ETL

Continue Package Execution After Error in SSIS

When it comes to ETL, I’m a pessimist.  Until proven otherwise, I assume that all data is bad, all connections are volatile, and all transformation logic is suspect.  As such, I spent a lot of time addressing how to prepare for and handle errors in the ETL pipeline with SSIS.  Building packages to expect and properly handle errors is a…


Using Object Typed Variables in SSIS

Note: This will be the first post in a short series on using object typed variables (also known as SSIS object variables) in SQL Server Integration Services. When defining variables in SSIS, the ETL developer has several data type options to choose from depending on the information to be stored in each variable.  Included in the options are String, Boolean,…


SSIS: Conditional File Processing in a ForEach Loop

I’ve fielded a number of requests recently asking how to interrogate a file within SSIS and change the processing rules based on the metadata of said file. A recent forum poster specifically asked about using the foreach loop to iterate through the files in a directory and, on a per-file basis, either process the file or skip the file if…


Skipping Items in a Foreach Loop

Recently, my friend Jack Corbett asked a question online: In a nutshell, the SSIS foreach loop will enumerate a given list of items (files in a directory, nodes in an XML file, static list of values, etc.) and will perform some operation for each of the items in the collection. This behavior is similar to foreach loop constructs that are…