Informatica Cloud
Informatica Cloud is a data integration solution and platform that works Software as a Service (SaaS). Informatica Cloud can connect to on-premises, cloud-based applications, databases, flat files, file feeds, and even social networking sites.
Informatica Cloud Data Integration is the cloud-based Power Center, which delivers accessible, trusted, and secure data to facilitate more valuable business decisions. Informatica Cloud Data Integration can help the organization with global, distributed data warehouse and analytics projects.
If we are using a cloud data warehouse such as AWS Redshift, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, or Snowflake, then Informatica Cloud Data Integration solutions improve the overall performance, productivity, and extensive connectivity to cloud and on-premises sources.
Informatica Cloud Connectors deliver connectivity to an enterprise application or database. Connectors exist for many systems, including ACORD, Google BigQuery, Goldmine, JD Edwards, MS Access, MS Dynamics, MS Great Plains, MS Navision, Netsuite, Oracle EBS, Salesforce, SQL Database, and SWIFT Transformation.
Architecture
The architecture of the Informatica cloud shows through the following image, such as:
Secure Agent
In Informatica Cloud architecture, the Secure Agent is a lightweight program. And it is used to connect on-premise data with cloud applications. It is installed on a local machine and processes data locally and securely under the enterprise firewall. All upgrades and updates are automatically sent and installed on the Secure Agent regularly.
Connectors
The connectors are the second central part of the Informatica Cloud architecture. These are pre-built integration solutions for data, devices, and connecting applications. Connectors are used to connectivity with Cloud applications (Salesforce, Workday, Amazon Redshift) and on-premise applications (SQL Server, Dynamics CRM, Teradata)
Informatica Cloud Components
Informatica Cloud has the following components, such as:
- Informatica Cloud: A browser-based application that runs at the Informatica Cloud hosting facility. It allows us to configure connections, create users, run, schedule, and monitor tasks.
- Informatica Cloud hosting facility: It is a platform to run the Informatica Cloud application. The hosting facility is used to stores all jobs and information of an organization. It is stored in the PowerCenter repository.
- Informatica Cloud Application: Applications can use to perform tasks, such as data synchronization, contact validation, and data replication.
- Informatica Cloud Secure Agent: An Informatica Cloud is installed on a local machine that runs all tasks and provides firewall security between the hosting facility and the organization. When the Secure Agent runs a job, then it connects with the Informatica Cloud hosting facility to access task information. It can connect directly and securely to sources and targets. It also can transfers data between sources and targets and perform any additional task based on the requirements.
Connectivity
The below image shows the connectivity of the Informatica cloud, such as:
Use Cases
The Informatica cloud has the following use cases, such as:
1. Data Synchronization
- Cloud application to cloud application
- SaaS to SaaS
- On-premise application to cloud application
- On-premise application to on-premise application
2. System Maintenance Tasks
- Performs Create Update Delete (CRUD) operations
- Bulk pulling and loading data to 3rd party systems or applications
3. Data Replication
- Copy data sets
- Backup or Warehouse data
4. Mappings
- Processes to extract transform and load data from multiple sources to multiple targets.
5. Monitoring
- The activity log is used for all successful and unsuccessful jobs.
- The audit log is used for all events by users in an organization.
- The dashboard summary is used for tasks, availability, and data processing.
Development
In Informatica Cloud, Development is divided into Data Synchronization Tasks and Mappings.
Data Synchronization tasks are ETL based tasks. We can load the data from a source to a target with the help of data synchronization and provide some transformation during transfer.
Mappings are flows that allow for chaining multiple complex operations such as joins, filters, and functions together to build a complex integration process.
Reporting
In Informatica Cloud, Reporting is divided into Activity Log and Activity Monitoring.
The Activity Log is responsible for generating a summary report of all successful and unsuccessful executed jobs.
And Activity Monitoring is responsible for creating a list of all currently running jobs. Each job is listed along with starting date or time, as well as rows processed.
Each process is also provided with information such as date, time, status, success rows, error rows, and error message. The user can drill down into each job and download a session log that contains execution information details at the logging level.