Thursday, 1 May 2014

SSIS (SQL Server Integration Services) Interview questions Part - 2

SSIS (SQL Server Integration Services) Interview questions  Part - 2



Q: What are the Transformations available in SSIS?

AGGEGATE  - It applies aggregate functions to Record Sets to produce new output records from aggregated values.
AUDIT  - Adds Package and Task level Metadata - such as Machine Name, Execution Instance, Package Name, Package ID, etc..
CHARACTER MAP - Performs SQL Server level makes string data changes such as changing data from lower case to upper case.
CONDITIONAL SPLIT – Separates available input into separate output pipelines based on Boolean Expressions configured for each output.
COPY COLUMN - Add a copy of column to the output we can later transform the copy keeping the original for auditing.
DATA CONVERSION - Converts columns data types from one to another type. It stands for Explicit Column Conversion.
DATA MINING QUERY – Used to perform data mining query against analysis services and manage Predictions Graphs and Controls.
DERIVED COLUMN - Create a new (computed) column from given expressions.
EXPORT COLUMN – Used to export a Image specific column from the database to a flat file.
FUZZY GROUPING – Used for data cleansing by finding rows that are likely duplicates.
FUZZY LOOKUP -  Used for Pattern Matching and Ranking based on fuzzy logic.
IMPORT COLUMN - Reads image specific column from database onto a flat file.
LOOKUP - Performs the lookup (searching) of a given reference object set against a data source. It is used for exact matches only.
MERGE - Merges two sorted data sets into a single data set into a single data flow.
MERGE JOIN - Merges two data sets into a single dataset using a join junction.
MULTI CAST - Sends a copy of supplied Data Source onto multiple Destinations.
ROW COUNT - Stores the resulting row count from the data flow / transformation into a variable.
ROW SAMPLING - Captures sample data by using a row count of the total rows in dataflow specified by rows or percentage.
UNION ALL - Merge multiple data sets into a single dataset.
PIVOT – Used for Normalization of data sources to reduce analomolies by converting rows into columns
UNPIVOT – Used for demoralizing the data structure by converts columns into rows incase of building Data Warehouses.


Q: How to log SSIS Executions?
SSIS includes logging features that write log entries when run-time events occur and can also write custom messages. This is not enabled by default. Integration Services supports a diverse set of log providers, and gives you the ability to create custom log providers. The Integration Services log providers can write log entries to text files, SQL Server Profiler, SQL Server, Windows Event Log, or XML files. Logs are associated with packages and are configured at the package level. Each task or container in a package can log information to any package log. The tasks and containers in a package can be enabled for logging even if the package itself is not.


Q: How do you deploy SSIS packages.
BUILDing SSIS Projects provides a Deployment Manifest File. We need to run the manifest file and decide whether to deploy this onto File System or onto SQL Server [ msdb]. SQL Server Deployment is very faster and more secure then File System Deployment. Alternatively, we can also import the package from SSMS from File System or SQ Server.


Q: What are variables and what is variable scope ?
Variables store values that a SSIS package and its containers, tasks, and event handlers can use at run time. The scripts in the Script task and the Script component can also use variables. The precedence constraints that sequence tasks and containers into a workflow can use variables when their constraint definitions include expressions. Integration Services supports two types of variables: user-defined variables and system variables. User-defined variables are defined by package developers, and system variables are defined by Integration Services. You can create as many user-defined variables as a package requires, but you cannot create additional system variables.


Q: Can you name five of the Perfmon counters for SSIS and the value they provide?
  • SQLServer:SSIS Service
  • SSIS Package Instances
  • SQLServer:SSIS Pipeline
  • BLOB bytes read
  • BLOB bytes written
  • BLOB files in use
  • Buffer memory
  • Buffers in use
  • Buffers spooled
  • Flat buffer memory
  • Flat buffers in use
  • Private buffer memory
  • Private buffers in use
  • Rows read
  • Rows written


No comments:

Post a Comment