SSIS Reviews

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.

SSIS is a very flexible solution that allows data to be generated through code or external software. As a result, we can create reproducible patterns and improve code quality.

Because of the code generation, code quality improved and the time to develop decreased. This led to a quicker and more agile development phase.

It has the ability to be deployed into the cloud through Data Factory, and run completely as a software as a service in the cloud.

Metadata management. A change in the metadata source cripples the whole ETL process, requiring each module to be manually reopened.

We use SSIS to migrate from an old server to a new one and to add some services. 

Like most Microsoft products, SSIS is user-friendly and easy to use. 

Sometimes, there are compatibility issues with some features. From time to time, I also face issues when trying to migrate. If I misconfigure things when I use Snapshot, the migration will fail.It can take a long time to migrate huge amounts of data, so it would be nice if that could be faster. 

I have been using SSIS for less than two years.

If you want to scale SSIS, you might face performance issues. I'm not sure SSIS has robust scalability. 

I rate Microsoft support six out of 10. Interacting with Microsoft support is challenging because it takes a lot of time, and sometimes you need to repeat your issue over to different support engineers. It was easier to contact support in India because Microsoft had a local presence there, but getting support in Cameroon is difficult.  The response time is slower.

Neutral

Setting up SSIS is complex, and if you misconfigure something, you'll have problems during migration. I rate SSIS six out of 10 for ease of setup.

I have only used the free developer edition. 

I rate SSIS seven out of 10. This is the only product I've used so far, so I don't know how it compares to others. 

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. 

We use this solution for extracting data from various databases and saving it in our data warehouse.

We use the on-premise deployment model.

My team is facing problems regarding the database connectors, which are not available. The MySQL connectors need to be purchased from outside vendors. They should provide connections for more SQL databases, free of charge.

The performance of this solution is not as good as other tools in the market. Compared to the same job is running in a different tool, it will take longer using SSIS.

This is a stable solution.

This solution is scalable.

The number of people I have using this solution depends on the size of the project. Normally, I need three to five ETL developers. Sometimes, if the project is big enough, then I will need more.

I have not contacted Microsoft Technical Support for this solution, although we have sometimes accessed the internet to research problems that we face.

In my previous company, I was leading a team who were working with Informatica. Here, they stick to Microsoft technologies and are unwilling to change.

The initial setup of this solution is very straightforward. In a few hours, everything was up and running.

The decision to use this particular solution includes many factors. Some companies do not want to purchase a license for another product because this one comes included with the database.

SSIS worked well for small or medium-sized Projects. For larger projects with huge data, I believe that you should search for another solution as you will need to do manual fine tuning. Additionally, some components such as SCD will show unexpected errors with huge data.

 As Microsoft is very slow in providing updates and enhancements to SSIS, I see that the future for Integration projects in Saudi Arabia goes towards other vendors products such as  Informatica powercenter, IBM DataStage, and Oracle ODI. 

Compared to other Integration tools, I would rate it a six 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.

• Compatibility with the rest of Microsoft BI stack
• Scripting component which opens unlimited possibilities: by having the full .Net stack/libraries available, if you need a yellow rubber duck to quack every million rows, it will quack
• Inter-stream dependency mechanism built directly into the tool; the whole ETL solution can be driven off it without having to employ third party software
• Parallel processing of a data flow: let's say there's five steps in the flow and ech step consumes output from the preceding step; once step #1 is completed and its data passed to step #2, the engine will feed the next batch of rows to step #1. Once the first batch of rows reaches the last step, there are five concurrent steps working on five different data sets, maximizing utilization of server resources
• All the necessary types of enumerators (files, xml nodes, rows and many more)

• SSIS packages are stored in XML-like format; we keep them in SVN which makes it very easy to track changes
• Built-in dependency tool is really great; you can not only react to success/failure results, but you can evaluate any expression in the flow and execute (or bypass) any components based on the result of that expression. This gives you full control to build decision trees of any complexity

• Writing custom components and sharing them across multiple ETL streams is tricky and requires specialistic voodoo knowledge
• Make the GUI less eye-candy and more responsive; especially the scripting component needs some TLC regarding UI responsiveness

It's easy to deploy, you just need a simple file-copy mechanism that is sufficient for most deployment scenarios.

The good:

• Straightforward, intuitive, quick to learn
• Built-in debugger: variables, data viewers, breakpoints - everything you would expect from a modern software development tool
• Sleek, snappy UI
• Great flexibility with storing and deploying ETL components

The bad:

• Third party plug-ins may become incompatible with future versions of SSIS
• Upgrading is usually painful and time consuming despite what MS says
• Compatibility issues may arise when used with non-Microsoft technologies

We are a solution provider and SSIS is one of the products that we implement for our clients. I work as an integrator and a data flow developer.

SSIS is primarily used as part of the data flow for loading data into the data warehouse and exchanging data between applications.

The most valuable feature is the data integration process. It includes helpful functions such as data mapping, creating a connection, and loading.

The performance and stability are good.

The security could be improved, as it is more important in our context.

I have been working with SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) for six years.

The stability is good.

We have four customers that are using this product.

I have never been in contact with technical support.

It's easy to install and create the first flow.

We have an in-house team of four engineers for maintenance.

All of my clients have this product included as part of their Microsoft license.

In summary, this is a good product and I recommend it. For people that are working in a Microsoft environment with the SQL Server database, it's the most recommended tool.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.