Informatica Interview Questions and Answers- Part 6

Answer:

A natural primary key refers to a column or set of columns within a database table that uniquely identifies each row based on inherent characteristics or attributes of the data itself. This is in contrast to a surrogate primary key, which is an artificially generated identifier, often an auto-incremented number, used as the primary key.

Answer:

Data concatenation refers to the process of combining or merging two or more strings or data values into a single string. It’s a commonly used operation in data transformation and manipulation tasks.

Answer:

Here are some commonly used designer tools for creating transformations:

• Mapping Designer
• Transformation developer
• Mapplet designer

Answer:

A session in Informatica represents the logical workflow and transformations applied to data, while a batch refers to a group of data records processed together to enhance efficiency and performance during ETL operations.

Answer:

The Data Warehouse System is also known as:

• BI Solution
• Data Warehouse
• Analytic Application
• Decision Support System
• Management Information System
• Executive Information System

Answer:

You can use the Sorter transformation to sort the data based on the key fields and then use an Expression transformation to identify and remove duplicates.

Answer:

The primary difference between Joiner and Lookup transformations lies in their purpose and the way they handle data. Joiners are used to combine data sets based on specified conditions, while Lookups are used to retrieve and include additional information from reference tables into the main data set. Additionally, Joiners require sorted input data and can be resource-intensive, while Lookups are more efficient and flexible for enriching data.

Answer:

• Static caches are typically found in computer processors (CPUs) and are used to store frequently used instructions or data. They are often organized in multiple levels, such as L1, L2, and L3 caches. Static caches are relatively small in size and provide very fast access times. They store instructions and data that are likely to be reused frequently by the CPU. Since these caches are built directly into the CPU, they can be expensive to manufacture but offer low latency and high throughput.
• Dynamic caches are commonly used in web servers, content delivery networks (CDNs), and other systems where data is frequently updated. Dynamic caching involves storing content in the cache temporarily and updating it as needed based on changes to the original data source. This type of caching is often used to serve personalized or frequently updated content to users. Dynamic caching requires more complex management and logic compared to static caching.

The main difference between a static and dynamic caches is that in the former, the data remains the same for the entire session, while in the latter, when a row is inserted, the cache also gets updated.

Answer:

A domain refers to a logical grouping or administrative unit that encompasses a set of related repositories and services. It serves as a management and administrative container for various components and resources within the Informatica environment. A domain provides centralized control and monitoring capabilities for the Informatica PowerCenter platform.

Answer:

Partition helps in optimizing a Session, improving the server’s efficiency, and loading a colossal volume of data.

Answer:

Complex mapping refers to a type of data transformation process that involves multiple transformations and intricate logic to convert source data into a desired target format. It typically involves using various transformation functions, expressions, filters, aggregations, and other operations to manipulate and reshape the data.

Answer:

The primary purpose of the Source Qualifier transformation is to read data from source systems and prepare it for further processing and loading into a data warehouse or another target system.

Answer:

A “Command Task” refers to a type of task within the Informatica PowerCenter ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) tool. The Command Task is a task type in PowerCenter that allows you to run operating system commands or scripts as part of your ETL workflow. The command task enables a user to define UNIX commands for tasks like deleting rejected files, generating files, duplicating files, changing filenames, and archiving files, among other functions.

Answer:

A repository refers to a central storage location that holds metadata and configuration information related to various objects used in the data integration processes. The repository acts as a control center where developers can design, develop, manage, and monitor data integration workflows.

Answer:

Following are the key components of PowerCenter:

• Integration Service
• Repository Service
• PowerCenter Clients
• Web Service Hub
• PowerCenter Service
• PowerCenter Domain
• PowerCenter Repository
• PowerCenter Administration Console

Answer:

A User-Defined Event in Informatica refers to a custom event that can be defined and triggered within the Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services platform. User-defined events provide a way for users to define and initiate custom workflows or processes based on specific conditions or triggers. These events can be used to automate tasks, initiate data transformations, send notifications, or perform any other custom actions based on the business requirements.

Answer:

Following are some unsupported repository objects for a mapplet:

• Target definitions
• Joiner transformations
• XML source definitions
• Normalizer transformations
• COBOL source definition
• Non-reusable sequence generator transformations
• Pre-session or post-session stored procedures

Answer:

COBOL Copy-book files are used as a source definition to provide support for mainframes source data.

Answer:

The summary filter can apply a record group comprising common values whereas the detail filter can apply to every record in a database.

Answer:

Here are some commonly used partition algorithms for parallel processing:

• Database Partitioning
• Pass-through Partitioning
• Key Range Partitioning
• Round-Robin Partitioning
• Hash Auto-Keys Partitioning