Informatica PowerCenter Manual Inputs

By default, Manta Flow automatically extracts Informatica PowerCenter workflows and other required information from the configured repository and then analyzes the data flows in them.

Providing Parameter Files

For successful analysis, it is necessary to have all parameter and indirect files referenced by extracted workflows and sessions. Since the parameter files are not stored by Informatica in the PowerCenter repository, it is necessary to provide IBM Automatic Data Lineage with access to these files. If possible, copy these files into a folder structure similar to the system where the client-side application is installed or copy them anywhere, such as <MANTA_DIR_HOME>/input/ifpc/${ifpc.extractor.repository}/parameterfiles (default path for parameter files) or configure different path to that directory with parameter files in property ifpc.parameter.files.dirs in the PowerCenter connection definition.

Manually Providing Informatica PowerCenter Workflows, Connections, and Integration Service Settings

It is also possible to extract workflows, PowerCenter Integration Service settings, and connections manually; for example, for quick test purposes. In such cases, follow the instructions below and remove / do not run the respective ifpcExtractor scenarios:

Workflow Extraction

• Copy all workflow XML files extracted from the Informatica PowerCenter repository to the <MANTA_DIR_HOME>/input/ifpc/${ifpc.extractor.repository}/workflow folder where ifpc.extractor.repository is the name of the repository (if not changed in the configuration). Workflows can be extracted manually using the PowerCenter Repository Manager tool by checking all export options, or in an automated way using Informatica’s command line utility pmrep as follows.

  c:\Informatica\> pmrep
  connect -r <repository_name> -h <portal_host_name> -o <portal_port_number> -n <user_name> -x <password> -s INTERNAL
  # e.g. connect -r INFA_REP -h 192.168.0.16 -o 6005 -n Administrator -x XXX -s SEC_DOMAIN
  
  # To get a list of all available folders, use
  listobjects -o Folder
  # To get a list of all wokflows in a specific folder, use
  listobjects -o Workflow -f <Folder>
  # And this command to export a workflow to an XML file:
  ObjectExport -o Workflow -n <workflow_name> -f <folder_name> -u <xml_file_path> -m -s -b -r -l pmrep.log
  

Integration Service Settings

The integration service settings for the Informatica PowerCenter domain are exported automatically by Automatic Data Lineage during lineage analysis. Alternatively, they can be manually configured as follows.

• Create or open the file referenced by the ifpc.service.settings.manual.file property (e.g., <MANTA_DIR_HOME>/input/ifpc/{ifpc.extractor.repository}/ifpcServiceSettings.prm).

• Connect to the Informatica Administrator Console.

• Choose Integration Service from the menu on the left. Then, on the new page select the Processes tab, leading to a screen similar to the one below.

• Add a new section with parameters to a referenced file such as:

  [Integration_Service]
  $PMRootDir=C:\PMRootDir
  $PMSessionLogDir=C:\log\SessLogs
  $PMBadFileDir=$PMTargetFileDir\BadRecords
  $PMCacheDir=C:\cache
  $PMTargetFileDir=C:\target
  $PMSourceFileDir=C:\source
  $PMExtProcDir=$PMRootDir\ExtProc
  $PMTempDir=C:\tmp
  $PMWorkflowLogDir=C:\log\WorkflowLogs
  $PMLookupFileDir=$PMRootDir\LkpFiles
  $PMStorageDir=$PMRootDir\Storage
  

• Add a new line to the end of the parameters for one section, defining the settings of one integration service.

• Repeat the last two steps for every integration service defined in the administration console.

Connection Definition Settings

The connection settings for the Informatica PowerCenter Repository are exported automatically by Automatic Data Lineage during lineage analysis. Alternatively, they can be configured manually as follows:

• Create or open the file referenced by the ifpc.connection.definition.manual.file property (e.g.<MANTA_DIR_HOME>/input/ifpc/{ifpc.extractor.repository}/ifpcConnectionDefinition.prm). The following structure is used to define a single connection:

  [{Shortcut_Name}] Type={connection_type} 
  Connection_String={connection_string} 
  Server_Name={server_name} 
  Database_Name={database_name} 
  Schema_Name={schema_name} 
  User_Name={user_name}
  

  Check Detailed Information About Connection Mappings for details about the connection file syntax.

  • You can get a full list of connections and their details using PowerCenter’s command line utility. pmrep can be used to automate this process if needed.

  c:\Informatica\> pmrep
  connect -r <repository_name> -h <portal_host_name> -o <portal_port_number> -n <user_name> -x <password> -s INTERNAL
  # e.g. connect -r INFA_REP -h 192.168.0.16 -o 6005 -n Administrator -x XXX -s SEC_DOMAIN
  
  # To get a list of all available connections, use
  ListConnections
  # To get details of a specific connection, use
  GetConnectionDetails -n <Name> -t <Type>
  

Input Folder Structure

To analyze Informatica PowerCenter project files, create a directory structure as follows.

• input/ifpc/${ifpc.extractor.repository}

  • workflow — optional, only when not using an automated extractor

    • <Folder> — folder within the repository

      • individual workflow XML exports (as described above)

  • ifpcServiceSettings.prm — optional, only when not using an automated extractor

  • ifpcConnectionDefinition.prm — optional, only when not using an automated extractor

  • parameterfiles — folder with all the parameter files used by the workflows

  • indirectfiles — folder with all the indirect files used by the workflows

  • ifpcParameterFileMapping.csv — optional, as per Informatica PowerCenter Scanner Guide

The folder above can be provided to Automatic Data Lineage for execution as per Manta Flow Usage: Preparing Scanner Inputs.