Create Informatica Mappings From/To a JDBC Data Source for Azure Table

Informatica provides a powerful, elegant means of transporting and transforming your data. By utilizing the CData JDBC Driver for Azure Table, you are gaining access to a driver based on industry-proven standards that integrates seamlessly with Informatica's powerful data transportation and manipulation features. This tutorial shows how to transfer and browse Azure Table data in Informatica PowerCenter.

Deploy the Driver

To deploy the driver to the Informatica PowerCenter server, copy the CData JAR and .lic file, located in the lib subfolder in the installation directory, to the following folder: Informatica-installation-directory\services\shared\jars\thirdparty.

To work with Azure Table data in the Developer tool, you will need to copy the CData JAR and .lic file, located in the lib subfolder in the installation directory, into the following folders:

• Informatica-installation-directory\client\externaljdbcjars
• Informatica-installation-directory\externaljdbcjars

Create the JDBC Connection

Follow the steps below to connect from Informatica Developer:

1. In the Connection Explorer pane, right-click your domain and click Create a Connection.
2. In the New Database Connection wizard that is displayed, enter a name and Id for the connection and in the Type menu select JDBC.
3. In the JDBC Driver Class Name property, enter: cdata.jdbc.azuretables.AzureTablesDriver
4. In the Connection String property, enter the JDBC URL, using the connection properties for Azure Table.

   Specify your AccessKey and your Account to connect. Set the Account property to the Storage Account Name and set AccessKey to one of the Access Keys. Either the Primary or Secondary Access Keys can be used. To obtain these values, navigate to the Storage Accounts blade in the Azure portal. You can obtain the access key by selecting your account and clicking Access Keys in the Settings section.

   Built-in Connection String Designer

   For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Azure Table JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

   java -jar cdata.jdbc.azuretables.jar

   Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

   

   A typical connection string is below:

   jdbc:azuretables:AccessKey=myAccessKey;Account=myAccountName;

Browse Azure Table Tables

After you have added the driver JAR to the classpath and created a JDBC connection, you can now access Azure Table entities in Informatica. Follow the steps below to connect to Azure Table and browse Azure Table tables:

1. Connect to your repository.
2. In the Connection Explorer, right-click the connection and click Connect.
3. Clear the Show Default Schema Only option.

You can now browse Azure Table tables in the Data Viewer: Right-click the node for the table and then click Open. On the Data Viewer view, click Run.

Create Azure Table Data Objects

Follow the steps below to add Azure Table tables to your project:

1. Select tables in Azure Table, then right-click a table in Azure Table, and click Add to Project.
2. In the resulting dialog, select the option to create a data object for each resource.
3. In the Select Location dialog, select your project.

   Create a Mapping

   Follow the steps below to add the Azure Table source to a mapping:

   1. In the Object Explorer, right-click your project and then click New -> Mapping.
   2. Expand the node for the Azure Table connection and then drag the data object for the table onto the editor.
   3. In the dialog that appears, select the Read option.
   

   Follow the steps below to map Azure Table columns to a flat file:

   1. In the Object Explorer, right-click your project and then click New -> Data Object.
   2. Select Flat File Data Object -> Create as Empty -> Fixed Width.
   3. In the properties for the Azure Table object, select the rows you want, right-click, and then click copy. Paste the rows into the flat file properties.
   4. Drag the flat file data object onto the mapping. In the dialog that appears, select the Write option.
   5. Click and drag to connect columns.

   To transfer Azure Table data, right-click in the workspace and then click Run Mapping.