Chapter 8: Understanding the Transfer Process

Bulk copy and destination-template transfer

Bulk copy transfer and destination-template transfer processes differ as follows:

The bulk copy transfer process allows you to quickly and directly transfer large amounts of data that is compatible between the databases.
The destination-template transfer process allows you the flexibility and control to perform some action on the data before sending it to the target database, by inserting it in a template.

The following table further describes the conditions that determine the type of transfer you select.

**Table 8-1: *Comparison of two transfer* command types**
Use bulk copy transfer to...	Use destination-template transfer to...
Execute the transfer quickly	Exercise more control over the transfer
Perform implicit datatype conversions	Move tables of data in which you need to explicitly specify datatype conversion, such as when the data is structurally incompatible
Move entire tables of data in which column types are compatible between the source and destination databases: transfer to secondary_connection; with replace into target_table; select col1, col 2 from source_table	Perform arbitrary actions against a target database using input from the source database, such as moving tables when the source table has more columns than the target: transfer to secondary_connection; select col2, col3 from source_table; insert into target_table values (?,?)

In both types of transfer, the transfer statement must be the only statement in a request.

For detailed information about bulk copy transfer, see Chapter 9, “Using Bulk Copy Transfer.” For detailed information about destination-template transfer, see Chapter 10, “Using Destination-Template Transfer.”