Informatica Architecture Tutorial: The Ultimate Guide [STEP-IN]

Last updated on 08th Jul 2020, Blog, Tutorials

Informatica architecture is service-oriented architecture (SOA). A service-oriented architecture is defined as a group of services that communicate with each other. It means a simple data transfer during this communication, or it can be two or more services that coordinate the same activity.

• The Informatica development depends upon the component-based development techniques. This technique uses the predefined components and functional units with their functionalities to get the result.
• PowerCenter is based on the component-based development methodologies. To build a dataflow from the source to target, it used different components, and this process is called transformation.
• Basically, Informatica Power centre consists of the following components and services.
• Repository Service: – responsible to maintain the metadata of Informatica and to provide access to other services.
• Integration Service: – This service is responsible for the movement of the data to the target from the source.
• Reporting Service: – Responsible for generating reports.
• Nodes: – They are the computing platforms and the above services are executed here.
• Informatica Designer: – Helps in creating mapping between the target and the source.
• Workflow Manager: – This is responsible for creating workflows and related tasks. Also helps in executing them.
• Workflow Monitor: – As the name indicates, it monitors the execution of workflow.
• Repository Manager: – Responsible for managing objects in repository.

Informatica Domain

• The Informatica domain is the fundamental administrative unit.
• The Informatica domain consists of nodes and services. These nodes and services are categorized into folders or sub-folders based on administration requirements and design architecture.
• The Console web page of the Informatica administrator creates a domain that looks like a folder. Inside this folder, we can create a node with the services.
• In the Informatica domain, a node is a logical representation of the machine. All the services and processes run inside the domain in the Informatica. Multiple nodes can be present in a single domain. A gateway node receives the request from the clients and guides them to their respective services.
• The domain provides two types of services, such as:
  1. Service Manager: It manages domain operations such as logging, authentication, and authorization. It runs the application services on the nodes and leads users and groups.
  2. Application Services: It represents the server-specific services such as repository services, reporting services, and integration services. The application service can run on different nodes based on configuration.

PowerCenter Repository

• PowerCenter repository is a relational database like Oracle, Sybase, SQL server and it is managed by repository service. It consists of database tables that store metadata.
• There are three Informatica Client tools available in Informatica Powercenter. They are Informatica
• Designer
• Workflow Monitor
• Workflow Manager
• These clients can access to the repository using repository service only.
• To manage a repository there exists an Informatica service called Repository Service. A single repository service handles exclusively only one repository. Also, a repository service can execute on multiple nodes to increase the performance.
• The repository services use locks on the objects, so multiple users cannot modify the same object same time.
• You can enable version control in the repository. With the version control feature, you can maintain different versions of the same object.

Objects created in the repository can have following three state

• Valid: Valid objects are those objects whose syntax is correct according to Informatica. These objects can be used in the execution of workflows.
• Invalid: Invalid objects are those who does not adhere to the standard or rules specified. When any object is saved in Informatica, it is checked whether its syntax and properties are valid or not, and the object is marked with the status accordingly.
• Impacted: Impacted objects are those whose child objects are invalid. For example in a mapping if you are using a reusable transformation, and this transformation object becomes invalid then the mapping will be marked as impacted.

Domain Configuration

• As mentioned earlier, domain is the basic administrative control in Informatica. It is the parent entity which consists of other services like integration service, repository service, and various nodes.
• The domain configuration can be done using the Informatica admin console. The console can be launched using web browsers.

• Once open in a web browser it prompts for administrator login. The password is set during the Informatica installation.

• After login into the Informatica domain, the home page looks something like this.

• In the left pane it shows the existing nodes, repository services, integration services under the domain.
• On the main window, it shows the status of those services, whether those are up or down.

Properties of the domain

• Click on the properties menu in the admin page to view the properties of the domain.

Key properties of the domain are

• Resilience timeout – If any of the integration service or repository services goes down then resilience timeout is the no of seconds the application service tries to connect to those services.
• Restart Period – It is the maximum number of seconds the domain spends to restart a service.
• Dispatch Mode – It is the policy used by the load balancer to dispatch tasks to various nodes.
• Database type – The type of database on which domain is configured.
• Database host – Hostname of the machine on which domain is configured.
• Database port & name – It is the database port and the database instance name for the domain.

Powercenter client & Server Connectivity

• PowerCenter client tools are development tools which are installed on the client machines. Powercenter designer, workflow manager, a repository manager, and workflow monitor are the main client tools.
• The mappings and objects that we create in these client tools are saved in the Informatica repository which resides on the Informatica server. So the client tools must have network connectivity to the server.
• On the other hand, PowerCenter client connects to the sources and targets to import the metadata and source/target structure definitions. So it also must have connectivity to the source/target systems.
• To connect to the integration service and repository service, PowerCenter client uses TCP/IP protocols and
• To connect to the sources/targets PowerCenter client uses ODBC drivers.

Repository Service

• The repository service maintains the connections from Powercenter clients to the PowerCenter repository. It is a separate multi-threaded process, and it fetches, inserts and updates the metadata inside the repository. It is also responsible for maintaining consistency inside the repository metadata.

Integration Service

• Integration service is the executing engine for the Informatica, in other words, this is the entity which executes the tasks that we create in Informatica. This is how it works
• A user executes a workflow
• Informatica instructs the integration service to execute the workflow
• The integration service reads workflow details from the repository
• Integration service starts execution of the tasks inside the workflow
• Once execution is complete, the status of the task is updated i.e. failed, succeeded or aborted.
• After completion of execution, session log and workflow log is generated.
• This service is responsible for loading data into the target systems
• The integration service also combines data from different sources

Sources & Targets

• Informatica being an ETL and Data integration tool, you would be always handling and transforming some form of data. The input to our mappings in Informatica is called source system. We import source definitions from the source and then connect to it to fetch the source data in our mappings. There can be different types of sources and can be located at multiple locations. Based upon your requirement the target system can be a relational or flat file system. Flat file targets are generated on the Informatica server machine, which can be transferred later on using ftp.
• Relational– these types of sources are database system tables. These database systems are generally owned by other applications which create and maintain this data. It can be a Customer Relationship Management Database, Human Resource Database, etc. for using such sources in Informatica we either get a replica of these datasets, or we get select privileges on these systems.
• Flat Files – Flat files are most common data sources after relational databases in Informatica. A flat file can be a comma separated file, a tab delimited file or fixed width file. Informatica supports any of the code pages like ascii or Unicode. To use the flat file in Informatica, its definitions must be imported similar to as we do for relational tables.

 Download & Install Informatica PowerCenter

• Information is a powerful ETL tool for Data integration for small as well as big market business.
• To download and install Informatica, you must visit the link given here.

PowerCenter Express ETL

• PowerCenter Express is an Informatica’ s market-leading data integration (ETL Tool) and in-line data profiling right-sized for smaller projects.

How to register for Informatica Cloud PowerExpress

Step 1) Open Link and click on FREE 30-DAY TRIAL

Step 2) Fill in the requested details and Click on Start Up 30 Days free trail

Step 3) You will get a confirmation page as below. Open your Email account and click the confirmation link.

Step 4) On clicking the confirmation URL, you are asked to set your Password and One Security Question. Click OK once you enter the data.

Step 5) You are now in Informatica Cloud which you can use for further exercises.

 Configure Client and Repository in Informatica

• After installing Informatica server and client, Informatica server needs to be configured.
• The Informatica architecture is a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). Therefore, before using Informatica tools, server and client components needs to be installed and configured.

Prerequisite to configure clients, integration service and repository service.

• Informatica server and client should be installed.
• Informatica service should be up and running.
• Oracle or other compatible databases must be installed, and database service must be up.
• Database users must be created for repository service.
• Domain administrator console credentials must be available (it is configured during server installation)

The following components needs to be set up before you can start working in Informatica PowerCenter.

1. Informatica domain
2. creating repository service
3. creating integration service
4. Creating users

Informatica Domain is a basic administrative unit for various services and hosts.

• Using domain console you can perform various administrative tasks like adding a node, creating repository service, creating integration service, creating reporting service, managing & creating users, monitoring services, etc.
• During installation of Informatica server, system prompts for setting up the domain credentials and database connection.
• You need to use the same credentials when you access the domain console.

Informatica Domain

• The Informatica domain is the fundamental administrative unit.
• The Informatica domain consists of nodes and services. These nodes and services are categorized into folders or sub-folders based on administration requirements and design architecture.
• The Console web page of the Informatica administrator creates a domain that looks like a folder. Inside this folder, we can create a node with the services.
• In the Informatica domain, a node is a logical representation of the machine. All the services and processes run inside the domain in the Informatica. Multiple nodes can be present in a single domain. A gateway node receives the request from the clients and guides them to their respective services.
• The domain provides two types of services, such as:
  1. Service Manager: It manages domain operations such as logging, authentication, and authorization. It runs the application services on the nodes and leads users and groups.
  2. Application Services: It represents the server-specific services such as repository services, reporting services, and integration services. The application service can run on different nodes based on configuration.

Node

Node is a sensible study of a machine in a domain, and a domain has different hubs. To run the application administrations, we can design the hubs, such as mix administration.

PowerCenter Repository

The PowerCenter repository is a relational database such as SQL Server, Oracle, and Sybase. And these databases are maintained by the repository services. The database tables store the metadata.

Informatica client tools are the three types, such as:

1. Informatica designer
2. Informatica workflow manager
3. Informatica workflow monitor

• Informatica provides repository services, and it is used to manage the repository. The repository services exclusively handle one request for one repository. But we can execute it on multiple nodes for better performance.

• We can maintain the different versions of the same objects because of its version control mechanism. And also ignore multiple users that modifying the same object at the same time.

The objects created in the repository are having this three-state, such as:

• Valid: Valid objects have the correct syntax, according to the Informatica. And used for the execution of the workflow.
• Invalid: Invalid objects do not follow the standard or rules. These objects checked the syntax, and properties are valid or not during the saving of the object in Informatica.
• Impacted: The child objects of the affected object are invalid.

PowerCenter Repository Service

• PowerCenter repository service is a different multi-strung process. It allows the customer to change the metadata in the store. It accepts demands from the considerate benefit for metadata to run work processes.

• And the repository service maintains the associations from PowerCenter customers to the PowerCenter vault. It inserts the metadata inside the archive and keeps it refreshed. It is able to keep up consistency inside the archive metadata.

Domain configuration

• In the Informatica ETL tool, the domain is the necessary fundamental administrative control. It is an apparent entity that provides other different services such as repository service, integration service, and various nodes.

• The Informatica admin console is used for the domain configuration. And the console is launched with the help of the web browsers.

PowerCenter Client and Server Connectivity

1. PowerCenter client tools are installed on the client-side machines. These tools are the development tools such as workflow manager, PowerCenter designer, repository manager, and workflow monitor.
2. Informatica repository contains all the created mapping and objects in these client tools, which resides on the Informatica server. That’s why client tools must have network connectivity with the server.
3. Also, PowerCenter client connects to the sources and targets to import the metadata and structure definitions. Thus, it also maintains the connectivity to the source or target systems.

• PowerCenter client uses the TCP/IP protocols for connectivity with the integration service and repository service.
• And PowerCenter client uses the ODBC drivers for the connectivity with the source or targets.

Repository Service

• The repository service is a multithreading process. It maintains the connection between the PowerCenter clients and the PowerCenter repository.
• The repository service can fetch, insert, and update the metadata inside the repository. And it also maintains the consistency inside the repository metadata.

Integration Service

The integration service is used as an execution engine in the Informatica. It helps in executing the tasks which are created in the Informatica. Integration service works in the following manner, such as:

• A user performs a workflow.
• The Informatica instructs the integration service to execute the workflow.
• Then the integration service reads workflow details from the repository.
• The integration service starts the execution of the tasks inside the workflow.
• After the execution, the task status is updated, for example, Succeeded, Failed, or Aborted.
• Then it grants the session log and workflow log.
• This service loads the data into the target systems.
• Integration service combines data from different sources.

Informatica Installation

• To download and install the Informatica PowerCenter, click on the given link.
• https://edelivery.oracle.com/osdc/faces/Home.jspx
• Let’s see how to install the Informatica PowerCenter step by step, such as:
• Step 1: Click on the above link and download Informatica PowerCenter version 8.6.1.
• Step 2: Unzip the in stage directory (D:\INFRA).
• Step 3: After unzipping the files, go to Server\windows\Desktop\Download\VM.
• Step 4: Double click on install.exe name file, and it will open a dialog box.
• Step 5: Click on the Run button.
• Step 7: Then select a language to install and click on the OK button.
• Step 9: Select the Informatica installation type and click on the Next button.
• Step 10: Browse the license key file and then click on the Next button.
• Step 11: Browse Installation prerequisites and click on the Next button.
• Step 12: Browse installation directory and select the installation directory.
• Step 13: Browse HTTPS configuration and set the defaults.
• Step 14: Browse pre-installation summary and then click on the install Informatica button.
• Step 15: Install PowerCenter 8.6.1.
• Step 16: Select Create New Domain and click on the Next button.
• Step 17: Browse configure Domain Database Informatica and click on the Test Connection button.
• Step 18: Now, the Test connection is passed.
• Step 19: Browse the domain configuration and click on the Next button.
• Step 20: Install Informatica PowerCenter server and wait.
• Step 21: Configure Informatica service unchecked “Run Informatica service under a different user account” and click on the Next button.
• Step 22: Select Post-Installation Summary.

Conclusion

In this Informatica Architecture Tutorial, you got a clear picture of Service Oriented Architecture (SEO) of Informatica, PowerCenter’s components, services such as Application Services and Service manager in the Informatica domain. In Application services, you learned various services such as repository, reporting and integration services in Informatica PowerCenter Architecture. Whereas the Service manager is used to authenticating the loggings.