Informatica Questionnaire 1. What are the components of Informatica? And what is the purpose of each?

Ans: Informatica Designer, Server Manager & Repository Manager. Designer for Cr eating Source & Target definitions, Creating Mapplets and Mappings etc. Server M anager for creating sessions & batches, Scheduling the sessions & batches, Monit oring the triggered sessions and batches, giving post and pre session commands, creating database connections to various instances etc. Repository Manage for Cr eating and Adding repositories, Creating & editing folders within a repository, Establishing users, groups, privileges & folder permissions, Copy, delete, backu p a repository, Viewing the history of sessions, Viewing the locks on various ob jects and removing those locks etc. 2. What is a repository? And how to add it in an informatica client?

Ans: It s a location where all the mappings and sessions related information is stor ed. Basically it s a database where the metadata resides. We can add a repository th rough the Repository manager. 3. Name at least 5 different types of transformations used in mapping desig n and state the use of each. Ans: Source Qualifier Source Qualifier represents all data queries from the source , Expression Expression performs simple calculations, Filter Filter serves as a conditional filter, Lookup Lookup looks up values and passes to other objects, Aggregator - Aggregator performs aggregate calculations. 4. How can a transformation be made reusable?

Ans: In the edit properties of any transformation there is a check box to make i t reusable, by checking that it becomes reusable. You can even create reusable t ransformations in Transformation developer. 5. How are the sources and targets definitions imported in informatica desi gner? How to create Target definition for flat files? Ans: When you are in source analyzer there is a option in main menu to Import th e source from Database, Flat File, Cobol File & XML file, by selecting any one o f them you can import a source definition. When you are in Warehouse Designer th ere is an option in main menu to import the target from Database, XML from File and XML from sources you can select any one of these. There is no way to import target definition as file in Informatica designer. So while creating the target definition for a file in the warehouse designer it is created considering it as a table, and then in the session properties of that ma pping it is specified as file. 6. Explain what is sql override for a source table in a mapping. Ans: The Source Qualifier provides the SQL Query option to override the default query. You can enter any SQL statement supported by your source database. You mi ght enter your own SELECT statement, or have the database perform aggregate calc ulations, or call a stored procedure or stored function to read the data and per form some tasks. 7. What is lookup override? Ans: This feature is similar to entering a custom query in a Source Qualifier tr ansformation. When entering a Lookup SQL Override, you can enter the entire over ride, or generate and edit the default SQL statement. The lookup query override can include WHERE clause.

8. What are mapplets? How is it different from a Reusable Transformation? Ans: A mapplet is a reusable object that represents a set of transformations. It allows you to reuse transformation logic and can contain as many transformation s as you need. You create mapplets in the Mapplet Designer. Its different than a reusable transformation as it may contain a set of transfor mations, while a reusable transformation is a single one. 9. How to use an oracle sequence generator in a mapping? Ans: We have to write a stored procedure, which can take the sequence name as in put and dynamically generates a nextval from that sequence. Then in the mapping we can use that stored procedure through a procedure transformation. 10. What is a session and how to create it? Ans: A session is a set of instructions that tells the Informatica Server how an d when to move data from sources to targets. You create and maintain sessions in the Server Manager.