Jeff's Cluttered Mind

Try this tip for managing PowerCenter connections.

Parametrize connections and use one parameter file to define them. Use the one parameter file in all your workflows. This will bring consistency to development and make it easy when connection changes are required.

Parameter files are also useful for defining “logic” related parameters or variables but define those in a separate parameter file(s). You can use separate “logic” parameter files to best fit your need, for example creating one per project, one per PowerCenter folder, etc.

In order to use two parameter files in a workflow, I recommend this technique, add the $PMMergeSessParamFile=TRUE property to the connections parameter file and define the parameter file at the workflow level (Workflow > Edit). Define “logic” parameter files at the session level.

The property $PMMergeSessParamFile=TRUE will enable the workflow to use multiple parameter files.

The connections parameter file should look something like this:

[GLOBAL]
$PMMergeSessParamFile=TRUE

$AppConnection_RFC=ECC_RFC_BAPI
$AppConnection_SAP=ECC_100
$DBConnection_DB2=DB2SERVER2
$DBConnection_SQLSERVER=SQLSERVER_33

The logic parameter file should look something like this

[GLOBAL]
$$SchemaSAP=SAPDB
$$History_Purge_Days=180
$$FailureEmail=jkinzer@achfood.com

[pwrcenterfolder.s_session_name]
$Inputfilepath=\\server\source_folder\flatfile\
$InputFileName=materials.csv

When the workflow executes, it will pull connections from the "connection" parameter file and logic parameters from any parameter files defined at the session level.

Technical information for this article was taken from the Informatica KB article "Reading Session and Workflow Parameter Files Simultaneously"

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