batch importing node data -- via database? I'm looking to migrate an existing site to Drupal. I have a a content type on the new Drupal site that will eventually hold some 1500 nodes. Of course, I don't want to enter each one in the form on the admin side; I'd like to input them programmatically, from a script. 

What I'm wondering is if I can do plain old SQL INSERTS into the node and related tables, and have my nodes ready to use. Assuming I do the inserts correctly, will the nodes just be there when I fire up Drupal? Or will I need to touch some other parts of the site?

Or is there another way, like a module for batch importing?

This is for Drupal 7.
There are two routes you can take.

One uses the Migrate module usually in conjunction with Table Wizard.  This gives you a web front end for doing an import with field mapping, and other nicities.  EDIT: just saw that TW doesn't have a D7 version.

The other is a custom import script.  The script does the Drupal bootstrap process, queries the remote database, creates a $node and then does a node_save.  This is a little more complex, but not that hard.

I have been doing the later on new projects, and is easy to adapt to XML, CSV, or other data sources.