Select into / Linked Server / Missing IDENTITY attribute

Greetings,

If I use a "select into" to clone a table, all attributes are created
correctly, however, if I use the same statement across a linked server,
my identity column loses its IDENTITY specification.

Is this a known issue or basic functionality of using "select into"
with linked servers?

Kurt

(kharless@qwest.net)  writes:
> If I use a "select into" to clone a table, all attributes are created
> correctly, however, if I use the same statement across a linked server,
> my identity column loses its IDENTITY specification.
>
> Is this a known issue or basic functionality of using "select into"
> with linked servers?

I don't know if it's documented, but it makes sense. With a linked table,
SQL Server has knowledge about metadata in a more generic format. That
linked server could be something radically different from SQL Server,
for instance Oracle.


--
Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, esquel@sommarskog.se

Books Online for SQL Server 2005 at
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pr...oads/books.mspx
Books Online for SQL Server 2000 at
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodin...ions/books.mspx

"Erland Sommarskog" <esquel@sommarskog.se> wrote in message
 news:Xns971CF1DF5601
EYazorman@127.0.0.1...
> (kharless@qwest.net) writes: 
>
> I don't know if it's documented, but it makes sense. With a linked table,
> SQL Server has knowledge about metadata in a more generic format. That
> linked server could be something radically different from SQL Server,
> for instance Oracle.
>

And serves as a good example of why Celko is continually ranting (I want to
say warning but let's call a spade a spade) about the dangers of using an
IDENTITY column.


>
> --
> Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, esquel@sommarskog.se
>
> Books Online for SQL Server 2005 at
> http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pr...oads/books.mspx
> Books Online for SQL Server 2000 at
> http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodin...ions/books.mspx