IBM InfoSphere DataStage Reviews

I use IBM InfoSphere DataStage mostly for the ETL process of extraction, transforming, or loading data. For example, when I need to extract information from consumer tables, I then perform cleansing, remove duplicates, do standardization, and finally load the data into a data warehouse itself.

I was working with a client that was a bank. As a bank has many transactions per day, I was using IBM InfoSphere DataStage to customize a new table for the company that we were providing services. We performed the whole process of extraction, transforming, or loading.

I also use the orchestrator in IBM InfoSphere DataStage to run pipelines, schedule pipelines, and define roles.

The best features IBM InfoSphere DataStage offers, in my opinion, is the graphical development interface that helps developers in a sense that there's minimal coding. You can interpret the work that you're doing because you understand what you're doing. It's also scalable and reliable.

The governance and security are very robust in a sense that you can provide an authorization scheme. It's not the case that everyone has access to the pipelines or the data that you're trying to consume. In that sense, it is very safe. The governance is improving, and I haven't tried that many features about it.

The learning curve for IBM InfoSphere DataStage can be difficult for new users, even if there's a graphical design. However, it becomes challenging when working with advanced configurations. A quick tutorial guideline would be very useful.

The licensing cost setup for IBM InfoSphere DataStage confused me at first. I was unclear about how it works for different types of organizations. The explanation was not clear to me.

I have three years of experience using IBM InfoSphere DataStage, combining my previous data analyst position at another company.

IBM InfoSphere DataStage is pretty consistent. I haven't seen any downtime besides sometimes the troubleshooting process, but it is very documented, which is good.

IBM InfoSphere DataStage's scalability is not something they need to worry about because it works with tons of data, and I was able to scale my database.

IBM InfoSphere DataStage's customer support is very open about questions. They help me with tickets, so I think it's good. Overall, it's good.

IBM InfoSphere DataStage was the first tool I used. It was introduced to my company, and I'm not involved in the part of choosing the tool. They assigned the tool to me, but I think it went well.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing was that there was not a clear differentiation between these tiers of costs. For me, that was one of the things that was a shock. I think it could be better overall.

I would say time saved is the benefit with IBM InfoSphere DataStage. Instead of performing three things separately, now it's done in one thing. I cannot talk about return of investment because I'm not in the position that manages finances, but in the end, I think time saving would be the best benefit.

The cost is mostly expensive. Dividing the cost of the three features I mentioned before, it's expensive because you also have to add to that the platform that you're running into. However, if you have everything in one platform and you understand the flow of the data from the beginning to the end, it's very helpful.

I was working with a client that was a bank. As a bank has many transactions per day, I was using IBM InfoSphere DataStage to customize a new table for the company that we were providing services. We performed the whole process of extraction, transforming, or loading.

I heard about testing data orchestration from Google Cloud Services before choosing IBM InfoSphere DataStage, because this other competitor has BigQuery as a tool and they have other platforms to perform the extraction, transforming, and loading of data.

IBM InfoSphere DataStage has a lot of features, but it needs improvement too.

I would rate IBM InfoSphere DataStage an eight out of ten because the learning curve for people at the beginning is the main concern, and since you don't have tutorials on the tool, it makes you waste time going to other platforms to see how it works. It's mostly because of that. However, overall it's a good tool. I think it's very convenient.

Regarding IBM InfoSphere DataStage's accuracy and reliability of output, I would say yes to some extent because I haven't tried the tool that far. It brings the best AI hints and prompts that you need to improve accuracy and reliability.

I would recommend trying IBM InfoSphere DataStage. It's very useful for medium to large companies that require a reliable and scalable data integration solution. My overall rating for this product is eight out of ten.

The primary use case is that we are using IBM InfoSphere DataStage to extract the data from the different source systems to build the warehouse.

In IBM InfoSphere DataStage, especially in the transformers or stages, there are no features to call the programs directly. Generally, we are making it as a batch file or PowerShell, calling it as a batch file. If there were any provision or option to call the script directly instead of calling the batch file, it would be much better.

I have leveraged IBM InfoSphere DataStage's integration with IBM's Information Server suite, and it is indeed beneficial.

There is no issue with IBM InfoSphere DataStage's graphical interface for designing data flows, but I will provide feedback that we are gathering the source from the Oracle database mainly, as well as from some spreadsheets. With respect to the Oracle DB Connector, if you write any PL/SQL or SQL with the connectors, there aren't many options, such as executing procedures in the PL/SQL, executing functions, or executing packages. The Oracle connector doesn't have many features and needs improvement.

Nowadays many people are writing programs in Python or in PL/SQL with respect to Oracle, so especially in IBM InfoSphere DataStage, there are no features to call programs directly instead of calling them as a script.

What I am facing, especially with parallel processing, is that a developer and admin have to sit together. They have to run the job multiple times with different combinations of parallel processing to get the best performance. Instead of that, if the job itself gave some guidance, such as running this parallel processing with this many nodes, it would help; I think that is missing.

An additional feature I would want to see in the next release is the ability to work on logs, especially machine logs or artificial logs, to pull semi-structured or unstructured data without having to write extensive code in Python and integrate it. If IBM InfoSphere DataStage provided some feature for this, it would help.

I have been using IBM InfoSphere DataStage for almost 16 years.

We are not facing any issues with the product, and I have already closed the ticket.

There is an issue with evaluating the performance of IBM InfoSphere DataStage's parallel processing capabilities because it is dependent on the server capacity. We need to create the virtual nodes and the APT_CONFIG file; then only we will get the features of parallel processing. If the job provided suggestions about running this kind of parallel processing and how many virtual nodes are required, it would help.

The technical support by IBM is very good. I rate their support as nine on a scale from one to ten.

Positive

I was involved in the deployment of IBM InfoSphere DataStage, as I am also a DataStage administrator. The deployment has no issues, and it is good, but the installation generally takes a very long time. There are multiple screens and processes we have to complete, creating new users and applying fix patches, and I think the installation needs to be made simpler.

IBM InfoSphere DataStage is on-premises.

So far, we have not utilized IBM InfoSphere DataStage's metadata management features.

Eighty-five percent of the debug issues are solved once we read the job log regarding IBM InfoSphere DataStage's debugging tools, but there are still some issues. For example, when the job fails, we are not getting proper log file generation. The log is generated at the finish and only produces a certain kind of log, for example, a log generated with 40 or 50 lines. The job fails at the first stage, and it has to be stopped at that stage and give a proper log; now that is missing.

My experience with it is good; I recently got a chance to use it again.

For reading the machine log in IBM InfoSphere DataStage, I would rate it only a two because there's not much improvement in this area.

I would want the feature with which you can deal with unstructured data to make it into structured data.

I rate IBM InfoSphere DataStage a six out of ten.

Positive

We are using IBM DataFeeds for data conversion activities and also for data warehousing. Our team focuses on converting data from a legacy system to a modernized platform. We use this solution quickly for data conversion and for the data warehousing aspect.

It is mostly the ETL part that we have been using, including DataStage and the ETL side of it. It is straightforward from a design and development perspective, and also for deployment. The failure detection has been very useful for us, as well as the load balancing feature.

We predominantly use this for the Oracle side of things. I wonder if it supports other areas, such as cloud environments with open source support, or EdgeShift. I am unsure of whether it supports other databases like Postgres or Redshift.

I have used this solution for more than five to 12 years.

There could have been issues in terms of the network, the system side, or the data itself, but not from the tool's perspective.

The support has been really good. Typically, if we have any issues, we raise a ticket with IBM, and they help us resolve the issues if required. We also have the flexibility to submit a feature request to be included as part of the wishlist, potentially becoming a product feature in subsequent releases.

I would rate it as eight. I think the first time we do it, it might be a bit difficult. However, later on, we document the necessary steps and try to automate them. Once the data is available, it is easy to use.

Typically, we have only one or two people involved in the deployment and configuration. It does not require more than that.

We do not have all the required administrative access to do it by ourselves. Sometimes, we need to collaborate with other teams, such as networking and system teams. There is a lot of collaboration across the board, and it really depends on the support we get from them. Once the software is set up in terms of configurations, it should be easier for us to build. 

I would rate the solution as eight out of ten.

The tool is used for ETL. It is one of the leading tools in the industry.

It is a very helpful and cost-effective tool for ETL. Data-rich industries use such tools to transform tons of data into insights. The solution is very easy to use. The documentation is self-explanatory. The product performs well. It can be used when we deal with tons of data and millions of records and want to transform it and connect with multiple databases. It can do such operations in the shortest period. It is one of the USPs of the tool.

The product must improve logging. It must also improve the navigation guide. When there is an issue, the product must give us insight into why a particular task failed. The troubleshooting guide is very bad. There is no detailed documentation, and the troubleshooting must be done manually. It is a time-consuming task. We must spend much time finding the root cause of a particular task or execution failure. It is very difficult to find an expert in DataStage.

I have been using the tool for six years.

The solution is quite mature. It has been in the technology ecosystem for more than two decades. In 2008 and 2009, the solution did not have some connectors. However, the product designers gave us the flexibility to design our connectors. Custom features were always available in the product. It was quite helpful for the end users.

Less than 100 people are using the solution in our organization.

The support team needs to understand the importance of end users. If the user reaches out to the team for support, the resolution and turnaround time must be very quick. IBM must put a strong team that can improve the customer experience.

Neutral

The initial setup is quite easy.

DataStage’s cost is one-third of that of Informatica. The solution is cheap. Any client would opt for it.

In 2008, Informatica was the only competitor. However, the price and licensing cost of Informatica was very high. So, we used IBM InfoSphere DataStage. After 2013, several other tools like Talend were launched. Informatica was also revamped. Many tools in the cloud follow the ideologies of DataStage and Informatica. Informatica has always been the most expensive tool, though. DataStage can do everything that Informatica can do.

I deal with companies from the healthcare industry. The solutions are largely cloud-based. In data-rich industries like telecom or BFSI, such tools are extensively used. Healthcare also has a lot of data. I will encourage people to use the solution. It is quite an easy tool.

Every stage has a help guide. It’s an extensive documentation. We can understand the purpose of a stage, how the connection has to be set up, how to set up a username and password, and whom we should contact. New users must start using the tool and explore it. They might have to invest ten days or two weeks to understand the workflows and options. It is easy to learn. My company is a partner with IBM.

Overall, I rate the product a nine out of ten.

We used various ETA steps, such as SDGs and data management. We employed DataStage for integration, governance, data management, and data quality cleaning steps. Additionally, we leveraged real-time data applications for projects in both government and corporate sectors. I have over five years of experience with DataStage and am familiar with all steps, methodologies, best practices, and ETL strategies.

Traditional companies still prefer the on-premise version. DataStage has also improved its connectors, such as connectivity with Kafka for real-time data integration, cloud connectors, and others like Spark and HVAC SaaS. All these processes are expected to shift to the cloud in the next five years. It's a very robust tool, much like PowerCenter. Many companies, including large enterprises, use DataStage for all their integration needs.

IBM InfoSphere DataStage offers robust data integration capabilities. It provides powerful data and methodology management features compared to other tools like Power Exchange. For example, DataStage allows you to integrate various data sources and manage transformations efficiently. Unlike other tools, DataStage enables comprehensive impact analytics from source to target in a unified interface. While DataStage continues to evolve, it remains a solid choice for ETL processes. Advancements in cloud integration and data connectors are expected to enhance IBM's offerings further.

The deployment could be more straightforward.

I have been using IBM InfoSphere DataStage for three years.

Our support team connected in minutes of government compliance because we encountered issues with our CDC methodology. We utilized DataStage to push data from the source to a file, but unfortunately, the file was lost during transmission to the target. This change caused numerous problems. To resolve them, we discussed, identified the issues, and re-sent all requirements, steps, and logs to fix the problem. This involved contacting the support team and referencing the support ID.

Positive

When deploying using IBM InfoSphere DataStage, the initial steps involve defining the source and target connections. The first step is establishing these connections, ensuring data can flow from the source to the target.

Subsequent steps, such as implementing changes or updates, can be approached in two ways. If a change data capture mechanism like IBM InfoSphere or similar tools like Oracle GoldenGate is available, DataStage can leverage these tools to propagate changes. Alternatively, if such mechanisms are not in place, DataStage can handle updates using its ETL capabilities, which may require more effort.

DataStage performs incremental updates when dealing with large and smaller reference tables. 

Numerous jobs in IBM InfoSphere DataStage have higher costs. By addressing these issues, we've improved performance rates by more than 200%. We identified costly steps in DataStage that are causing poor performance, such as inefficient lookups and joining operations. By optimizing these steps and addressing issues with strategy and design, we've reduced maintenance efforts and unnecessary SQL queries. While some steps still require manual intervention, IBM developers are actively considering these challenges, as they are common across many companies.

IBM InfoSphere DataStage is versatile in integrating with both data lakes and traditional enterprise data warehouse systems. It supports ETL processes such as data standardization, cleaning, conforming, and transformation. We utilize DataStage to embed SQL code from source systems, enabling efficient data transformation and calculation. For performance optimization, we employ push-down optimization techniques.

In IBM InfoSphere DataStage, we leverage parallel processing for all steps and data movements, employing a push-down methodology for handling big data. This approach involves parallelizing sessions and harnessing DataStage's robust mechanisms for highly efficient and scalable data processing.

If you are maintaining or have developed IBM InfoSphere DataStage, for example, you can use the scenario view to push data from the source staging area or source mechanism. We also support real-time data if you need real-time data, although we haven't changed that aspect here. We primarily use the ETA tool to push data into a specified layer in real-time. However, we handle data loads periodically, such as monthly or weekly. For instance, if a manager or end-user requires weekly or monthly reports, we can run all the necessary steps using the Semantic layer. We can adjust our model accordingly based on the customer or end-user's reporting needs, whether monthly or yearly.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

We primarily use IBM InfoSphere DataStage for ETL scenarios, extracting, transforming, and loading data across various systems efficiently. Although we experimented with using it for real-time or on-time integrations in the past few years, our main focus remains on its strength in traditional batch data integration processes.

The most valuable feature for our data processing needs is IBM InfoSphere DataStage's capability to handle ETL tasks with large record volumes. 

Improvements for DataStage could include better integration with modern data sources like cloud solutions and documents, along with enhancing its capability to handle non-structured data.

I have been working with IBM InfoSphere DataStage for almost four years.

I would rate the stability of DataStage at around eight out of ten. While it is generally stable, occasional issues arise due to our team not consistently following best practices during process development, impacting server installations.

I would rate the scalability of DataStage at around seven out of ten for our organization because our licensing is based on CPUs, which complicates scaling without hardware adjustments.

I would rate IBM's support for InfoSphere at around five out of ten. It is complicated due to the reliance on our partner and integrator for support, which sometimes affects the quality of assistance we receive directly from IBM.

Neutral

The initial setup of DataStage, implemented through an IBM partner in Mexico, faced challenges due to partner skill gaps, leading to some complications. Deployment took around one to two years until the system became more stable, and currently, a team of three handles maintenance and support, with two individuals at level two communicating with IBM for assistance.

Before choosing IBM, we evaluated Data Factory from Azure. The main difference lies in DataStage's strength in handling large-scale scenarios for data integration, while Data Factory is more suitable for specific service scenarios and may require complementary tools for broader use cases, like email integration.

We have used IBM InfoSphere DataStage effectively for managing Big Data within our products, particularly in scenarios involving large volumes of records for ETL processes. However, we have seen that for near real-time or on-time integration tasks, DataStage may not be optimal due to its resource-intensive nature.

DataStage's scalability has indeed supported our data growth, particularly for ETL tasks involving large volumes of data, enabling us to manage increased data loads effectively.

The scalability of DataStage supported our data growth by allowing us to manage increased data loads effectively, primarily through optimizing the usage of the tool rather than inherent scalability features. However, we faced challenges with real-time processing as DataStage could not trigger processes based on events like emails, requiring us to schedule tasks at intervals, which limited its suitability for real-time scenarios.

DataStage integrates with our existing IT infrastructure by connecting to our manufacturing processes and systems like ERP and SAP. It facilitates integration by consolidating data from various sources, enabling us to view unified information across our systems.

I would recommend DataStage for data integration, especially for SQL data and ETL tasks.

Overall, I would rate DataStage at a seven out of ten. While it is a robust solution for data integration and ETL tasks, there is room for improvement in adopting more modern architectures to meet evolving needs.

The primary use case for IBM InfoSphere DataStage is related to standard business intelligence (BI) and extract, transform, load (ETL) operations.

DataStage is pretty good if the target is an IBM product like Netezza or Netezza on Cloud Pak. The optimization they do is much better compared to writing to non-IBM products. It generates highly efficient backend code to write data onto IBM systems, which I find valuable. The team was able to use it to address the requirements of the users.

They can provide better support for non-IBM tools when it comes to the target. Specifically, with Snowflake, there is no push-down optimization, which is a drawback when using DataStage.

I have had experience with DataStage for about three to four years.

I would rate their customer service and support at eight out of ten.

Positive

We did not switch over from a different solution. This is what we started with.

The initial setup was straightforward. It was a few weeks project to set everything up.

We are happy with what we are seeing. We are able to manage our requirements with the tool so far.

I do not have access to the pricing or standard licensing fee information.

I was exploring and came to PeerSpot to evaluate different solutions.

For our requirements, we are able to manage with DataStage, and the support is good. I would recommend it to others. 

I rate the overall solution an eight out of ten.

I use it for ETL processes and data quality. 

DataStage facilitated our peak data integration projects. For example, big data integrations have happened, particularly when we worked with BigQuery files... that integration server.

DataStage parallel processing capabilities have improved data tasks. When I worked with DataStage, it could handle around two terabytes of data. We have other appliances as well, but we're processing data concurrently. It was good. My team supported it well, and everything worked fine.

The GUI was good. Compared to Cloud Pak for Data, we have some enhanced connectors in the standard InfoSphere DataStage version. That standard version is really good; it's easy to use.

When we want to find out the absolute quality of data, the governance features really helped. For example, when we tried to identify discrepancies between systems, it worked well.

The most valuable feature for me is the connectors. Basically, the availability of connectors is strong.

Compared to other ETL tools, DataStage has excellent debugging and development capabilities. And the availability of connectors, even though we sometimes have to opt for specific ones. Also, the availability of patches is good.

I also reached out to teams when procuring specific connectors. That process would sometimes take time, but ultimately, DataStage worked well in that regard.

DataStage is a standalone product, but from what I understand, support for this version will end in 2026. Customers will need to use Cloud Pak for Data.

That's what I heard when we were doing an assessment for one of the biggest banks. They are migrating to Cloud Pak for Data because of the support timeline.

I have been using it for seven years now. 

The product is stable. I would rate the stability an eight out of ten. 

I'd rate the scalability a nine out of ten. I've used other solutions like Informatica, but I find IBM DataStage more comfortable in terms of scalability.

I work primarily with enterprise businesses.

There's room for improvement in customer service and support. They should put more effort into this.  When we reach out for support, answers from the R&D team can take a long time. 

Neutral

In terms of intermediate storage, we have some challenges, especially with customers who store data in intermediate locations. 

Also, when we migrated from standard DataStage to Cloud Pak for Data, we faced a lot of challenges surrounding data latency. 

One client is located at two different locations, about 900 miles away, and they have strict expectations for low latency between systems. The initial infrastructure setup was fine, but we had intermittent storage issues. 

We relied on other service providers to assist in that situation.

The deployment time depends. Sometimes, it's just a few hours, depending on the applications involved. When I did a large migration from one version to another, it took almost a month to migrate about 20,000 processes. 

If there are no code changes in the system, the migration might take about a day. In some cases, where there are code changes, it could take even longer.

The pricing is competitive but on the higher side of the pricing scale.

It depends on the project's budget. For very large enterprise-level projects, DataStage is still a good choice.

If they're already using DataStage, definitely. If it's a new implementation, there are other tools with competitive pricing that might be worth considering.

Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten. 

I'm working for an insurance provider. They have applications where they register claims, insurance, et cetera. We get a flat file from the vendor and put those flat files into our Oracle Data Warehouse and report on the data. We publish those reports to our institutional investors, partners, and business users, including banks. 

The performance is good.

It is working fine.

The solution is stable.

It can scale well.

There can be data quality issues sometimes. It might not be the application. It may be a human error or an issue with the users or developers as well. 

The initial setup can be complex. 

I've been using the solution for a year.

The solution is very stable and reliable. We use it in production without issue.

It is scalable and easy to extend. We have had issues with our data pipelines and were able to scale up within a few days. 

There are around 150 users on the solution right now. 

We do have plans to increase the number of users. We can easily increase or decrease as needed. 

I've never used IBM technical support. 

Another product was used previously. We are a financial services organization. We've used Oracle as the financial business suite. With Oracle, there is DB2 in the back end. There are SAP data services used as well, and there's integration between the applications. 

I did not directly set up the solution. 

Right now, we have the product on-premises.

It is an IBM tool, and there are a lot of steps to deploy it. It's not straightforward. You need to have experience. You need to create replication objects, and you need to learn the commands and scripts. It can be quite complex. 

You do need to have some third-party assistance. A consultant needs to assist with the setup. 

The company has a contract with IBM. I'm not sure of the exact pricing. 

I'd rate the solution seven out of ten. 

I haven't used it too much. I need more time with the solution. 

Whether another user should try it or not depends on the environment. If you already have a lot of Oracle applications, it might make sense. It can do everything any other ETL can do.