Is thr any diffrence between WebFocus Maintan and WebFocus Data maigrater tool.

They are for completely different uses.

Maintain is used to build applications with onlineGUI screens that update tables. People have done other amazing things with it.

Data Migrator is used to move data from one database to another - ETL - Extract, Transform, Load. These are tasks that are scheduled at a particular interval.

HI FRANCIS,
I HAVE OTHER QUESTION THAT,IS THESE TWO ARE DIFRENT TOOLS 'OR' ONE TOOL CAN DO THESE TWO TASKS.
MAINTAIN CAN USE AS A ETL TOOL.

I don't think you can use Maintain as an ETL tool.

You should read about the products on the Information Builders website.

Could one use just plain WebFocus (with data adaptors, Defines, and Modify) as an ETL tool ?

Actually - Maintain is the perfect ETL tool. This is because Maintain can read any database from any location and save it to any database in any location! Maintain can read an SQL file and save it as a FOCUS file. Or an Oracle file and save it as DB2. It doesn't matter. As long as you can read it, Maintain can save it.

That way you do this is as follows:
MAINTAIN FILE file1 AND file2
For all next File1.flds into stk1
Infer File2.flds into stk2
Compute I/I2=1;
Repeat stk1.foccount
Compute stk2(I).fld1 = stk1(I).fld1;
...
Compute I=I+1;
Endrepeat
For all include File2.fld1 from Stk2
END

The reason that Maintain wasn't used for the default ETL tool is you have to hardcode the field names and the file names. Maintain doesn't allow you to pass the files to the tool dynamically. But, otherwise, it's the perfect ETL tool.

Mark

Dave,

At our installation, many developers use a WF program in conjunction with Report Caster to build data marts for reporting and scoreboarding, ergo, ETL.

So yes you can and people have been doing that with FOCUS since 1975 probably.

The difference between WebFOCUS and DataMigrator is like difference between Windows XP and Windows Server.

Kernel is one (not quite, but near), but goals is different.

You can run flows in WebFOCUS and you can run WWW-server on XP.
You can run reports in DataMigrator and you can run MS Office on Windows Server.

Only it's not quite natural.
Each product is optimized for different goals and functionality can be extended with different components.

You can't run SQLServer EE on WindowsXP, you will have limits if you try WebFOCUS as integration solution.

And vice versa.

We use Data Migrator as our ETL tool, but rely HEAVILY on WF RPCs in many of our jobs. In theory, yes you could use WF + some scheduler tool (like Report Caster) as your ETL tool.

In many cases, the SQL that is required is more easily used in DM which relies more on the SQL side than the FOCUS side, (but uses MODIFY in the end for the insert/update/deletes).

MAINTAIN would work, but I would, respectfully, disagree with MaintainWizard (is there a bias there ??) MAINTAIN requires an additional license, knowledge of an entirely different "language" and the reasons Mark lists at the bottom are very key to the ETL process. Plus the fact that there is still a scheduler component that is required. All of the IBI products, not just MAINTAIN read/write any database, any location so that is a plus regardless of the tool you choose. Having used MAINTAIN in a previous life, I definitely would not use it for ETL.

Darin,

Does Data Migrator require additional licensing or is it part of the WebFocus product?

Also, how long has Data Migrator been around?

Thanks
Jim

Data Migrator is an iWay product and has been around since the mid-90's. It was known as Copy Manager in those days and has had a number of name changes since then including ETL Manager. There was a previous product called Data Migrator that sat on top of ETL Manager and was used for ERP tools.

Each and every release is more robust and industry-standard than the previous. Good stuff.

It is a separate license.

Hmm..

A question comes to my mind: does WebFOCUS Standart support SCDs on load?

Sorry to say that not everybody instantly knows what an SCD is. I'm one of them.
Could you please explain what it is that you are looking for?

quote:

Originally posted by Ingas:
Hmm..

A question comes to my mind: does WebFOCUS Standart support SCDs on load?

hmm...searched SCD in Google +8 million hits, this is very important, so if IBI can not support this it would be a shame....

SCDs = Slowly Changing Dimensions
Way for dealing with historical data in datamarts.

When a value in source data for dimension is changed this must reflects on dimension data.

Simplest case - just to update value (e.g. change incorrectly filled value)
More complex - make sequence of actions:
update old dimension record - mark record as inactive, write end date and so on
insert new dimension record - record is marked active, begin date is filled

(I recommend Kimball, Ross "Mastering Data Warehouse")

DataMigrator is supporting SCD-I and SCD-II in master-files.
So it's not needed to write sequences of UPDATE-INSERT - it's done automatically.

The question is: does WebFOCUS Standard/Maintain flows support this.
Maybe only DataMigrator as full-functional ETL do this.

Need to experiment:
simple datamart with fact table and couple of dimension tables
mark some fields in dimension tables as SCDs
create a load flow into this datamart
look what's happened

I do not have time right now
But very interested in results

PS
Hmm..
I've tried to use parallel group in flow (I'm on MAINTAIN right now)
This was first time and I couldn't make it.
But I do not understood - it was bug in DataManagement Console or it impossible in principle

You might get a better response to these questions in the "iWay Products" Forum where ETL and warehousing tools are more commonly discussed.