Introduction
In this article, we will see how to execute an SSIS package upon completion of developing and building the package. Look at my previous articles for how to create, build and execute a package using SSIS.
Approaches
Once a package is created and built successfully, we have 3 options to execute it. We will look into each approach with an example.
Approach 1
DTEXEC command line utility
SQL Server provides a command line utility (DTEXEC.EXE) that helps the developers to execute the SSIS package. It can be directly used from the command prompt by moving around to the folder where the package is available and making use of this EXE.
DTEXEC /? Provides the list of available options to execute the package from the command prompt as shown in the following screen.
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So to execute the package go to the folder where the package is and provide the syntax as shown in the following screen:
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This is the result once we execute a package in the SSIS Command line utility. This example shows an error that package is not executed properly and it has some errors which need to be fixed.
For more details on DTEXEC utility refer to the following MSDN article:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms162810%28SQL.90%29.aspx
Approach 2
SSIS Package Windows Application
This approach is a straightforward user interface option to execute the package. Microsoft has provided a user interface or we can say a tool kind of option to execute the SSIS packages. DTEXECUI.EXE is the user interface exe that performs the task of executing the package.
We can launch DTEXECUI.EXE by double-clicking on the package itself directly (i.e. go to the project folder and double-click on *.dtsx file). It will open the graphical user interface as shown below.
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As we can see there are many options available in order to execute the package based on our needs. If we want to follow the standard format then directly clicking on EXECUTE button at the bottom will do the task. We can navigate through each option and customize the package based on our needs.
You can have a look at the MSDN article about the DTEXECUI.EXE utility at the following url:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms141707%28SQL.90%29.aspx
Approach 3
SQL Server Agent Scheduling
The last and final approach for executing the SSIS packages is the SQL Server Integration Services Job step type which helps to schedule the package and execute it based on our needs. This is one of the easiest approaches since we have the UI to schedule the package and execute it without any user interactions.
In order to do these approaches go to SQL Server Management Studio à Connect to the Database using the credentials à open object explorer and go to JOBS à Select New Job and then fill in the details based on your needs.
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Conclusion
In this article, we have seen the different options to execute the SSIS packages. We will look into the deployment options in the upcoming articles.