Sequential Merge.

The Integration Service creates an output file for all partitions and then merges them into a single merge file at the end of the session. The Integration Service sequentially adds the output data for each partition to the merge file. The Integration Service creates the individual target file using the Output File Name and Output File Directory values for the partition.

File list.

The Integration Service creates a target file for all partitions and creates a file list that contains the paths of the individual files. The Integration Service creates the individual target file using the Output File Name and Output File Directory values for the partition. If you write the target files to the merge directory or a directory under the merge directory, the file list contains relative paths. Otherwise, the list file contains absolute paths. Use this file as a source file if you use the target files as source files in another mapping.

Concurrent Merge.

The Integration Service concurrently writes the data for all target partitions to the merge file. It does not create intermediate files for each partition. Since the Integration Service writes to the merge file concurrently for all partitions, the sort order of the data in the merge file may not be sequential.