large table to table insert

Question

large table to table insert

Ravi Patel-554358

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Points: 471
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June 24, 2008 at 1:27 pm

#188413

I have a table with over a billion rows. I have created another table, that is partitioned and with the same indexes that are also partitions. I want to know transfer all of the records from the original table to the new table. What is the best approach for this?
I tried inserting 100 million records, and the log grew up to 225 GIGS!. I have 250 gigs for only the logs, so that was definately run out if I insert all of the records. Any suggestions?
I am using Sql Server 2005. Please let me know if there is any way of shutting of logging when doing such a large insert. The database is already in simple recovery mode.
Thanks.

Viewing 6 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

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Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004407 More actions · Answer 1

Set the recovery mode to SIMPLE or Bulk Logged... use SELECT INTO to make the tables and transfer the data. Then, add indexes, keys, triggers, and constraints... use NOCHECK on the constraints because you already knew the data met the constraints on the other table.

Do a backup when you're done.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

noeld SSC Guru Points: 96590 More actions · Answer 2

You will need to probably use SELECT INTO and use the SWITCH statement to move data into the partitioned one. I am not sure though that this can be done "online" ( meaning letting users change the source data )

Just my $0.02

* Noel

noeld SSC Guru Points: 96590 More actions · Answer 3

Hehehe ... Jeff beat me to the punch 😀

* Noel

Prakash Heda SSCertifiable Points: 5539 More actions · Answer 4

Noel pointed out right its a very good idea to partition the table right away and then insert data in batches based on partition keys....

Prakash Heda
Lead DBA Team - www.sqlfeatures.com
Video sessions on Performance Tuning and SQL 2012 HA

Ravi Patel-554358 SSC-Addicted Points: 471 More actions · Answer 5

What I decided to use was a simple .net script, using SqlBulkCopy. This worked out pretty well and faster then other things I tried.