INF: BCP and Transaction Logging

ID Number: Q46356

1.00 1.10 1.11 4.20

OS/2

Summary:

This article discusses the use of BCP (bulk copy program) as it

applies to the transaction log.

If BCP IN is run on a table without an index, the inserts are not

logged; however, the only way BCP can be run on such a table is to set

the SELECT INTO/BULKCOPY dboption.

If a BCP IN is run on a table with an index, the inserts are logged

(and the index is populated), regardless of the setting of the SELECT

INTO/BULKCOPY dboption.

It is important to note that transaction logging is never turned off

completely. All page and extent allocations must be logged. This is

needed to roll back the BCP operation in case of failure.

Note that SELECT INTO/BULKCOPY cannot be set in the master database;

that is, only indexed tables can be loaded with BCP in the master

database.

After the BCP IN operation is complete, it is strongly suggested that

a backup of the database be performed to preserve all of the new data

that has been loaded into the database.

Additional reference words: 1.00 1.10 1.11 4.20