Create Informatica Mappings From/To a JDBC Data Source for IBM Informix

Informatica provides a powerful, elegant means of transporting and transforming your data. By utilizing the CData JDBC Driver for IBM Informix, 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 IBM Informix 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 IBM Informix 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.informix.InformixDriver

4. In the Connection String property, enter the JDBC URL, using the connection properties for IBM Informix.

   Set the following properties to connect to IBM Informix

   • Server: Set this to the name of the server running IBM Informix.
   • Port: Set this to the port the IBM Informix server is listening on.
   • Database: Set this to the name of the IBM Informix database.
   • User: Set this to the username of a user allowed to access the database.
   • Password: Set this to the password of a user allowed to access the database.

   Built-in Connection String Designer

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

   java -jar cdata.jdbc.informix.jar
   

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

   👁 Using the built-in connection string designer to generate a JDBC URL (Salesforce is shown.)
   

   A typical connection string is below:

   jdbc:informix:Server=10.0.1.2;Port=50000;User=admin;Password=admin;Database=test;

Browse IBM Informix Tables

After you have added the driver JAR to the classpath and created a JDBC connection, you can now access IBM Informix entities in Informatica. Follow the steps below to connect to IBM Informix and browse IBM Informix 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. 👁 The driver models IBM Informix entities as relational tables. (Salesforce is shown.)
   

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

Create IBM Informix Data Objects

Follow the steps below to add IBM Informix tables to your project:

1. Select tables in IBM Informix, then right-click a table in IBM Informix, 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 IBM Informix source to a mapping:

   1. In the Object Explorer, right-click your project and then click New -> Mapping.
   2. Expand the node for the IBM Informix connection and then drag the data object for the table onto the editor.
   3. In the dialog that appears, select the Read option.
   👁 The source IBM Informix table in the mapping. (Salesforce is shown.)
   

   Follow the steps below to map IBM Informix 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 IBM Informix 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 IBM Informix data, right-click in the workspace and then click Run Mapping.

   👁 The completed mapping. (Salesforce is shown.)