Save emergency contact details to Azure Blob Storage

This was part of the business continuity plan, so that HR had a list of employees next-of-kin etc, off-site.

I created a Job with 2 steps (Export using BCP and Import using AZCopy).

-- bcp.sql


-- Create the command to be executed

	DECLARE @cmd VARCHAR(1000) = 
                'bcp SomeDatabase..SomeView out 
                E:\SomePath\SomeFileName.txt -c -t, -T -S' + @@servername;

-- Run this if command-prompt is disabled

	IF (SELECT value_in_use FROM sys.configurations WHERE name = 'xp_cmdshell') = 0
	BEGIN
		EXEC sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1; RECONFIGURE; -- show advanced options
		EXEC sp_configure xp_cmdshell, 1; RECONFIGURE; -- enable command-shell
		EXEC xp_cmdshell @cmd; -- run the command
		EXEC sp_configure 'xp_cmdshell', 0; RECONFIGURE; -- disable command-shell
		EXEC sp_configure 'show advanced options', 0; RECONFIGURE; -- hide advanced options
	END;

-- Run this if command-prompt is enabled
		
	ELSE
		EXEC xp_cmdshell @cmd;

Step-1 overwrites the file each time.

In preparation for the azcopy command I used Azure Explorer to connect and create a fileshare called “BCExtract”.

Right-Clicking on this I chose “Generate Shared Access Signature”, and “Ad hoc Shared Access Signature”. I left all the defaults as they were except I increased Expiry time a bit.

I pasted the “Shared Access Signature URI” into notepad, added a backslash, then the “Shared Access Signature Token” making one long string.

Before this string I added “azcopy copy ” then the local path to the CSV file in double quotes.

-- azcopy.sql


-- Create the command to be executed

	DECLARE @cmd VARCHAR(1000) = 
		'azcopy copy "E:\SomePath\SomeFileName.txt" 
                "https://SomeLocation/SomeSharedAccessToken"'

-- Run this if command-prompt is disabled

	IF (SELECT value_in_use FROM sys.configurations WHERE name = 'xp_cmdshell') = 0
	BEGIN
		EXEC sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1; RECONFIGURE; -- show advanced options
		EXEC sp_configure xp_cmdshell, 1; RECONFIGURE; -- enable command-shell
		EXEC xp_cmdshell @cmd; -- run the command
		EXEC sp_configure 'xp_cmdshell', 0; RECONFIGURE; -- disable command-shell
		EXEC sp_configure 'show advanced options', 0; RECONFIGURE; -- hide advanced options
	END;
	
-- Run this if command-prompt is enabled
		
	ELSE
		EXEC xp_cmdshell @cmd;