Day 1

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 Introduction

 Ab Initio is flexible and powerful software, which

can be used for large-scale data processing. It
comes with a user friendly GDE (Graphical
Development environment) which enables rapid
application development and enhancement.
 Ab-Initio can be best described as Middleware Tool
using which data can easily be transferred among
multiple numbers of data-repositories residing on
different platforms.
 Ab-Initio is not a reporting tool, however Ab-Initio
can easily be used to generate flat files in given
specified format.

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 Architecture

Ab Initio software consists of two main programs:

Co>Operating System, which system administrator
installs on a host UNIX or Windows NT Server
Graphical Development Environment (GDE), which we
install on our PC (client node) and configure to
communicate with the host (control node).

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 Architecture

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 On Windows 95/98:
 Pentium III 250 MHz or faster
 Minimum RAM: 32 MB
 Recommended RAM: 64 MB (256 MB when using
the Re>Posit Repository)
 Swap space: 96 MB or more
 Disk space used by installation: 30 MB

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 Co>Operating System

This is Ab Initio’s core engine for data processing. It

delivers facilities including distributed and parallel
execution, check-pointing and process monitoring

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 The Graphical Development
Environment(GDE)

GDE lets one create applications by dragging and

dropping components onto a canvas, configuring
them and connecting them into executable flowcharts.
One of the most important benefits of this is graphical
monitoring of running applications which makes it
easy to improve performance or enhance
functionality.

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 Features

• Scalability
• Graphical UI support
• Portability
• Repository

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 Scalability

Using multiple CPUs huge volumes of data can be

processed in very short time. It helps to build
large scale data processing applications and run
them in parallel or distributed environment.

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 Graphical UI support

Development using GDE is component based.

This helps in reducing build time.

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 Repository

Provides storage of meta-data including data format

and business rules

Support for application source-code control and project

migration

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 Component Library

This is a set of reusable software modules for critical

tasks such as sorting, data transformation, high speed
data loading and unloading. Its features include:
• Powerful
• Extensible
• Meta-data Driven

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 Day One: Installation of Ab Initio &
Basic Concepts

Topics Covered
Installing Ab Initio (Client Version) in your
Client Machine.
Performing “host profile” set up
Creation of the sandbox.

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 Lingo

Graph: Collection of components used to achieve a

particular functionality
Component: Building blocks of a graph
Sandbox : a safe and controlled
environment to run graphs
Dml : In Ab Initio context it stands for record format
Xfr : Collection of common transformation functions

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 Main Screen Description of
Ab Initio

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 The Mainscreen explained..

Icons/shortcuts

Program/graph name,
Path is also displayed

Component Organiser
Phase indicators

Graph components

Main toolbar

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 Important Icons / Shortcuts

Adding Watchers
Show & Edit Phases
Inserting Comments in graph

Component Organizer (F9)

Undo & Redo, (lifesavers)

Stop graph
execution
If a transform/component is
opened, toggles between tabular Run/Execute graph
view and ‘notepad’ view

Validate : checks for basic errors in the

selected component(s), or whole graph if
nothing is selected

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 Salient Features

Ab Initio executes from server.

Stand alone version is not available
(Possible when you have both Server &
Client version on local machine)
Files can be saved on server & locally too.
Ab Initio uses the host profile to log on to
the server.
Host profile has the user login id, password,
etc.
Follow steps mentioned in the next slides
to create a new host profile.
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 Click Run > Settings

Click ‘New…’

Enter the necessary details. Description in the next

slide.

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 Enter the following

Description : Enter description of your

choice
Method : rexec/telnet
Host : server name
Login : enter your server login ID
Password : enter your password
Version : “Auto”
Location : enter the libraries path.
Type : shell type
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 Enter any Host Profile Name & on Click “OK”
Click on Test Login & wait till “Run Settings Verified” screen appears.
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 Sandbox

“A controlled environment within which development

programs are run”

Ab Initio says “A sandbox is a collection of graphs and

related files that are stored in a single directory tree,
and treated as a group for purposes of version
control, navigation, and migration.”

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 Create Sandbox

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 When you click on ‘create sandbox’, the
following prompt ‘select path’ appears :

Enter the path where the folders of sandbox are to be created &
click “OK”.Caution: Never make the $HOME as the sandbox.
Always enter a directory name, say $HOME/sandbox.
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 Editing Sandbox

By default, the following directories are created

when sandbox is created.
 Dml – stores all .dml files.
 Xfr – contains all user defined functions.
 Run – contains the system generated shell
script of the graph.
 Db – has the database configuration file.
 Mp – contains the graphs (in Ab Initio programs
are called graphs).

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 Editing Sandbox, continued

Other directories can be created through UNIX prompt

and the path can be set in the sandbox.
To set the path, follow the below mentioned process.

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 When you click ‘edit sandbox’
the following prompt apears :

These default paths are already set in the sandbox.

Fill in the path and press

Ok/Enter, the following window
will appear :

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 Modifying Sandbox :

Click on the last row and enter the path name. E.g.
DATA
The path name is mostly of type string.
Enter the path value. E.g. $PROJECT_DIR/data where
data directory already exists in the sandbox.
Click on “OK”

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 End of Day 1

Proceed to Day 2

Back to Index

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