Maximizing Efficiency with Teradata FastExport: A Powerful Tool for Exporting Large Volumes of Data between Teradata Vantage and Client Utilities

Teradata FastExport is a powerful tool for rapidly moving large volumes of data between Teradata Vantage and client utilities. This tool uses multiple sessions to export data to a mainframe-attached or network-attached file quickly.

To execute Teradata FastExport, SQL statements in the FastExport script are executed. The tool has two export modes: RECORD and INDICATOR. By default, INDICATOR mode is used, which utilizes indicator bits to mark NULL values. However, the RECORD mode may be more appropriate if you’re working on mainframes.

One of the major benefits of Teradata FastExport is that it supports exporting data in various formats, such as FASTLOAD, BINARY, TEXT, and UNFORMAT. This flexibility ensures that the exported data can be easily integrated into other systems.

In summary, Teradata FastExport is a highly efficient tool for exporting large volumes of data between Teradata Vantage and client utilities. Its support for multiple export modes and formats ensures maximum compatibility and ease of use.

The Fastload format is used when FastExport copies data from one Teradata system to another. To create plain files, the TEXT format is mainly used.

When to use The Fastexport for Vantage instead of BTEQ?

Teradata FastExport is a valuable tool for optimizing parallelism by utilizing multiple sessions for exporting data. In contrast, BTEQ exports data row by row, making it less efficient for exporting vast amounts of data.

When Teradata FastExport is invoked, it spools the result set of the SQL query. However, it may be necessary to redistribute rows to assemble the data blocks, which can negatively impact performance. To mitigate this, the NOSPOOL option is available, which can enhance performance. However, this option has limitations, as it only supports basic SQL statements that involve selecting from a single table and sorting the exported data is impossible.

In summary, Teradata FastExport is a powerful tool for optimizing parallelism when exporting large amounts of data, making it a more efficient option than BTEQ. However, when utilizing FastExport, it is important to consider the potential need for row redistribution and to be aware of the limitations of the NOSPOOL option.

Here is an example script:

.LOGTABLE dwhpro.customer_log;  
.LOGON localhost/tuning,***;  
   DATABASE dwhpro;  
   .BEGIN EXPORT SESSIONS 4;  
      .EXPORT OUTFILE customers.txt  
      MODE RECORD FORMAT TEXT;
      SELECT CAST(Lastname AS CHAR(10)), 
         CAST(FirstName AS CHAR(15))
      FROM
      Customer;
   .END EXPORT;
.LOGOFF;

All load and export utilities in Teradata Vantage are managed through Teradata Parallel Transporter (TPT). Due to this, using FastExport as a standalone utility is no longer recommended. Instead, TPT provides a centralized scripting language and a wide range of previously unavailable options when using FastExport directly. Hence, users are encouraged to use TPT for data exporting and other tasks in Teradata Vantage.