Passing Server Name into T-SQL Stored Procedure

Question

I have a stored procedure that is being called by an app from different environments (DEV/QA). From the stored procedure below, I wanted to pass the server name as a parameter, replacing "HARDCODEDSERVER" with the one passed as parameter "@Server"

CREATE PROCEDURE sp_MySTOREDPROCEDURE
   @Id Int,
   @Server nvarchar(20)
AS
BEGIN

 DECLARE @TempTable Table (
 -- Declarations
 )

 DECLARE @TempTable2 Table (
 -- Declarations 
 )

 INSERT INTO @TempTable
  SELECT a.* FROM Table a
   Inner Join [HARDCODEDSERVER].[DatabaseName].dbo.[TABLE1]
   -- And so ON

 INSERT INTO @TempTable2
  SELECT b.* FROM Table b
   Inner Join [HARDCODEDSERVER].[DatabaseName].dbo.[TABLE1]
   -- And so ON

 BEGIN TRANSACTION
 BEGIN
    UPDATE @TempTable  -- rest of the process for TempTable
    UPDATE @TempTable2  -- rest of the process for TempTable2
    -- The rest of the SP
 END
 COMMIT TRANSACTION

END

I have used the dynamic SQL approach, but this doesn't work since it cannot scope @TempTable even previously defined already:

DECLARE @SQL nvarchar(2000);

SET @SQL = '
 INSERT INTO @TempTable
  SELECT a.* FROM Table a
   Inner Join [ ' + @Server + '].[DatabaseName].dbo.[TABLE1]
   -- And so on
'

EXECUTE sp_executesql @SQL

Tried the same for EXEC but same issue where it can't find @TempTable:

EXEC ( '
 INSERT INTO @TempTable
  SELECT a.* FROM Table a
   Inner Join [ '' + @Server + ''].[DatabaseName].dbo.[TABLE1]
   -- And so on
')

I have checked other answers here in SO but most only works on single operations. Any help where the server name can be parameterized and still be able to work/scope on the Temp Tables?

Answer 1

One option is to use temp tables (created using CREATE TABLE #tablename ) as these are visible to any procedures or dynamic SQL called from the same connection.

---

Another option is to create this procedure on the remote server itself. Then you can call it like this:

CREATE PROCEDURE sp_MySTOREDPROCEDURE
   @Id Int,
   @Server sysname
AS

DECLARE @procName nvarchar(1035) = @Server + '.[Databasename].[dbo].[sp_MySTOREDPROCEDURE]';

EXEC @procName @Id = @Id;

go

---

Alternatively, just place the whole procedure into dynamic SQL, rather than just the INSERT statement

CREATE PROCEDURE sp_MySTOREDPROCEDURE
   @Id Int,
   @Server sysname
AS

DECLARE @sql nvarchar(max) = '

 DECLARE @TempTable Table (
 -- Declarations
 );

 DECLARE @TempTable2 Table (
 -- Declarations 
 );

 INSERT INTO @TempTable
  SELECT a.* FROM Table a
   Inner Join ' + QUOTENAME(@Server) + '.[DatabaseName].dbo.[TABLE1];
   -- And so ON

 INSERT INTO @TempTable2
  SELECT b.* FROM Table b
   Inner Join ' + QUOTENAME(@Server) + '.[DatabaseName].dbo.[TABLE1];
   -- And so ON

 BEGIN TRANSACTION;
    UPDATE @TempTable  -- rest of the process for TempTable
    UPDATE @TempTable2  -- rest of the process for TempTable2
    -- The rest of the SP

 COMMIT TRANSACTION;
';

EXEC sp_executesql
  @sql,
  N'@Id int',   --  declare parameters on this line
  @Id = @Id;    --  pass all parameters like this

go 

Note the following:

• Use of QUOTENAME to quote the server name
• Store the server name in a sysname variable, which is the same as @nvarchar(128)
• Store dynamic SQL in nvarchar(max)
• Pass through parameters properly