SSIS Reviews

We've used the solution to create some data flows for one of the governmental sectors here in Saudi Arabia. I have created some applications for exporting data from Oracle databases to SQL databases.

I like that the data connections and all ODB connections are able to retrieve data from so many different databases. That's not only from SQL but also from other data sources as well. The data flow, which controls the data, including where to store it, is an excellent feature and is one of the most interesting points about SQL Integration Services.

The reporting on the solution is perfect. I didn't expect to see reporting features, but they are great.

More coding is needed to make it easier. It needs more development and enhancement. It also needs to offer different integration services for SQL. We had to do a lot fo the implementation ourselves, but more automating of the processes would make things easier.

Data migration needs to be simplified. I've found that it is really difficult to match, especially regarding data types. The old records often have different data types than we have now have in newer databases. Converting or transferring this kind of data is very important, and right now it's very difficult.

There were also not enough instructions from Microsoft in regard to this application or this technology, which can easily be improved upon.

The solution is stable, as long as you provide good infrastructure for the servers you're dealing with. That means making sure the SQL will be very stable as well as the SAN storage, the RAM, the CPU, and other components of the server. It is quite important.

The solution is very scalable. A client contacted me two months after deployment with a request to enlarge the services and add some more customization, which I managed to do easily. It's an enterprise-level solution, with the whole of Saudi Arabia using it for something called an E-Visa. People are applying for a visa to get into Saudi Arabia through this application. The number of users is quite high and worldwide.

We haven't needed the assistance of technical support so far.

Previously, we used the .NET framework, which we are still using as well.

The initial setup of the solution was easy. Deployment took less than two hours. You only need one person to implement and maintain it. At the same time, we do have another person who monitors the server-side.

I deployed the solution myself.

As a teacher, I worked with SSIS, so I previously used this solution. I didn't look at other options.

In terms of advice I would give in regard to implementing this product, I'd say to examine your business needs in relation to the solution. You need to make sure those are met before implementing it. A lot of companies use data filers and they already have existing databases. You need to make sure the solution you choose is able to deal with old databases of client records.

I would rate this solution ten out of ten. 

The simplicity of the solution is great. The solution also offers excellent integration.

The interface could use improvement, as well as the administrative tools. Jobs fail from time to time for different reasons. It's not a problem with Microsoft, or SSIS itself. The problems are external, but to find the problems and analyze them it takes too much time. If SSIS could make some new monitors or new features for finding the reasons for the problems in the processes and analyzing it for how to correct the issues, that would be great.

The solution is stable.

Right now we're working with Azure, and it's scalable, but it's expensive to do so. If we had features to scale the software part of the solution, it would be great.

We have support not only for SSIS but Microsoft as a whole because we're an official partner of Microsoft in data warehousing and have a partnership agreement with the company. However, support seems to be connected with sales, and if I call with technical problems and ask if they have some feature to solve the problem, months can go by with no results.

They do, however, have a professional community online and in 95% of our incidents, we can find the solution there instead of calling.

The initial setup was simple and straightforward.

I would recommend the solution. It's always worked for me and it's usually a top choice for my clients.

I would rate this solution at seven or eight out of ten. It's not a perfect solution, but it works well.

Our primary use is as an ETL tool to move data across our various environments.

Its compatibility with Microsoft products has been very valuable to our company. It fits well within the architecture.

The interface is also very good. If users are familiar with Microsoft, then they'll be quite familiar with the interface.

We're in the process of switching to Informatica, and we need to work out data lineage and data profiling and to improve the quality of our data. SSIS, however, is not that compatible with Informatica. We managed to connect it to Informatica Metadata Manager, but we don't get good lineage, so we have to redo all our ETLs using the Informatica process in order to accept the proper data lineage.

As an example of what I'd like to see in SSIS is something that I think is very effective in Informatica. In Informatica PowerCenter, you define your sources and destinations once and after that, you can simply drag and drop into the designer. It's quite a nice feature. I don't know if SSIS has that feature, but if they don't, if they could allow the setup system configurations in one step and then offer drag and drop functionality, that would be extremely useful.

The solution is quite stable. I don't think we've had any issues.

In terms of scalability, we haven't tried big data because in our enterprise we have to use Informatica to connect to the dedupe. I can't say how well it reads with the file, but we've never had an issue. However, I can't speak to scalability because we're never really, really big data.

We've never had to contact technical support. Our developers would just use Google, and usually, they'll be able to find answers on the Internet.

The initial setup was straightforward. We've got quite a strong SQL experience in my team. We have about five people working on the solution, including Data engineers and BI developers. They're all admins.

We did the implementation ourselves. We have in-house database administrators. They usually set up all the services.

We're using the on-premises version of the solution.

My only recommendation to those considering implementation of the solution would be, if they want to check data lineage, they should set up the packages with a particular configuration that they would have to follow in order to get data lineage. If they were to start it from scratch, my recommendation would be just to follow the pattern to ensure data lineage.

I would rate this solution eight out of ten.

We use this solution for data warehousing.

We are using the on-premise deployment model.

This solution allows us to be repeatable in the sense of how we move data from A to B. It is easily scheduled and integrates well with SQL Server and SQL Server Agent jobs. We also use it with Microsoft BizTalk, and it's quite handy.

We use everything in this solution, including a third party component called COZYROC. We try to explore and use this product to its fullest.

The login process needs improvement. At the moment, when you run SSIS and it's logging on SysTD within the server itself, I think that you have the option to do verbose and a couple of others. Sometimes, it is difficult to follow how executions are actually working. They are just one after another with an execution set. If you're running multiple packages at the same time, it's difficult to track which packages are running and to locate those specifically.

Improving the login procedure would make our reporting easier on monitoring our ETL processes.

The stability is very good. I've been using it for a long time. If you know how to use it then it works fairly well.

The scalability is fairly good. I've used it from very, very small instances to two very large ones, where we're moving large quantities of data on a daily basis.

The actual tool itself, in a sense of transformations, your ability to pick and look up and do certain things is fairly good. Scalability, you can either have it on the same server as the database or you can move it onto its own server. It just depends on the situation.

If you've got a heavy load on the database during the day and you're doing SSIS then you have the option to separate them. But as in our case, which is a data warehouse, you can keep them on the same server because you're getting a lot of your batch processes overnight. So, most of the resources are being used by SSIS. Then during the day, you have the users using the database server for reporting or data capture or data inserts and data updates.

Our users for this solution are primarily BI developers, and we have twenty to twenty-five of them, mostly offshore.

If we grow here then we'll need more SSIS servers, or we'll get bigger boxes. At the moment, I think that we're where we need to be, and I don't have any plans moving forward at this stage.

We have not had to contact Microsoft technical support. We tend to be able to solve most of the issues that crop up with SSIS, which I suppose is another reason why we have it. If there are issues then we can fix them pretty quickly.

Prior to this solution, before 2005, we used DTS. 

The initial setup of this solution is part of the DBA's role, and I did not involve myself in this installation. However, I have done it before. To set up a SysTD is pretty straightforward, and it can be configured to your own company ETL framework.

The length of time required for deployment depends on how good your DBAs are. Some of them take quite a while because they have to install, configure, and then do some test runs. Then all of the permissions, etc, have to be taken care of. Some of these things are easy and some of them are difficult. I would say that it will take a least a week. 

We have five people maintain this solution at the moment. We have the DBAs on standby before we do any sort of deployment to UAT or production.

We handled the implementation with our in-house DBAs.

When you purchase SQL Server, SSIS tends to come with it. Whether you purchase the standard edition or an enterprise edition, SSIS comes with it. Whether you choose to install it on a separate server, or the same server as the database, that really comes down to Microsoft's charging.

My advice is to look at what your configuration will be because most companies have their own deals with Microsoft.

We did not evaluate other products before choosing this solution. However, in the last couple of years, I have researched a few others. One of these solutions looks good, but I'm not sure how well it would be in a data warehouse situation.

My advice for anybody who is considering this solution is to install the trial version first. You can get the SQL development edition, which pretty much has everything the enterprise edition has. You can download it, put it somewhere and use it as a development or testing area. Then, if you like it, look to purchase it.

We're looking to move more to the cloud at some point. I don't know when, but we'll be doing more research before we do.

Overall, I think for what this solution does, it's pretty much all there. I don't see any way or any changes that can be made to make it work faster, or easier. I know the tool inside out, so we know what to do with it.

The other solutions that I have looked at appear to be very good in certain situations. These are good for specific information, for situations that cover everything. With SSIS, it is specific to SQL and what we do, but it's lacking in some things like logging. Monitoring itself, for example, is what is missing.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

We primarily use the solution for data transformation.

The most valuable features for our company are the flexibility and the quick turn around time in producing simple ETL solutions. Also, the use of the configuration on Azure. Our clients are basically secret sever based, so it works well there.

In terms of improvements to the solution, I don't think I have that expertise on it to recommend product enhancements right now. I've only used a few parts of it. Based on what I've used so far, I am happy with it.

I come from a coding background and this tool is graphically based. Sometimes I think it's cumbersome to do mapping graphically. If there was a way to provide a simple script, it would be helpful and make it easier to use.

The solution is currently running in production. It's stable.

We've never had to contact technical support. We generally handle any issues ourselves.

The initial setup is straightforward. Deployment is done by another team. I download the package and deliver it to them and they deploy it onto the cloud. In terms of maintenance, we only need one person.

We are using the 2014 Public Cloud version of the solution, under Microsoft Azure.

In terms of recommending the solution, it obviously depends on the level users you have. If you mainly have a simple graphical based user then maybe you could go for SSIS. If you want to take control of the whole ETL process, you should look for another tool. I use Informatica PowerCenter as well. That's a bit more of a robust ETL solution.

I would rate the solution at six out of ten.

We use this solution for ETL, which includes data summation and cleaning. 

This solution used in an on-premise deployment, for now.

I have used most of the standard SQL features, but the ones that stand out are the Data Flows and Bulk Import.

The synchronous processing needs to be improved. For batch processing, it works fine, but when you start to do real-time processing, I find that this solution is not strong, depending on how you use it. If you use it for short batches, micro batching, that might work, but it is not as good for queuing real-time processing. This solution needs full support for real-time processing.

The solution needs better support for XML and JSON.

I use this product extensively, on a daily basis. It is stable.

Over time, I think we'll most likely start to decrease usage. This will happen as we move to more real-time processing, and we will most likely start to do more queue processing. In terms of batch processing, it will scale down considerably.

In the catalog, it's supposed to be scalable. I think that it has support for an SQL cluster.

In my opinion, I think it's a bit more limited in terms of scalability, although it scales with the database. I would say that the scalability is intermediate in terms of being able to launch multiple instances, or it could do load balancing as well. I think that would be a bit more challenging.

We haven't needed to contact Microsoft technical support. When we have trouble we usually use Google to search for what we need to find out. Also, in terms of issues, there's a lot of information on SQLServerCentral and Stack Overflow.

For the most part, we started with this solution. 

The initial setup of this solution is pretty much straightforward.

If you want to develop with Visual Studio then you have to install the data service add-ons afterward, so it is a bit cumbersome. Then, if you want to use the catalog on the database, with deployment there are often security issues and you have to get an SQL catalog up and running. This can also be a bit cumbersome.

I would say that it takes a day or two to deploy this solution in a new environment, and it can be completed by one or two people. A single developer may be sufficient to deploy and maintain the system.

I implemented some of this myself and had help in terms of setting up the security. There are often security settings that require the assistance of a DBA.

This solution was already in place. That's what is available and it's what people know. Going forward, this will most likely change.

My advice to anybody implementing this solution is to look into whether to use it on a catalog in a database, versus using package deployment. There are pros and cons to both approaches in terms of deployment and security. I would say that's something that needs to be evaluated quite early. There are lots of benefits to the catalog, but also a bit more admin attached to it.

Another consideration is real-time processing needs. If this is a requirement then I would recommend against using this solution, unless the next version has a new set of features specifically for real-time processing.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

I use this solution to create BI reports. I have used SSIS in more than twenty projects over the past six years.

There are many good features in this solution including the data fields, database integration, support for SQL views, and the lookups for matching information.

I have had problems in the past with this tool. The debugging could be improved because when it came to solving the errors that I've experienced in the past, I've had to look at the documentation for more information.

The main difficulty that I have had is to match different data types, where there were errors that I could not fix.

I would like to see better integration with the control sources. 

I am satisfied with the technical support for this solution.

The initial setup of this solution is quite simple.

We handled the installation of this solution in-house.

Overall, I am quite satisfied with this product.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

This product is always used in projects because I'm in a company that develops software for other companies and we accept this type of work like programming and developing data models and writing the script for organizations to transfer their data between databases. We usually use these tools, and it's a cheap tool for us.

Usually, when I want to import data from other databases I use this solution. It's been about fifteen years that I've worked with an SQL server, and I'm a software developer. I've had many companies with different databases, and it's ranged from FoxPro, EDX and Oracle, and some other databases. When I want to import data I usually use this tool for importing data from the other databases to the server. It is really good, and it's solved many problems for me because I can choose the source table, destination table, source field, and destination field. I can match these things, I can write some queries to do this and because of that, I use this tool.

Sometimes when we want to publish to other types of databases it's not easy to publish to those databases. For example, the Jet Database Engine. Before the SSIS supported Jet Database Engine but nowadays it doesn't support the Jet Database Engine. We connect to many databases such as Access database, SparkPros databases and the other types of databases using Jet Database Engines and SSIS now doesn't seem to support it in our databases.

In future releases, it would be helpful to support new SQL databases. It would also be helpful if there was a way to use SQL with other languages like Python or ASP.NET.

The stability is very good and I recommend it to my friends, my coworkers, and the other companies.

The solution is scalable.

The initial setup was very easy for us and very good.

I installed the solution by myself.

The price is important to us. We are based in Iran, and we look for products with a good price because of the sanctions. Some other products such as Oracle are expensive here and we do not recommend these products to our customers. They are expensive and they are very difficult to work with them. They are very difficult and very complicated but Microsoft products are not like that.

I used this product when I was a student so I chose this technology because I understood it best. 

We chose the solution because we have some data in Oracle and we wanted to extract it and load the data into SQL Server. 

The type of port, like SSIS, I always recommend other companies to use it and other Microsoft products because they are very easy to use. There are very handy tools. It's very user-friendly and has a good dashboard.

I would rate the solution nine out of ten.