Extract, Transform, and Load Gmail Data in Informatica PowerCenter

Informatica provides a powerful, elegant means of transporting and transforming your data. By utilizing the CData ODBC Driver for Gmail, 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 create a simple Workflow in Informatica PowerCenter to extract Gmail data and load it into a flat file.

Add Gmail as an ODBC Data Source

If you have not already, install the driver on the PowerCenter server and client machines. On both machines, specify the connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

There are two ways to authenticate to Gmail. Before selecting one, first ensure that you have enabled IMAP access in your Gmail account settings. See the "Connecting to Gmail" section under "Getting Started" in the installed documentation for a guide.

The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, can be set to valid Gmail user credentials.

Alternatively, instead of providing the Password, you can use the OAuth authentication standard. To access Google APIs on behalf on individual users, you can use the embedded credentials or you can register your own OAuth app.

OAuth also enables you to use a service account to connect on behalf of users in a Google Apps domain. To authenticate with a service account, register an application to obtain the OAuth JWT values.

In addition to the OAuth values, provide the User. See the "Getting Started" chapter in the help documentation for a guide to using OAuth.

Create an ETL Workflow in PowerCenter

Follow the steps below to create a workflow in PowerCenter to pull Gmail data and push it into a flat file.

Create a Source Using the ODBC Driver

1. In PowerCenter Workflow Manager, add a new ODBC relational connection by going to Connections -> Relational, and in the first window select the ODBC type and click New. 👁 Create a Relational Connection to the DSN. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
2. In the Relational Connection Editor, set the name of the newly created connection and set the User Name and Password based on the credentials utilized to connect to your Repository. Under the Connection String input your System DSN, which by default is called 'CData Gmail Sys'. 👁 Relational Connection Editor. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
3. In PowerCenter Designer, connect to your repository and open your folder. If you do not already have a folder created, you will need to manually create a folder for your repository. To create a folder, open Informatica PowerCenter Repository Manager, connect to your Repository Service and go to Folder -> Create to create a new folder. 👁 Create a new Folder.
   
4. Select the Source Analyzer, click the sources menu, and select Import from Database... 👁 Import from Database.
   
5. In the drop-down menu for ODBC data source, select the DSN you previously configured (CData Gmail Sys).
6. Click connect and select the tables and views to include.
7. Click OK. 👁 Select DSN and Tables/Views to Import. (Salesforce is shown.)
   

Create a Flat File Target Based on the Source

1. Select the Target Designer and drag and drop the previously created source onto the workspace. Using the existing source copies the columns into the target.
2. Right-click the new target, click edit, and change the database type to flat file. 👁 Create a Flat File target for the Workflow. (Salesforce is shown.)
   

Create a Mapping to Between Gmail Data and a Flat File

1. Click on the Mapping Designer.
2. Drag the source and target to the workspace (name the new mapping, if prompted).
3. Right-click on the workspace and select Autolink by Name.
4. Drag the columns from the source qualifier to the target definition. 👁 Link columns from source to target. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
5. Save the folder (Ctrl + S).

Create Workflow Based on the Mapping

With the source, target, and mapping created and saved, you are now ready to create the workflow.

1. Right-click the mapping and select generate workflow to open the Workflow Generation wizard.
2. Create a workflow with a non-reusable session.
3. Ensure that you have properly configured the connection object and set the prefixes. If you have not already done so, you will need to create an Integration Service. To create an Integration Service, open your Administrator site, and under Domain, create a new PowerCenter Integration Service. Under the PowerCenter Repository Service, select the Repository you are referring to, and as Username and Password, use your Administrator login information. 👁 Created Integration Service. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
4. Configure the Connection as needed.
5. Review the Workflow and click Finish. 👁 Review the Workflow. (Salesforce is shown.)
   

With a workflow created, you can open the PowerCenter Workflow Manager to access and start the workflow, quickly transferring Gmail data into a flat file. With the CData ODBC Driver for Gmail, you can configure sources and targets in PowerCenter to integrate Gmail data into any of the elegant and powerful features in Informatica PowerCenter.