated.

-jim

jims (jim@asrc.cestm.albany.edu) writes:
> I was wondering if anybody could piont me to a reference for the .bak
> file format.
>
> I need to upload a huge amount of data from a unix machine into an MS
> SQLServer database and have tried lots of different things with mixed
> results.
>
> I occurs to me that if I can generate a .bak file on the unix side,
> move it over to the MS side and 'restore' the database, that would
> probably be the fastest possible method.

It would take you ages until you have produced that .bak file. Your data
will be stale by then.

The fastest way to load lots of data into SQL Server is bulk copy. You have
a lot more options if you first put the file in a place where you can access
it from Windows. The simplest is probably to use the command-line tool
BCP. You need to format the data in a way so that BCP can read it. (But
BCP is flexible.)




--
Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, esquel@sommarskog.se

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