26 Solving Operational Business Intelligence with InfoSphere Warehouse Advanced Edition
2.2.1 InfoSphere Warehouse core architecture
At the center of the InfoSphere Warehouse lies the DB2 relational database
engine, which provides not only a repository for user data, but also the
infrastructure to support the many functional operations performed on the data.
Together with the InfoSphere Warehouse application hosted within a
WebSphere Application Server, these elements combine to form the runtime
component of an InfoSphere warehouse solution.
A number of client products, Data Studio, Design Studio, and web browser,
provide the development tools and administration components required in the
support of these runtime elements. Figure 2-1 shows the complete functional
component architecture of InfoSphere Warehouse.
Figure 2-1 Functional component architecture of InfoSphere Warehouse
Application Server Components
WebSphere Application Server
Administration Console
SQW Warehouse Tool
Cubing Services
Data Server Components
DB2 Enterprise Server
Workload Manager
Data Mining
Client
Components
Design Studio
and
Web Browser
Chapter 2. Overview of InfoSphere Warehouse Advanced Edition 27
The instance of the DB2 relational database at the core of the data warehouse
can be configured either as a single or multiple partitioned database, and
installed on a single hardware server or on numerous hardware servers, as
detailed in 2.3.1, “Scenarios for implementing InfoSphere Warehouse core
products” on page 60.
This DB2 flexibility results in significant power being available to the main
repository of your warehouse data, often called the
execution database. In
addition to the main data repository and execution database, the same DB2
instance hosts two additional databases. These much smaller databases contain
the metadata required by both the InfoSphere Warehouse runtime and the
Cognos BI server applications. Figure 2-2 details the DB2 instance and the
default application databases.
Figure 2-2 Databases contained within the DB2 instance
The DDSDB metadata database holds information relating to the InfoSphere
Warehouse runtime component including such details as:
???? Database connection and JDBC drivers
???? SQL Warehousing (SQW) applications, including control flow, job variables,
and system resources
???? Scheduling details of the SQW jobs
???? The progress of SQW job instances and their statistics, time taken to execute,
completed successfully or not, and logs
Name change: In InfoSphere Warehouse 10.0, the metadata database is
called DDSDB. In earlier versions of InfoSphere Warehouse, the metadata
database was known as SQWCTRL.
DB2 Instance
DB2 Customer / Execution
Database
Cognos BI
Metadata repository
'COGNODB'
InfoSphere Warehouse
Metadata repository
'DDSDB'
28 Solving Operational Business Intelligence with InfoSphere Warehouse Advanced Edition
The COGNODB metadata database contains the information needed by the
Cognos BI server and Cognos Frameworks. This includes such items as the
reports created, data source connections, and the modelling information used
within Cognos Frameworks.
There should never be a reason for direct connection to either of these metadata
databases by users or administrators, with only the respective runtime
applications requiring to make connections to access the data within. With this in
mind, both products supply tools for the administration of these metadata
databases because without them, the runtime element of InfoSphere Warehouse
and the Cognos BI server will not function.
Storing important business data is not the only function that DB2 has to perform.
A major part of any data warehouse is the requirement to perform ETL processes
upon the contained data. It is because of this requirement that the full power,
performance, and functionality of DB2 can be applied.
The second major component of InfoSphere Data Warehouse is the runtime
application component. This enterprise Java application performs a number of
important functions within the complete solution, including:
???? The administration console for the InfoSphere Warehouse solution
???? Storing, executing, and managing the ETL processes
???? Storing and managing the cubing services
???? Storing and managing the data mining services
Figure 2-3 shows the InfoSphere Warehouse Administration Console.
Figure 2-3 InfoSphere Warehouse Administration Console
Chapter 2. Overview of InfoSphere Warehouse Advanced Edition 29
Because the runtime and admanistration console component is a J2EE Java
application, it requires hosting within an application server. For this reason,
InfoSphere Warehouse comes supplied with a licensed copy of IBM WebSphere
Application Server.
During the installation of the InfoSphere Warehouse product, its installation tool
configures a single instance of a WebSphere Application server that can be
implemented in a number of configurations.
This installation tool then installs the InfoSphere Warehouse runtime component
(which is a Java application labeled “IBMDataToolsWeb”) into this instance, as
shown in Figure 2-4.
Figure 2-4 InfoSphere warehouse runtime J2EE application IBMDataToolsWeb
The InfoSphere Warehouse administration console has a web-based interface
that allows any browser to be used in the configuration and management of the
functional elements of the runtime environment. Thus, a single browser can be
utilized to handle all production, test, and development environments.
To connect to the InfoSphere administration console, point a browser at this
address, where Hostname is the IP address of where the InfoSphere Warehouse
application is hosted, 9080 is the default port used by the application, and
/ibm/console is the location of the initial login window:
http://Hostname:9080/ibm/console
30 Solving Operational Business Intelligence with InfoSphere Warehouse Advanced Edition
Application users can be defined during the initial product install by using the
WebSphere Administrative Console, or as the defined users of the native
operating system.
After logging into the console with a valid user, the initial Welcome window is
presented as shown in Figure 2-3 on page 28. A user can enter the Warehouse
Management Console through the My Tools section, or launch the WebSphere
administrative console through the My Configuration section.
The Links section of the Welcome panel contains web links to help and to IBM
educational website resources.
The “Open” button is located on the top left corner of the Welcome window.
When Open is selected, it displays the main menu to various sections of the
console. Figure 2-5 on page 31 shows these sections:
???? InfoSphere Warehouse
– Introduction: The initial help information
– SQL Warehousing: For ETL application installation, management, and
execution
– Cubing Services: For the management of cubing services
– Mining: For the management of mining flows
???? Common Services: shared factilites among the various elements of SQL,
cubing, and mining
– Manage Connections: For defining connections to different data sources
– Manage Data Server Drivers: For defining new JDBC drivers to different
types of data sources
– Manage System Resources: For defining system resources such as
variables used within flows, servers, and their host names
– Configuration: For configuring elements of the system, that is, logging
locations and email services
– Manage Logs: For viewing logs from SQL execution instances and cubing
services
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