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Quickstart: Bulk load data using the COPY statement

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In this quickstart, you'll bulk load data into your dedicated SQL pool using the simple and flexible COPY statement for high-throughput data ingestion. The COPY statement is the recommended loading utility as it enables you to seamlessly and flexibly load data by providing functionality to:

  • Allow lower privileged users to load without needing strict CONTROL permissions on the data warehouse
  • Leverage only a single T-SQL statement without having to create any additional database objects
  • Leverage a finer permission model without exposing storage account keys using Share Access Signatures (SAS)
  • Specify a different storage account for the ERRORFILE location (REJECTED_ROW_LOCATION)
  • Customize default values for each target column and specify source data fields to load into specific target columns
  • Specify a custom row terminator for CSV files
  • Escape string, field, and row delimiters for CSV files
  • Leverage SQL Server Date formats for CSV files
  • Specify wildcards and multiple files in the storage location path

Prerequisites

This quickstart assumes you already have a dedicated SQL pool. If a dedicated SQL pool hasn't been created, use the Create and Connect - portal quickstart.

Set up the required permissions

-- List the permissions for your user
select  princ.name
,       princ.type_desc
,       perm.permission_name
,       perm.state_desc
,       perm.class_desc
,       object_name(perm.major_id)
from    sys.database_principals princ
left join
        sys.database_permissions perm
on      perm.grantee_principal_id = princ.principal_id
where name = '<yourusername>';

--Make sure your user has the permissions to CREATE tables in the [dbo] schema
GRANT CREATE TABLE TO <yourusername>;
GRANT ALTER ON SCHEMA::dbo TO <yourusername>;

--Make sure your user has ADMINISTER DATABASE BULK OPERATIONS permissions
GRANT ADMINISTER DATABASE BULK OPERATIONS TO <yourusername>

--Make sure your user has INSERT permissions on the target table
GRANT INSERT ON <yourtable> TO <yourusername>

Create the target table

In this example, we'll be loading data from the New York taxi dataset. We'll load a table called Trip that represents taxi trips taken within a single year. Run the following to create the table:

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[Trip]
(
    [DateID] int NOT NULL,
    [MedallionID] int NOT NULL,
    [HackneyLicenseID] int NOT NULL,
    [PickupTimeID] int NOT NULL,
    [DropoffTimeID] int NOT NULL,
    [PickupGeographyID] int NULL,
    [DropoffGeographyID] int NULL,
    [PickupLatitude] float NULL,
    [PickupLongitude] float NULL,
    [PickupLatLong] varchar(50) COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS NULL,
    [DropoffLatitude] float NULL,
    [DropoffLongitude] float NULL,
    [DropoffLatLong] varchar(50) COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS NULL,
    [PassengerCount] int NULL,
    [TripDurationSeconds] int NULL,
    [TripDistanceMiles] float NULL,
    [PaymentType] varchar(50) COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS NULL,
    [FareAmount] money NULL,
    [SurchargeAmount] money NULL,
    [TaxAmount] money NULL,
    [TipAmount] money NULL,
    [TollsAmount] money NULL,
    [TotalAmount] money NULL
)
WITH
(
    DISTRIBUTION = ROUND_ROBIN,
    CLUSTERED COLUMNSTORE INDEX
);

Run the COPY statement

Run the following COPY statement that will load data from the Azure blob storage account into the Trip table.

COPY INTO [dbo].[Trip] FROM 'https://nytaxiblob.blob.core.windows.net/2013/Trip2013/'
WITH (
   FIELDTERMINATOR='|',
   ROWTERMINATOR='0x0A'
) OPTION (LABEL = 'COPY: dbo.trip');

Monitor the load

Check whether your load is making progress by periodically running the following query:

SELECT  r.[request_id]                           
,       r.[status]                               
,       r.resource_class                         
,       r.command
,       sum(bytes_processed) AS bytes_processed
,       sum(rows_processed) AS rows_processed
FROM    sys.dm_pdw_exec_requests r
              JOIN sys.dm_pdw_dms_workers w
                     ON r.[request_id] = w.request_id
WHERE [label] = 'COPY: dbo.trip' and session_id <> session_id() and type = 'WRITER'
GROUP BY r.[request_id]                           
,       r.[status]                               
,       r.resource_class                         
,       r.command;

Next steps