HOW TO (NOT) TORMENT

KOEN VERBEECK

SQL SERVER DAYS 2014

YOUR FELLOW SSIS DEVELOPER

#sqlserverdays

ABOUT ME

OUTLINE

LAYOUTINTRODUCTION WHAT IS GOING ON?

MORE “BEST PRACTICES”

PERFORMANCE CONSIDERATIONS

CONCLUSION

OUTLINE

LAYOUTINTRODUCTION WHAT IS GOING ON?

MORE “BEST PRACTICES”

PERFORMANCE CONSIDERATIONS

CONCLUSION

• I am• an ETL / DWH developer/consultant• a Business Intelligence developer/consultant• an analyst• an architect• a BI (project) manager• someone else…

INTRODUCTION

• I have worked with SSIS• … never at all• for less than a year• for 1 to 5 years• for 5+ years

• ever worked on someone else’sSSIS package/project

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

OUTLINE

LAYOUTINTRODUCTION WHAT IS GOING ON?

MORE “BEST PRACTICES”

PERFORMANCE CONSIDERATIONS

CONCLUSION

LAYOUT

LAYOUT

LAYOUT

LAYOUT

LAYOUT

• your options?• Auto Layout (not the brightest kid of the class but it gets

you started)

• layout toolbar

Demoshow the layout tools

OUTLINE

LAYOUTINTRODUCTION WHAT IS GOING ON?

MORE “BEST PRACTICES”

PERFORMANCE CONSIDERATIONS

CONCLUSION

WHAT IS GOING ON?

WHAT IS GOING ON?

• let other people know what the package does (or is supposed to do)

• SSIS packages are just like any other regular code

• annotations already go a long way• an entire novel is not necessary

• especially use them if you did something unusual

Demo• column with filename• data load with clustered

index

WHAT IS GOING ON?

• give meaningful names to tasks / transformations

• try out a naming convention• Jamie Thomson’s list

WHAT IS GOING ON?

• document embedded code as well• T-SQL

• tip: add the name of the SSIS task in the first line of the code can easily be spotted in Profiler

• .NET in script tasks / components

• there are 3rd party doc tools

OUTLINE

LAYOUTINTRODUCTION WHAT IS GOING ON?

MORE “BEST PRACTICES”

PERFORMANCE CONSIDERATIONS

CONCLUSION

MORE “BEST PRACTICES”

• use source control• I mean like, right now• especially important in SSIS 2012+

• check out packages you are working on

• not the entire project…

• try to use only one version of BIDS/SSDT

MORE “BEST PRACTICES”

• supply a commit message when you check packages in

• this makes it easier to revert back to an earlier (working) version

MORE “BEST PRACTICES”

• allow for easy troubleshooting• enable logging

• logs in SQL Server are easy to query

• in SSIS 2012+, the SSISDB takes care of business

• select appropriate logging level

• use audit columns

• PackageID, InsertDate, UpdateDate …

MORE “BEST PRACTICES”

• develop package templates• ensures consistency across projects

• revise them from time to time

• useful for common “patterns”

• generate with BIML for extra awesomeness

• log to a central database

• useful for SSIS 2005-08R2, less for SSIS 2012+

• tie packages from different projects together

• e.g. all packages from the same ETL load

• makes it easier to analyze durations

Demo“upsert” load pattern

MORE “BEST PRACTICES”

• aim for restartability• KISS

• don’t create huge single packages

• rather create several smaller modular packages

• packages should be idempotent

• you should be able to execute them over and over again without issues

• in an ETL run, keep track of where you are

• especially when executing in parallel

OUTLINE

LAYOUTINTRODUCTION WHAT IS GOING ON?

MORE “BEST PRACTICES”

PERFORMANCE CONSIDERATIONS

CONCLUSION

PERFORMANCE CONSIDERATIONS

• blocking, semi-blocking & non-blocking

• avoid certain components

• sort, aggregate, merge and merge join

• use T-SQL instead

• synchronous vs asynchronous

• use Union All transformation only when needed

• avoid row-by-row transformations

• OLE DB command = EVIL

PERFORMANCE CONSIDERATIONS

Demoalternative design pattern Union All

PERFORMANCE CONSIDERATIONS

• beware the buffer• the data flow is a pipeline

• adjust buffer size to avoid back pressure

• find the bottleneck

• a bigger buffer is not always better

• be careful with data types

Demodata types and nvp

OUTLINE

LAYOUTINTRODUCTION WHAT IS GOING ON?

MORE “BEST PRACTICES”

PERFORMANCE CONSIDERATIONS

CONCLUSION

CONCLUSION

• if you care for your fellow SSIS dev

• pay attention to

• layout

• names of tasks/components

• documentation

• logging

• use source control• keep packages short, simple and idempotent• remember performance

• avoid asynchronous/blocking transformations

• check buffer size

RESOURCES

– Suggested Best Practises and naming conventions – Jamie Thomsonhttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/jamie_thomson/archive/2012/01/29/suggested-best-practises-and-naming-conventions.aspx

– SQL Server 2012 Integration Services Design Patterns – various authorshttp://www.amazon.com/Server-Integration-Services-Design-Patterns-ebook/dp/B00992OBHS

– MS SQL Server 2008 SSIS: Problem, Design, Solution – various authorshttp://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Server-2008-Integration-Services/dp/0470525762

– Improve SSIS data flow buffer performance – Koen Verbeeckhttp://www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/3217/improve-ssis-data-flow-buffer-performance/

– Top 10 SQL Server Integration Services Best Practices – SQL CAThttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlcat/archive/2013/09/16/top-10-sql-server-integration-services-best-practices.aspx

– Data Flow Performance Featureshttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms141031.aspx

– Semi-blocking Transformations in SSIS – Koen Verbeeckhttp://www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/3242/semiblocking-transformations-in-sql-server-integration-services-ssis/

– Non-blocking, Semi-blocking and Fully-blocking components – Jorg Kleinhttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/jorg_klein/archive/2008/02/12/ssis-lookup-transformation-is-case-sensitive.aspx

– Understanding Synchronous and Asynchronous Transformations – MSDNhttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa337074.aspx

Q & A

KOEN VERBEECK

SQL SERVER DAYS 2014

SQL Server Days would like to thank all of our sponsors!

THANKS FOR LISTENING

KOEN VERBEECK

SQL SERVER DAYS 2014

koen.verbeeck@element61.be@Ko_Verhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/kverbeeck