Informatica Powercenter is an ETL (Extract, Transform, and Load) tool developed by Informatica Corporation. ETL tools are used to integrate and move data between IT systems. In terms of market share, Powercenter is one of the leading data integration tools available.
Informatica PowerCenter provides an environment that allows you to load data into a centralized location, such as a data warehouse or operational data store (ODS).
PowerCenter includes the following components:
Informatica domain - the primary unit for management and administration within PowerCenter.
PowerCenter repository - it resides in a relational database. The repository database tables contain the instructions required to extract, transform, and load data.
Informatica Administrator - a web application that you use to administer the Informatica domain and PowerCenter security.
Domain configuration - a set of relational database tables that stores the configuration information for the domain.
PowerCenter Repository Service
PowerCenter Integration Service - extracts data from sources and loads data to targets
Web Services Hub - a gateway that exposes PowerCenter functionality to external clients through web services
SAP BW Service - extracts data from and loads data to SAP NetWeaver BI.
Reporting Service - runs the Data Analyzer web application
Metadata Manager Service - runs the Metadata Manager web application.
PowerCenter Client - consists of the tools to manage the repository and to design mappings, mapplets, and sessions to load the data. It has the following tools:
- Designer - to create mappings that contain transformation instructions for the Integration Service.
- Repository Manager to assign permissions to users and groups and manage folders.
- Workflow Manager - to create, schedule, and run workflows. A workflow is a set of instructions that describes how and when to run tasks related to extracting, transforming, and loading data.
- Workflow Monitor - to monitor scheduled and running workflows for each Integration Service.
PowerCenter accesses the following sources:
Relational DB
File - Fixed and delimited flat file, COBOL file, XML file, and web log
Other - Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, and external web services, mainframe and applications
PowerCenter can load data into the following targets:
Relational DB
File - Fixed and delimited flat file and XML.
Other - Microsoft Access and external web services, applications and mainframe.
You can load data into targets using ODBC or native drivers, FTP, or external loaders.
Other information:
