Introduction

The same thing that makes SAP Data Services a great ETL development environment makes it quite not a trivial one to install and configure. Here though, you have to remember that Data Services is an enterprise class ETL solution that is able to solve the most complex ETL tasks.

See the following image for a very high-level Data Services architecture view. Data Services has two basic groups of components: client tools and server-based components:

Client tools include the following (there are more, but we mention the ones most often used):

• The Designer tool: This is the client-based main GUI application for ETL development
• Repository Manager: This is a client-based GUI application for Data Services to create, configure, and upgrade Data Services repositories

The main server-based components include the following ones:

• IPS Services: This is used for user authentication, system configuration storage, and internal metadata management
• Job Server: This is a core engine service that executes ETL code
• Access server: This is a real-time request-reply message broker, which implements real-time services in the Data Services environment
• Web application server: This provides access to some Data Services administration and reporting tasks via the DS Management Console and Central Management Console web-based applications

In the course of the next few recipes, we will install, configure, and access all the components required to perform the majority of ETL development tasks. You will learn about their purposes and some useful tips that will help you effectively work in the Data Services environment throughout the book and in your future work.

Data Services installation supports all major OS and database environments. For learning purposes, we have chosen the Windows OS as it involves the least configuration on the user part. Both client tools and server components will be installed on the same Windows host.