Import command for InfoSphere Information Analyzer assets

Use the istool import command with the -ia parameter to import an archive file that contains InfoSphere® Information Analyzer assets.

Purpose

You can import assets from an exported archive file into a different instance of InfoSphere Information Server. For example, you can transfer assets from a development environment to a production or test environment. You can also migrate assets to a newer version of InfoSphere Information Server.

Note: When you use the command line to export and import InfoSphere Information Analyzer assets, all of the assets that are associated with the specified InfoSphere Information Analyzer project are included in the import or export process. If you want to import or export a subset of data quality components (data rule definitions, rule set definitions, data rules, rule sets, or metrics), you can use the export and import wizards from the Develop > Data Quality workspace of the InfoSphere Information Analyzer client. If you want to export and import global logical variables separately from other project assets, you can use the HOME > Metadata Management > Global Logical Variables workspace of the client.

You can alternately use a single istool import command with the -all parameter to import most types of metadata assets from an archive file. See Moving all assets from one metadata repository to another.

Important: When you import assets by using the istool import command, you must rebuild the reindex afterwards to display imported assets. For more information, see the Rebuilding the index for clients topic.

Prerequisites

You must have the Project Administrator role to import InfoSphere Information Analyzer assets. To import related common metadata, you must have the Common Metadata Administrator role.

You must run the command on a computer on the client or engine tier where InfoSphere Information Analyzer is installed.

The preferred way to run this command is in the istool command-line window. If you run this command in your operating system command-line window or in scripts, you must add istool before the command name.

If you use custom java classifiers, you must move the JAR file from the source system to the target system when you import data classes that depend on it. You can move the JAR file before or after you do the import.

Command syntax

Optional parameters and values in the syntax are enclosed in brackets, [ ].

import 
authentication parameters
[generic parameters]  
-abortAfter number_of_errors
-archive file_name_and_path
[-preview |-replace]
[-responseFile "file_name_and_path"]	
[-mapping "file_name_and_path"]
-ia ' 
      [-onNameConflict  [ignore | replace | rename] ]
      [-renameSuffix suffix]
    '
[-commonmetadata '[-allowDuplicates]']

Parameters

authentication parameters

Required. All asset interchange commands use authentication parameters to connect to a specific installation of InfoSphere Information Server.

generic parameters

The generic parameters are available to all asset interchange commands. Use the generic parameters to request help on command syntax, to specify silent or verbose operation, and to use a script to run commands.

-abortAfter | -abort number_of_errors

Stops the import after the specified number of errors.

-archive | -ar file_name_and_path

Required. Specifies the .isx file to import assets from. If the archive file is not stored in the same directory as the import command, then you must put quotation marks around the file path of the archive file when you issue the command. For example, "C:\ia_archive.isx." If the file is located in the same directory as the import command, you do not need to include quotation marks.

-preview | -pre

Previews the import. The preview lists the assets that will be imported when the import runs. The assets are not imported when you run a command with the -preview parameter.

-replace

Replaces or merges existing assets with imported assets. If you specify the -replace parameter, and an asset with the same identity exists in the target metadata repository, the existing asset is replaced by or merged with the imported asset, depending on the type of asset.

-responseFile | -rf "file_name_and_path"

Specifies the name and path of a response file that contains assets that failed to import during a run of a previous istool import -ia command. Not supported with the -preview parameter. For more information, see Using a response file for istool export and istool import commands.

-mapping | -m file_name_and_path

Specifies the path to the mapping file that instructs the import command to change some properties of imported assets during import, so that the imported assets correctly reconcile with the assets in the metadata repository. For more information, see Using a mapping file with the istool import command..

-ia '[import-options]'

Required. Specifies that InfoSphere Information Analyzer assets are imported. The two single quotation marks (' ') are required even if no import options are specified. You can use the following import options:

-onNameConflict | -nameConf [ignore | replace | rename]

Specifies an action that you want to take when a name conflict is detected for an InfoSphere Information Analyzer project.

ignore: The default option. If a project with the same name exists on the target, do not import.

replace: If a project with the same name exists on the target, replace the project with the imported asset.

rename: If a project with the same name exists on the target, then rename the new asset that is being imported. By default, _New is added to the end of the project name. You can use the -renameSuffix option to specify your own suffix.

-renameSuffix | -renSuf suffix

Specifies the suffix that would be used if there was a name conflict. By default the suffix is _New, but you can specify different text. For example, if a project named Customer_Data is being imported, and a project that is named Customer_Data exists on the target system, you can specify _Updated as the value for -renameSuffix. Then the project imported is renamed to Customer_Data_Updated.

-commonmetadata | -cm '[-allowDuplicates]'

Required if you are importing common metadata, such as database tables and columns. All common metadata assets in the file are imported when you use this parameter, except for logical data model assets, custom attributes, data classes and data collection analyses. The parameter must be followed by two single quotation marks ('), for example, -cm ''. Data Connections are included in the import when you use the -includeCommonMetadata option during the export. You can use the following option within the single quotation marks:

-allowDuplicates: If duplicate common metadata assets exist in the import file, allows them to be imported as separate assets. If the duplicate assets have the same identity as an existing asset in the metadata repository, the existing asset is unchanged by the import, even if you also use the -replace parameter. For guidance on whether to allow duplicates, see Import settings for InfoSphere Metadata Asset Manager.

Importing multiple types of assets

If the archive file includes multiple types of assets, you must specify each type of included metadata on the command line when you import the archive file. Otherwise only InfoSphere Information Analyzer assets are imported. For example, if the archive is exported with the -includeCommonMetadata and -includeReports options, you must specify the -commonmetadata and -report parameters in addition to the -ia parameter when you import the archive.

Archive files can contain assets from multiple exports of multiple tools. For best performance, when you import from an archive file, or when you migrate assets of varying types in multiple archive files, run separate commands to import the following types of assets in the following order:

Users and groups
Common metadata
InfoSphere DataStage® and QualityStage® assets.
Reports.
InfoSphere Information Analyzer assets.
InfoSphere FastTrack assets.
InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog extended data sources.
InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog extension mapping documents.
InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog business glossary assets. In versions earlier than 11.3, these assets are created in InfoSphere Business Glossary.
Custom attributes for InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog extended data sources and extension mappings. In versions earlier than 11.3, these assets are created in InfoSphere Metadata Workbench.

Asset types not listed can be imported in any order.

Note: You must use the -replace parameter when you import report assets from an archive. If you do not want to use the -replace parameter for the other types of assets in the archive, you must use a separate command to import the reports. If you import InfoSphere Information Analyzer assets without the -replace parameter and import their related reports with the -replace parameter, some of the reports might not be accurate for the unreplaced assets in the target environment. Check the reports and run them again in the new environment if necessary.

Examples

The following command imports InfoSphere Information Analyzer assets from the file ia_archive1.isx.

import -u admin -p admin100 -dom EVEREST -ar ia_archive1.isx -ia ''

The following command imports assets from the archivelatest1.isx file and includes all common metadata assets.

import -u admin -p admin -ar "C:\archivelatest1.isx" 
-ia '' -cm ''

The following command imports InfoSphere Information Analyzer assets and related common metadata assets.

import -u admin -p admin100  -ar "C:\ia_archive1.isx" -ia '' -cm ''

The following command imports reports separately from the archive file by using the -replace parameter, which is required for reports.

import -u admin -p admin100 -dom EVEREST -ar ia_archive1.isx -replace -rep

The following command imports InfoSphere Information Analyzer assets and data classes from the archive file, allowing duplicate data class assets to be created in the metadata repository.

istool -dom EVEREST import -u isadmin -p isadmin -ar Test.isx -ia '' -replace

Troubleshooting

Analyzing imported data and running imported data rules fails: After you import assets, the analysis and data rules execution might fail with invalid data connection error. The issue might occur because different versions of a connector are used in the source and target systems. To resolve the issue, re-import metadata on the same imported data connection on the target system, by using InfoSphere Metadata Asset Manager.