IBM InfoSphere DataStage is a high-quality data integration tool that aims to design, develop, and run jobs that move and transform data for organizations of different sizes. The product works by integrating data across multiple systems through a high-performance parallel framework. It supports extended metadata management, enterprise connectivity, and integration of all types of data.
The solution is the data integration component of IBM InfoSphere Information Server, providing a graphical framework for moving data from source systems to target systems. IBM InfoSphere DataStage can deliver data to data warehouses, data marts, operational data sources, and other enterprise applications. The tool works with various types of patterns - extract, transform and load (ETL), and extract, load, and transform (ELT). The scalability of the platform is achieved by using parallel processing and enterprise connectivity.
The solution has various versions, catering to different types of companies, which include the Server Edition, the Enterprise Edition, and the MVS Edition. Depending on which version a company has bought, different goals can be achieved. They include the following:
- Designing data flows to extract information from multiple sources, transform the data, and deliver it to target databases or applications.
- Delivery of relevant and accurate data through direct connections to enterprise applications.
- Reduction of development time and improvement of consistency through prebuilt functions.
- Utilization of InfoSphere Information Server tools for accelerating the project delivery cycle.
IBM InfoSphere DataStage can be deployed in various ways, including:
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As a service: The tool can be accessed from a subscription model, where its capabilities are a part of IBM DataStage on IBM Cloud Park for Data as a Service. This option offers full management on IBM Cloud.
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On premises or in any cloud: The two editions - IBM DataStage Enterprise and IBM DataStage Enterprise Plus - can run workloads on premises or in any cloud when added to IBM DataStage on IBM Cloud Pak for Data as a Service.
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On premises: The basic jobs of the tool can be run on premises using IBM DataStage.
IBM InfoSphere DataStage Features
The tool has various features through which users can integrate and utilize their data effectively. The components of IBM InfoSphere DataStage include:
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AI services: The tool offers services such as data science, event messaging, data warehousing, and data virtualization. It accelerates processes through artificial intelligence (AI) and offers a connection with IBM Cloud Paks - the cloud-native insight platform of the solution.
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Parallel engine: Through this feature, ETL performance can be optimized to process data at scale. This is achieved through parallel engine and load balancing, which maximizes throughput.
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Metadata support: This feature of the product uses the IBM Watson Knowledge Catalog to protect companies' sensitive data and monitor who can access it and at what levels.
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Automated delivery pipelines: IBM InfoSphere DataStage reduces costs by automating continuous integration and delivery of pipelines.
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Prebuilt connectors: The feature for prebuilt connectivity and stages allows users to move data between multiple cloud sources and data warehouses, including IBM native products.
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IBM DataStage Flow Designer: This feature offers assistance through machine learning design. The product offers its clients a user-friendly interface which facilitates the work process.
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IBM InfoSphere QualityStage: The tool provides a feature that automatically resolves data quality issues and increases the reliability of the delivered data.
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Automated failure detection: Through this feature, companies can reduce infrastructure management efforts, relying on the automated detection that the tool offers.
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Distributed data processing: Cloud runtimes can be executed remotely through this feature while maintaining its sovereignty and decreasing costs.
IBM InfoSphere DataStage Benefits
This solution offers many benefits for the companies that utilize it for data integration. Some of these benefits include:
- Increased speed of workload execution due to better balancing and a parallel engine.
- Reduction of data movement costs through integrations and seamless design of jobs.
- Modernization of data integration by extending the capabilities of companies' data.
- Delivery of reliable data through IBM Cloud Pak for Data.
- Utilization of a drag-and-drop interface which assists in the delivery of data without the need for code.
- Effective data manipulation allows data to be merged before being mapped and transformed.
- Creating easier access of users to their data by providing visual maps of the process and the delivered data.
Reviews from Real Users
A data/solution architect at a computer software company says the product is robust, easy to use, has a simple error logging mechanism, and works very well for huge volumes of data.
Tirthankar Roy Chowdhury, team leader at Tata Consultancy Services, feels the tool is user-friendly with a lot of functionalities, and doesn't require much coding because of its drag-and-drop features.
JumpMind SymmetricDS is a powerful data replication software that provides synchronization software solutions for both databases and filesystems. This software is platform-independent and web-enabled as well as database agnostic. JumpMind SymmetricDS creates prompt bi-directional data replication while scaling to a large amount of nodes and working in close to real time across both WAN and LAN networks. This allows companies to integrate data using the feature for continuous change data capture.
This data replication software allows companies with limited network bandwidth or bad connectivity to benefit from excellent cloud conditions. The greatest benefit of JumpMind SymmetricDS is its vast integration across databases, streaming platforms, and data warehouses. Some of the relational databases where this data replication software can be used include Oracle, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Sybase, Informix, Ingres, Tiber, and VoltDB. NoSQL databases like MongoDB, Apache Cassandra, and Azure Cosmos are also compatible with the JumpMind SymmetricDS data replication software. The data warehouses that are compatible with this software include Teradata, SAP HANA, Azure-SQL server by Microsoft, BigQuery, Amazon Redshift, Pivotal Greenplum, and Snowflake data warehouse. Providing coverage of so many databases and warehouses allows broad outreach of the JumpMind SymmetricDS across many different companies and users.
JumpMind SymmetricDS Features
JumpMind SymmetricDS offers many valuable features, including:
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Easy setup and configuration processes: JumpMind SymmetricDS’s web interface allows even beginners to grasp its basic functions. There is an option for a configuration tour, which provides an explanation of how changes can be applied. This feature helps experienced specialists to operate faster while also providing guidance on usage for complete beginners.
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Flexible data replication: Users can synchronize data across remote networks' nodes with low bandwidth usage, allowing their configuration as well as that of groups.
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Monitoring and troubleshooting: JumpMind SymmetricDS users can access graphically visualized data replication through the main dashboard, allowing them to identify any errors and resolve them in a timely manner.
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File synchronization: Users can run continuous or periodic synchronization of the copying their files between multiple nodes. The synchronization can wait during periods of downtime and resume once the network is available.
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Performance and scaling: JumpMind SymmetricDS quickly synchronizes data with a large number of databases.
Other features include tools for conflict detection and resolution, embedding and extending, filtering, subsetting, and transforming.
JumpMind SymmetricDS Benefits
The benefits of using JumpMind SymmetricDS include:
- Ability to replicate thousands of databases and file systems in near real time
- Support of a wide range of database platforms, data warehouses, and operating systems
- Many value-added features
Reviews from Real Users
According to the CEO at a non-profit, JumpMind SymmetricsDS is fully featured and is also very easy to use and install. He finds it to be self-explanatory to use and says that their support is very good.
