Getting Started with Oracle Data Integrator 11g: A Hands-on Tutorial (Paperback)
Oracle Data Integrator is Oracle Corporation's premier software product for integrating data across an organization's lines of business. It addresses the need to move data among transaction processing systems, data warehousing implementations, business intelligence tools, master data management, so-called "big data," and the like. It is fully integrated with the Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Enterprise Data Quality.
As an instructor and consultant for the better part of my 40+ year professional career, I have always sought to share with my students value-added collateral that reinforces the lessons I teach them in the classroom (either through traditional or live virtual class settings). I've shared white papers, links to documentation both inside and outside of vendors' mind space and the results of personal research via email threads and blogs. I eagerly anticipate that someone will create a well-written primer that's driven by the needs of a critical mass of product users.
Such is the case with the new book, Getting Started with Oracle Data Integrator 11g: A Hands-on Tutorial. The authors of this practical, easy to digest, 384 page paperback (available also as an e-book) are directly involved with the development and support of the product known by its users simply as "ODI." They ostensibly avoided creating just another rehash of vendor documentation, opting instead to "accelerate your learning of ODI 11g" through hands-on lessons.
As they mention in the first few pages, they hope to "highlight the key capabilities of the product in relation to data integration tasks (loading, enrichment, quality, and transformation" by exposing the key productivity features inherent in a code generator that automates the implementation of much of the required logistics traditionally hand-coded in conventional ETL (Extract-Transform-Load) processes.
They illustrate sample use cases that transcend the mundane, offering examples that exploit a varied set of relational database tables, text files and XML (Extensible Markup Language) data. In keeping with their tutorial focus, they maintain an educational perspective, demonstrating how the features and functions of the tool are used in real-world situations. Their "number one goal is to get you familiar, comfortable, and successful" using the product. In my professional opinion, I believe that the entire book is faithful to their objectives.
With chapters that cover every critical topic from a brief but effective review of ODI terminology, architecture and concepts, through product installation, application development and administration, the authors provide a comprehensive look at the tool without bogging the reader down in minutia. They cover the use of database technologies like MySQL, Oracle database and Microsoft SQL Server. Best of all, the entire book has an enthusiastic tone. As they say, "If it is not obvious by the time you finish reading this book, we
I, too, am a zealous devotee of ODI. I have worked with the product ever since Oracle Corporation acquired the French company known as Sunopsis a half-decade ago. Several of the authors were among those who developed and marketed what has evolved into Oracle Data Integrator 11g. I've taught well over 1,000 people how to be successful with ODI in those intervening years. I welcome this new book as an essential title in the library of every student I teach going forward. I will heartily recommend it to everyone "interested in, or responsible for, the content, freshness, movement, access to, or integration with data."
One final comment: I pride myself on being well-versed in ODI. I kept track of all the techniques and observations about this software that I may not have fully exploited, despite my experience. When I was finished reading the book, I had compiled a list of about a dozen features that were interpreted in significantly better ways than I've traditionally explained them! My hat's off to the team who wrote this excellent book!
(This book is available via http://www.amazon.com or directly from the publisher, Packt Publishing at the following URL):
Paperback Edition: Getting Started with Oracle Data Integrator 11g: A Hands-on Tutorial
Kindle Edition: Getting Started with Oracle Data Integrator 11g: A Hands-On Tutorial
Location: Kingston, NJ (USA)
