Introduction
There are many ways to execute a SQL Server 2005 Integration Services (SSIS) package. You can use the command line utility DTExec.exe or its window equivalent, DTExecUI.exe. A package can be executed within SQL Server Business Intelligence Studio (Visual Studio) or from a SQL Server Agent Job Step. A package can also be executed from .NET code!
Example SSIS Package
For the purposes of demonstration, I created a simple package that takes some data out of a SQL Server AdventureWorks database and dumps it into a flatfile. The package also has one variable.
In any kind of "real world" scenario, your package will usually be driven by a configuration file. An SSIS configuration file is an XML file with a.dtsConfig extension that contains settings you can apply to a package (without actually changing or editing the package).