ETL+ Metadata

DataSelf ETL+ metadata provides ETL+ entities with information and execution instructions. Every setting and configuration seen on ETL+ pages are saved in the ETL+ metadata.

Metadata tells ETL+ installations how to extract transaction data, what tables and columns should be extracted, where the data should be loaded to, and in what extraction schedule.
The ETL+ Metadata database is part of ETL+ Server.

Information Captured in ETL+'s Metadata

ETL+ metadata includes:

Names of source tables/files.
- Names and data types of each column/field in the source table/file.
- Unique/Primary keys and/or indexes.
ETL+ users' credentials
Source system names
Connection strings to connect to the source systems
Target tables and columns. See Target Objects.
ETL SQL Statements to extract data from a client’s source systems, the connection string to the data warehouse.

Metadata Seen on ETL+ Pages

The ETL+ Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) Page page displays the of the data warehouse connected to this ETL+ session. This metadata is formatted as [<MS SQL Instance Name>].[<Database name>].

Example of ETL+ configurations and settings stored in ETL+ metadata.

Description of the metadata shown on the screenshot above:

Data warehouse’s SQL instance and database name = [(local)].[DwTest]
Source connection string: source type = MS SQL Server; Server name = (local), Database name= ERP_Database
List of tables in the target data warehouse: Account, Account Class, Address
List of columns from the Address table: AddressID (int), AddressLine1 (varchar(50)), etc.
ETL SQL Statement for the Address table (right panel)
Email address of the user currently logged in to ETL+ (see User in lower left corner).

Data Not Captured in the Metadata

ETL+ metadata does not include clients' transaction data from data sources. The transaction data is securely extracted from source systems and loaded directly into the client’s data warehouse.

Custom Metadata Location

Only for customers who host their own ETL+ Server. Run ETL+ .exe file in a command line with -md parameter to configure a custom metadata location.

Example `.bat` file Running ETL+ with `-md` parameter

"C:\Program Files\DataSelf ETL Plus\DataSelf ETL Plus.exe" "-md"

**Metadata Server** page.
Triggered by the `-md` parameter when ETL+ is run by a command line with the parameter.
(see example above).

Troubleshooting

ETL+ is unable to connect to a customized ETL metadata server. See DataSelf ETL+ Release Notes & History (Download Links), version 2023.10.1905.48.