InfoSphere CDC Flat file for DataStage

Configuration and Best Practices

© 2010 IBM Corporation

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Understanding the Flat File Workflow

Landing Location

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1. Source Database

Landing Location

• Configure CDC on the source database where the CDC service

for the database reads the transaction log to capture changes

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2. Defining the Replication Definition

Landing Location

• CDC for DataStage transfers the change data according to the

replication definition

• To configure:
• Define the table structure that will be sent to DataStage
• Define the DataStage connection method for Flat Files
• Define single or multiple format to determine how DataStage will
be processing the incoming records

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Map Table for Flat File Output (1)

• Map table as usual, select WebSphere DataStage as the target
• Select Flat File for method
• Specify the directory to which the flat files will be written and picked
up by the DataStage job (directory resides on the DS server)
• Initial status of table will be Active (picking up changes from the
moment it was mapped)

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Map Table for Flat File Output (2)

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Defining the DataStage Record Format (1)

• Standard columns containing information about the change:
• DM_TIMESTAMP - The timestamp obtained from the log of when the operation
occurred (contains the value from the &TIMSTAMP journal control field)
• DM_TXID - Transaction identifier (contains the value from the &CCID journal
control field)
• DM_OPERATION_TYPE contains a single character indicating the type of
operation:
• "I" for an insert.
• "D" for a delete.
• For Single Record Format there is one type that represents the update image
• "U" represents an update.
• For Multiple Record Format there are two separate types that represent before and
after image
• "B" for the row containing the before image of an update.
• "A" for the row containing the after image of an update.
• DM_USER - The user that performed the operation (contains the value from
the &USER journal control field)

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Defining the DataStage Record Format (2)

• Single record
• In this format an update operation is sent as a single row
• The before and after image is contained in the same record
• E.g. Updating 3 records
"2010-11-23 21:43:24","0","U","EPANG","1","elaine ","1","update “
"2010-11-23 21:43:24","0","U","EPANG","2","elaine ","2","update “
"2010-11-23 21:43:24","0","U","EPANG","3","abc ","3","update "
• Multiple record format
• An update operation is sent as two rows, the first row being the before image
and the second row containing the after image.
• E.g. Updating 3 records
"2010-11-23 21:46:15","0","B","EPANG","1","update “
"2010-11-23 21:46:15","0","A","EPANG","1","hello “
"2010-11-23 21:46:15","0","B","EPANG","2","update “
"2010-11-23 21:46:15","0","A","EPANG","2","hello “
"2010-11-23 21:46:15","0","B","EPANG","3","update “
"2010-11-23 21:46:15","0","A","EPANG","3","hello "

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Naming Convention of Flat Files

• CDC uses the following convention to name the flat files that are
produced during replication.
• [Table].x[Date].[Time][# Records]
• x = D for completed flat files, @ for currently open flat file
• [Date] = Julian date (year, day number within year)
• [Time] = hh24mmss when flat file was created (in GMT)
• [# Records] = Optionally the number of records can be added
• [Table].STOPPED
• When subscription is stopped, this file is generated
The timestamp format can be configured
using the system parameter
ds_output_timestamp_format. E.g.
ds_output_timestamp_format=“yyyy-
MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS” (to include
milliseconds)

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3. Flat Files Become Available for DataStage

Landing Location

• CDC for DataStage server hardens the files and deposits them
in the flat file location.
• While actively mirroring to a file it is not accessible to
DataStage. The process of hardening involves renaming the
file, replacing the ‘@’ with a ‘D’ thus making it available to
Datastage.
• To configure:
• Define the Batch Size Threshold settings to determine how often
CDC hardens the flat files that are made available to DataStage

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Set Subscription DataStage Properties

• Right-click on subscription to set properties
• The file will be hardened always at the end of a transaction boundary and when
either of the following thresholds are passed:
• Timing in seconds of flat file closure
• Maximum number of rows per flat file
• Flat file is closed and next one is created/opened when either value is reached
• Closed flat files can be picked up by DataStage for processing as they will contain only
completed transactions

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4. Flat Files Read by DataStage Job

Landing Location

• InfoSphere DataStage sequential file reader retrieves the flat files as

part of an InfoSphere DataStage job and transforms them
• The job has three parameters defined in the Management Console
where the *.dsx file is created:
• SPFolderPath – the full path name for the folder that DataStage
searches for the source flat files created by CDC
• SPFileNamePattern – the file name pattern used to identify the source
flat files
• SPEndFileNamePattern – the file name pattern DataStage creates
when subscriptions stop mirroring.

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5. Flat Files are Deposited to New Location

Landing Location

• InfoSphere DataStage sequential file reader deposits the

transformed flat files in the new flat file location

• To configure:
• DataStage definition file (*.dsx ) from Management Console or in
DataStage Designer
• Import definition file into DataStage and customize any additional
steps/stages where necessary

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Connecting CDC for DataStage with DataStage

• Datastage uses job definitions to describe the sequence of

steps, or stages required to transform data
• DataStage jobs are normally designed and edited in
InfoSphere DataStage Designer
• When using CDC for DataStage you have the option of
generating a job definition within CDC without creating it in
DataStage Designer

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Generating an InfoSphere DataStage Definition File

• DataStage definition import file (.dsx) can be generated
automatically
• Right-click on subscription and select Generate InfoSphere
DataStage Job Definition
• Place .dsx file at a location where it can be selected from DataStage
(or copy it to the DS server)

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Import .dsx file into DataStage (1)

• DataStage flat file processing job will be generated

automatically
• DS job is already tailored to picking up the flat files from the
specified directory

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Import .dsx file into DataStage (2)

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Best Practices for Flat Files

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Flat Files are Best Suited for…

• Best suited for under a few hundred tables

• Extra memory will need to be allocated with larger numbers of tables
• Very high data volume which requires parallel loading
• Replacement for existing ETL delta extracts
• Data warehouses which benefit from bulk load of changed
data
• Installation on 64 bit systems

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Considerations and Limitations

• The Flat File integration option is not suitable when character
columns contain binary data. The UTF-8 files may contain code
points that resolve to special characters, such as quotes, line feed
or carriage returns, that cannot be processed
• Tables are individually replicated, which can break transactional
table dependencies
• Additional processing is required in DataStage to maintain referential
integrity between dependent tables
• Disk staging space
• Managing many files

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Initial Synchronization

• DataStage extracts data from source database using standard

ETL functions
• An alternative is to use CDC to perform initial Refresh and
then transition to mirroring mode. This method involves first
creating flat files for the refresh then loading using
DataStage.

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Recommended Flat file Storage Option

• Direct attached disk storage is a typical option used for the storage
of CDC flat files.
• Shared Storage Area Network (SAN) is another recommended
option to stage files.
• This allows running CDC DS on a server separated from the
DataStage grid, ensuring CDC has dedicated CPU/Disk capacity.
• The DataStage grid nodes can then read the files on the shared SAN,
allowing for high performance and recoverability.
• Network File System (NFS) is not recommended for high volume
environments.
• CDC is not resilient to file system errors that may occur, and may suffer
from network latency for writing many small changes to the flat files.

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Clean-up of Flat files Generated by CDC

• By default, the .dsx file generated by CDC will define that flat
files are removed once CDC has deposited the files into the
DataStage job.
• If additional sequencing of the files is required (i.e. multiple
tables containing foreign key relationships) this logic
requires customization.
• A DataStage expert can modify the .dsx file generated by CDC
to remove the cleanup logic and make adjustments as
appropriate.

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Distinguishing Transaction/Record Ordering

• The timestamp field provides second to microsecond accuracy. It
cannot be used alone to uniquely order records if multiple records
are changed at the same time
• You can use the system parameter ds_output_timestamp_format
to format timestamp in milliseconds in the flat files. Note: some
databases like Oracle can not produce millisecond accuracy.
Changing this parameter can not improve upon the accuracy that
the database supports
• For sequencing within a single table:
• Use a combination of the timestamp, flat file number and line number to
uniquely identify changes in commit order
• If you need to sequence across all tables in a subscription, you will
additionally be required to use a derived column on the source to
generate a sequence number

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Recovery

• CDC maintains the source database log position in a

‘bookmark’ which is used for restarting replication and/or
recovery from failure
• Flat files – CDC writes the bookmark to internal CDC metadata
when hardening a flat file which has finished writing
• If the network is lost or a system failure occurs the flat file option
provides recoverability and resiliency; CDC will start from the last flat file
that was not yet hardened
• Both options operate independently from DataStage which
periodically picks up the changes and processes the data
• CDC only manages recovery up to the CDC staging mechanism

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