Importing from an XLS to SQL Server – This can be accomplished several ways mentioned below. We can choose an option befitting the environment and requirement we are looking for.
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SQL Server Data Transformation Services (DTS)
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Integration Services (SSIS)
SQL Server linked servers
SQL Server distributed queries
ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) and the Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server
ADO and the Microsoft OLE DB Provider for Jet 4.0
You can refer to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321686 for detailed view of these methods