File connector data connection parameters

Configure these parameters when you create or edit a data connection for the File connector in InfoSphere® Metadata Asset Manager.

You can use the File connector to import metadata in files from either the engine tier computer or Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS). The two different methods are represented by separate entries on the list of bridges and connectors when you select the File connector in InfoSphere Metadata Asset Manager:
  • File Connector - Engine Tier
  • File Connector - HDFS

Data connection parameters for File Connector - Engine Tier

Specify values for the following parameters when you create a data connection to the engine tier computer.
Name
Specify the name of the data connection.
Description
Specify a description of the data connection.

Prerequisites for File Connector - HDFS

Before you can use the File connector to import metadata from HDFS, take the following steps:
  • If you use Kerberos or SSL encryption to access HDFS, see Defining a connection.
  • If you do not have metadata about files and folders in HDFS, specify column metadata and metadata about how a file is formatted. Use one of the metadata formatting options.
    InfoSphere Metadata Asset Manager imports metadata that is specified in one of the following ways:
    • As the first row of the file.
    • In an .osh schema file that is in the same folder and is named file.osh or folder.osh, where file is the name of a file in the folder and folder is the name of the folder. For example, if fileA.txt is in the sample directory, metadata can be specified in the fileA.txt.osh or sample.osh files.
    • To use SSL encryption when you use the WebHDFS API or HttpFS API to communicate with the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS), you might need to import the server public certificate into your truststore and specify values for truststore parameters. See Configuring the truststore.

Data connection parameters for File Connector - HDFS

Specify values for the following parameters when you create a data connection to HDFS.
Name
Specify the name of the data connection.
Description
Specify a description of the data connection.
File system
Select the file system to import metadata from, either WebHDFS or HttpFS.
Use SSL (HTTPS)
Select to use Secure Sockets Layer (HTTPS).
Use Kerberos
Select to use Kerberos authentication.
Use keytab
Select to use a Kerberos keytab file for the password.
Use custom URL
Select to use a custom URL instead of one that is generated based on the values you specify for Use SSL (HTTPS), Host, and Port.
Custom URL
If you select Use custom URL, you must specify the base URL for the server, either http or https.
Host
If you do not select Use custom URL, you must specify the name of the host that provides a REST HTTP gateway that supports the HDFS file system operations.
Port
Specify the port to connect to. If you do not specify a port number, the connector uses one of the following port numbers:
  • If you do not select Use SSL (HTTPS), the connector uses 50070 for WebHDFS or 14000 for HttpFS.
  • If you select Use SSL (HTTPS), the connector uses the port number 50470 for WebHDFS or 14443 for HttpFS.
User name
Required. Specify the name of a user who can connect to the HDFS system.
Password
If you did not select Use keytab, specify the password for the specified user.