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IBM InfoSphere DataStage - Import

Availability-note AWS

Bridge Specifications

Vendor IBM
Tool Name InfoSphere DataStage
Tool Version 7.5 to 11.x
Tool Web Site http://www.ibm.com/software/data/infosphere/datastage/
Supported Methodology [Data Integration] Multi-Model, ETL (Source and Target Data Stores, Transformation Lineage, Expression Parsing) via XML and DSX File
Data Profiling
Incremental Harvesting
Multi-Model Harvesting
Remote Repository Browsing for Model Selection

SPECIFICATIONS
Tool: IBM / InfoSphere DataStage version 7.5 to 11.x via XML and DSX File
See http://www.ibm.com/software/data/infosphere/datastage/
Metadata: [Data Integration] Multi-Model, ETL (Source and Target Data Stores, Transformation Lineage, Expression Parsing)
Component: AscentialDataStage version 11.2.0

OVERVIEW
This import bridge reads a DSX or XML file generated by DataStage.

REQUIREMENTS
n/a

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
n/a

LIMITATIONS
Refer to the current general known limitations at MIMB Known Limitations or bundled in Documentation/ReadMe/MIMBKnownLimitations.html

Some models contain special characters which require encoding in order to transfer correctly. When exported from DataStage, often the XML format has problems, while the DSX provides the correct encoding information. The problem is likely to manifest as XML parsing errors. Export DSX files from DataStage to avoid these errors.

SUPPORT
Provide a troubleshooting package with:
- the debug log (can be set in the UI or in conf/conf.properties with MIR_LOG_LEVEL=6)
- the metadata backup if available (can be set in the Miscellaneous parameter with -backup option, although this common option is not implemented on all bridges for technical reasons).


Bridge Parameters

Parameter Name Description Type Values Default Scope
File DataStage provides 2 export formats, XML and DSX. This import bridge supports both, though there are sometimes problems with XML. To create one of these files:
- Open a project in the Designer Client
- Select the job folder you wish to export as a model
- Select the Export menu
- Select the DataStage Components... menu item
If a DataStage XML file produces a 'Failed to parse' error, this is usually due to an encoding error in the XML file. To work around this problem, export the model to a DSX file.
FILE
*.dsx
*.xml
  Mandatory
Import scope This parameter is used to limit the scope of metadata imported from the XML file selections.

Options include:
- Table definitions only
- Sequences and standalone jobs, including table definitions that are used in them
- All objects, all that are present in the selected XML file.

Note that for nearly all applications, including the analysis of lineage and impacts, this parameter should be set to sequences and standalone jobs, as this setting will import all sources, destinations, and transformations present in the DataStage file.
ENUMERATED
Table definitions only
Sequences and standalone jobs
All supported objects
Sequences and standalone jobs  
Variable values file For any given DataStage job, the parameters can be defined in a file Configuration.ini, and/or in parameter sets (e.g. source vs target parameters) where each parameter set can offer multiple options of values for the same variables (e.g. development vs production values). Therefore, the parameters of a given DataStage job might be defined in a directory which may contain many variable files as follows:
/home/DataStage/
.../ini/
....../Project1.ini
....../Project2.ini
.../ParameterSets/
.../project1_paramSets
....../ParameterSetName1/
.....,..../ParameterSet1Option1_valueFile
........../ParameterSet1Option2_valueFile
....../ParameterSetName2/
.....,..../ParameterSet2Option1_valueFile
........../ParameterSet2Option2_valueFile
.../project2_paramSets
....../ParameterSetName3/
.....,..../ParameterSet3Option1_valueFile
........../ParameterSet3Option2_valueFile
....../ParameterSetName4/
.....,..../ParameterSet4Option1_valueFile
........../ParameterSet4Option2_valueFile

This import bridge parameter _Variable values file_ can be set by either:

- a single variable file, such as either:
/home/DataStage/Job1/configuration.ini
/home/DataStage/Job1/ParameterSetName1/ParameterSetValueOption1/VariableValueFile
/tmp/Job1/CustomerGeneratedCustomCompleteVariableValueFile

- or a directory such as:
/home/DataStage/Job1/
that will exclusively read all files, including the configuration.ini at the root, and any variable files below.
Warning 1: no other type of files should be in that directory, e.g. no job.dsx file
Warning 2: if you do not make a copy and delete the unwanted option parameter files, then the parameter values will be the ones defined in that last read option value file.

DataStage uses substitution variables within many of the parameters that may be specified within jobs and connections. In many cases, the values which must be assigned to these variables are not provided by the XML file that this import bridge parses. In such cases, the import bridge will report a warning in the log saying that it 'could not determine the value of a variable' and will simply leave that variable name without any substitution in the resulting model. In order to determine the correct substitution values for these variables, the import bridge reads a variable value file with the variable names and concludes with the correct value to substitute.

Enter the pathname of a variable value file in this parameter.

The specified directory should contain ordinary parameter files or parameter sets. This directory should not contain any other files. All files which have the extension .ini are expected to be an ordinary parameter file. Other files would be processed as a values files of parameter set. Typically parameter set files do not have an extension and set name is taken from the parent directory name.

Typically, variable names that refer to environment variables start with a dollar sign ('$'). Variable names are not case sensitive and trimmed of all leading and trailing spaces.

If a variable is found and its value is not found in the variable value file, or there is no variable value file specified here, the import bridge will try to use operating system environment variables (at the time of import bridge execution) to resolve the value.
The parameter file could be used to specify system type for any connection name. Use format:
'CONNECTION.'<ConnectionName>=<SystemType>
<SystemType>:={'DB2/UDB'|'MICROSOFT SQL SERVER'|'ORACLE'|'TERADATA'|'SYBASE SQL SERVER'|'INFORMIX'|'HIVE'}
It would be beneficial for the ODBC connection to know the real DB system behind such a connection.
FILE *.*    
Miscellaneous INTRODUCTION
Specify miscellaneous options starting with a dash and optionally followed by parameters, e.g.
-connection.cast MyDatabase1="MICROSOFT SQL SERVER"
Some options can be used multiple times if applicable, e.g.
-connection.rename NewConnection1=OldConnection1 -connection.rename NewConnection2=OldConnection2;
As the list of options can become a long string, it is possible to load it from a file which must be located in ${MODEL_BRIDGE_HOME}\data\MIMB\parameters and have the extension .txt. In such case, all options must be defined within that file as the only value of this parameter, e.g.
ETL/Miscellaneous.txt

JAVA ENVIRONMENT OPTIONS
-java.memory <Java Memory's maximum size> (previously -m)

1G by default on 64bits JRE or as set in conf/conf.properties, e.g.
-java.memory 8G
-java.memory 8000M

-java.parameters <Java Runtime Environment command line options> (previously -j)

This option must be the last one in the Miscellaneous parameter as all the text after -java.parameters is passed "as is" to the JRE, e.g.
-java.parameters -Dname=value -Xms1G
The following option must be set when a proxy is used to access internet (this is critical to access https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/ and exceptionally a few other tool sites) in order to download the necessary third-party software libraries.
Note: The majority of proxies are concerned with encrypting (HTTPS) the outside (of the company) traffic and trust the inside traffic that can access proxy over HTTP. In this case, an HTTPS request reaches the proxy over HTTP where the proxy HTTPS-encrypts it.
-java.parameters -java.parameters -Dhttp.proxyHost=127.0.0.1 -Dhttp.proxyPort=3128 -Dhttp.proxyUser=user -Dhttp.proxyPassword=pass

MODEL IMPORT OPTIONS
-model.name <model name>

Override the model name, e.g.
-model.name "My Model Name"

-prescript <script name>

This option allows running a script before the bridge execution.
The script must be located in the bin directory (or as specified with M_SCRIPT_PATH in conf/conf.properties), and have .bat or .sh extension.
The script path must not include any parent directory symbol (..).
The script should return exit code 0 to indicate success, or another value to indicate failure.
For example:
-prescript "script.bat arg1 arg2"

-postscript <script name>

This option allows running a script after successful execution of the bridge.
The script must be located in the bin directory (or as specified with M_SCRIPT_PATH in conf/conf.properties), and have .bat or .sh extension.
The script path must not include any parent directory symbol (..).
The script should return exit code 0 to indicate success, or another value to indicate failure.
For example:
-postscript "script.bat arg1 arg2"

-cache.clear

Clears the cache before the import, and therefore will run a full import without incremental harvesting.

If the model was not changed and the -cache.clear parameter is not used (incremental harvesting), then a new version will not be created.
If the model was not changed and the -cache.clear parameter is set (full source import instead of incremental), then a new version will be created.

-backup <directory>

This option allows to save the bridge input metadata for further troubleshooting. The provided <directory> must be empty.

The primary use of this option is for data store import bridges, in particular JDBC based database import bridges.

Note that this option is not operational on some bridges including:
- File based import bridges (as such input files can be used instead)
- DI/BI repository import bridges (as the tool's repository native backup can be used instead)
- Some API based import bridges (e.g. COM based) for technical reasons.

DATA CONNECTION OPTIONS
Data Connections are produced by the import bridges typically from ETL/DI and BI tools to refer to the source and target data stores they use. These data connections are then used by metadata management tools to connect them (metadata stitching) to their actual data stores (e.g. databases, file system, etc.) in order to produce the full end to end data flow lineage and impact analysis. The name of each data connection is unique by import model. The data connection names used within DI/BI design tools are used when possible, otherwise connection names are generated to be short but meaningful such as the database / schema name, the file system path, or Uniform Resource Identifier (URI). The following option allows to manipulate connections. These options replaces the legacy options -c, -cd, and -cs.

-connection.cast ConnectionName=ConnectionType

Casts a generic database connection (e.g. ODBC/JDBC) to a precise database type (e.g. ORACLE) for SQL Parsing, e.g.
-connection.cast "My Database"="MICROSOFT SQL SERVER".
The list of supported data store connection types includes:
ACCESS
APACHE CASSANDRA
DB2/UDB
DENODO
GOOGLE BIGQUERY
HIVE
MYSQL
NETEZZA
ORACLE
POSTGRESQL
PRESTO
REDSHIFT
SALESFORCE
SAP HANA
SNOWFLAKE
MICROSOFT SQL AZURE
MICROSOFT SQL SERVER
SYBASE SQL SERVER
SYBASE AS ENTERPRISE
TERADATA
VECTORWISE
HP VERTICA

-connection.rename OldConnection=NewConnection

Renames an existing connection to a new name, e.g.
-connection.rename OldConnectionName=NewConnectionName
Multiple existing database connections can be renamed and merged into one new database connection, e.g.
-connection.rename MySchema1=MyDatabase -connection.rename MySchema2=MyDatabase

-connection.split oldConnection.Schema1=newConnection

Splits a database connection into one or multiple database connections.
A single database connection can be split into one connection per schema, e.g.
-connection.split MyDatabase
All database connections can be split into one connection per schema, e.g.
-connection.split *
A database connection can be explicitly split creating a new database connection by appending a schema name to a database, e.g.
-connection.split MyDatabase.schema1=MySchema1

-connection.map SourcePath=DestinationPath

Maps a source path to destination path. This is useful for file system connections when different paths points to the same object (directory or file).
On Hadoop, a process can write into a CSV file specified with the HDFS full path, but another process reads from a Hive table implemented (external) by the same file specified using a relative path with default file name and extension, e.g.
-connection.map /user1/folder=hdfs://host:8020/users/user1/folder/file.csv
On Linux, a given directory (or file) like /data can be referred to by multiple symbolic links like /users/john and /users/paul, e.g.
-connection.map /data=/users/John -connection.map /data=/users/paul
On Windows, a given directory like C:\data can be referred to by multiple network drives like M: and N:, e.g.
-connection.map C:\data=M:\ -connection.map C:\data=N:\

-connection.casesensitive ConnectionName

Overrides the default case insensitive matching rules for the object identifiers inside the specified connection, provided the detected type of the data store by itself supports this configuration (e.g. Microsoft SQL Server, MySql etc.), e.g.
-connection.casesensitive "My Database"

-connection.level AggregationLevel

Specifies the aggregation level for the external connections, e.g.-connection.level catalog
The list of the supported values:
server
catalog
schema (default)

ETL OPTIONS
These options are available on all ETL/DI tools and scripting import bridges in order to:
- Process all SQL parsing
- Build runtime models from design models and runtime variables
- Calculate runtime summary lineage

-etl.summary.add.ultimate (previously -ppus)

Adds the ultimate runtime lineage summary (may generate a very large model).

-etl.summary.only.ultimate (previously -ppsp)

Only produces the ultimate runtime lineage summary (may generate a very large model).

-etl.connections.add.internal.design (previously -pppd)

Adds the internal ETL design data connectors (needed for ETL conversion).

-etl.connections.remove.input (previously -ri)

Removes all input (source) data connections (to reduce the size of the generated model).

-etl.transformations.enable.xml

This option enables the parsing and support of XML transformations in DI/ETL import bridges such as Informatica PowerCenter, Informatica Developer, Microsoft SSIS, IBM DataStage, and Talend Data Integration.
In case of Informatica, such XML transformations corresponds to the following PowerCenter features
https://docs.informatica.com/data-integration/powercenter/10-5/xml-guide/midstream-xml-transformations.html
https://docs.informatica.com/data-integration/powercenter/10-5/xml-guide/xml-source-qualifier-transformation.html
Note that this option may significantly slow down the import.

IBM DATA STAGE OPTIONS
-Statistics <Statistics_file_path>

To produce ETL import statistics, e.g.
-Statistics C:\Temp\Stats.csv

-cd: split or merge file system connections by a directory path.

Useful to split a connection into two or more root folders, that can be stitched to two or more file stores. To split the connection 'orig_con' into two connections: 'a_con' based upon the 'a' folder and the rest remains in the orig_con connection:
-cd a_con=orig_con:/a

To split the connection 'orig_con' into two connections: 'a_con' based upon the 'root/a' folder:
-cd a_con=orig_con:/root/a -

Useful to merge several connections into one. To merge two connections 'C:' with a root folder 'R1' and 'B:' with a root folder 'R2' into one connection 'C:' with two root folders - 'R1' and 'R2':
-cd C:\=B:\
STRING      

 

Bridge Mapping

Meta Integration Repository (MIR)
Metamodel
(based on the OMG CWM standard)
"IBM InfoSphere DataStage"
Metamodel
AscentialDataStage
Mapping Comments
     
Association ForeignKey  
AssociationRole ForeignKey  
Multiplicity   Based on Foreign Key information
Source   Based on Foreign Key information
AssociationRoleNameMap ForeignKey  
Attribute Column  
Description Description  
Name Name  
Optional Nullable  
BaseType Column, StageVariable  
DataType SQL Type See datatype conversion array
Name   Based on the datatype
PhysicalName   Derived from the datatype
CandidateKey Column  
Class Table Definition  
CppClassType   Set to ENTITY
CppPersistent   Set to True
Description Description  
Name Table name Class Name. Computed if not set
PhysicalName   Class Physical Name.Computed from the 'name' if not set
ClassifierMap Stage 1 for Stage Variables (if any), plus 1 per input or output pin
Name Name  
Operation Constraint, SqlRef, SqlPrimary, SqlInsert  
DataAttribute Column, Stage Variable  
Description Description  
Name Name  
DataSet Stage 1 for Stage Variables (if any), plus 1 per input or output pin
Name Name  
DatabaseSchema Table Definition  
Name Owner in record identifier
DerivedType Column, StageVariable  
DataType SQL Type See datatype conversion array
Length Precision  
Name SQL Type  
PhysicalName   Derived from the datatype
Scale Scale  
UserDefined   Set to False
DesignPackage Jobs Categories, Shared Continers Categories, Table Definitions Catagories  
Name Name, Source.DBDName from category
UserDefined   Set to False
FeatureMap Column, Stage Variable  
Name Name  
Operation Expression, Derivation, Initial Value  
ForeignKey ForeignKey  
StoreModel DataStage file  
Name   Based on the file name

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