1.1.1

Chapter 15
Exporting and Importing Data with vFabric
SQLFire
You can use either sqlf commands or Apache DdlUtils to import data into SQLFire. SQLFire installs and uses DdlUtils
for sqlf import and export functionality.
Using SQLF Commands to Export and Import Data
The sqlf utility provides several commands that use the DdlUtils 1.1 API to export and import database schemas
and table data. You can use these sqlf commands with SQLFire and other JDBC datasources.
Note: As a best practice, use the SYS.CREATE_ALL_BUCKETS procedure to pre-allocate partitioned
table buckets before you import data into a partitioned table. This helps to ensure that partitioned table
data is evenly distributed throughout the distributed system, even if you import table data using concurrent
processes.
These sqlf commands are used to write existing database information to files:
• sqlf write-schema-to-sql—Writes a database schema to a file as SQL DDL statements.
• sqlf write-schema-to-xml—Writes a database schema to a schema XML file.
• sqlf write-data-to-xml—Writes table data to a data XML file.
• sqlf write-data-dtd-to-file—Writes a Document Type Definition (DTD) that describes the layout of a data XML
file (created using sqlf write-data-to-xml).
These sqlf commands are used to import database information from files:
• sqlf write-schema-to-db—Creates a database schema from a schema XML file.
• sqlf write-data-to-db—Inserts table data into a schema using one or more data XML files and schema XML
files.
When you migrate a third-party database schema to SQLFire, use sqlf write-schema-to-sql and then modify the
SQL statements to include SQLFire-specific features such as table partitioning and replication. Then use an
interactive sqlf session to execute the script in SQLFire. See run on page 456.
When you migrate a schema from one SQLFire system to another, use sqlf write-schema-to-xml or use sqlf
write-schema-to-sql with the -dump-from-db option to include SQLFire-specific extensions in the DDL
commands.
Note: Databases such as Oracle 11g contain system tables with data types that are incompatible with the
DdlUtils 1.1 API. To export schemas or data from these databases, you must use the -schema-pattern
option with the sqlf command to exclude schemas that contain incompatible data types. See sqlf
write-schema-to-xml.
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