BCP utility uploads 0 rows to SQL Server Azure

Question

bcp azure_db.dbo.db_table in calendar_dates.txt -f ../../../scripts/format_files/calendar_dates.fmt -F 2 /S tcp:azure_server /U username@servername /P password
When I issue this command through a PowerShell prompt, I get the following response:
starting copy..
Network packet size 4096
Clock 546 ms
0 rows copied.
When I look at the table in Azure, there are no rows are reported.  I even tried removing all entries in the text file leaving just the first two lines, all to no avail.
If I get the input file name wrong or format file name wrong, or even the first  line indicating the SQL Server version in the format file wrong, an appropriate error message is returned from BCP.  With correct parameters, or it seems, no error is
reported, yet nothing happens.  Anyone seen this?

Answer 1

Hi Klaus Nji,
Below are the steps that I used to attempt to repro your situation. I, unfortunately, was not able to successfully repeat the error, or lack thereof, that you received. My intention in posting these steps is that you can use them as a comparison for troubleshooting.
1) Create and populate a table:
CREATE TABLE calendar_dates ([begin] datetime, [end] datetime)
CREATE UNIQUE CLUSTERED INDEX index_name
ON calendar_dates ([begin])
INSERT INTO calendar_dates VALUES (GETUTCDATE(), dateadd(day, 1, GETUTCDATE()))
INSERT INTO calendar_dates VALUES (GETUTCDATE(), dateadd(day, 1, GETUTCDATE()))
INSERT INTO calendar_dates VALUES (GETUTCDATE(), dateadd(day, 1, GETUTCDATE()))
SELECT * FROM calendar_dates
2) BCP the data to your local machine to to get the proper format file
bcp "SELECT * FROM [dbo].[calendar_dates]" queryout C:\<path>\dateout.txt -S <serverName>.database.windows.net -U <userName> -P <password> -d <database>
3) Create a second table to input data
CREATE TABLE calendar_dates_input ([begin] datetime, [end] datetime)
CREATE UNIQUE CLUSTERED INDEX index_name_input
ON calendar_dates_input ([begin])
4) BCP the data into the second table
BCP dbo.calendar_dates_input in C:\<path>\dateout.txt -f C:\<path>\formatDate.txt -S <serverName>.database.windows.net -U <userName> -P <password> -d <database>
5) I receive the following output:
Starting copy...
6 rows copied.
Network packet size (bytes): 4096
Clock Time (ms.) Total     : 344    Average : (17.44 rows per sec.)
A couple of other things to consider is the version of the BCP client that you are running (bcp -v).  For my attempted repro, I am running the following version:
    PS C:\> bcp -v
    BCP - Bulk Copy Program for Microsoft SQL Server.
    Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
    Version: 12.0.2000.8
To get the latest version of BCP (and SSMS), please download CU5 for SQL Server 14 [Blog][Download]