Solving Operational Business Intelligence with InfoSphere Warehouse Advanced Edition

18 Solving Operational Business Intelligence with InfoSphere Warehouse Advanced Edition

which can include other relational databases such as Oracle and Microsoft SQL

Server. These remote data sources are made to appear as local tables within the

DB2 instance, with InfoSphere Federation Server hiding the true complexity of

connecting to these remote sources.

This funcitionality benefits the business by allowing the data warehouse to

extend its profile to remote data sources, either in support of the ETL process or

in providing real time views of the data while creating business reports.

2.1.5 InfoSphere Replication Server

InfoSphere Replication Server provides a solution to the need for data

distribution, data synchronization, and data consolidation between the

warehouse and applications within the enterprise environment. Both SQL-based

and queue-based replication models are supported within the replication server,

providing high-volume, low latency replication with conflict detection and

resolution.

InfoSphere Replication Server includes support for partitioned database

environments, automatically merging the changes captured from logs. Although

data filtering can be used to ensure that only the data of interest is replicated,

conflict detection and resolution features can also allow backup systems to be

utilized to even out production workloads.

2.1.6 Advanced access control

Implementing a data warehouse solution demands many requirements, one of

which is the security of the data contained within. Included within InfoSphere

Warehouse Advanced Edition is advanced access control functionality.

Within an enterprise environment, with many users and application requesting

access to the data contained within the warehouse, an enterprise security

authentication process of validating these users and applications is required. IBM

Advanced Access Control allows these users or applications to authenticate

through an enterprise Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) server, an

advanced security process involving Kerberos, or using custom authentication

plug-ins, thereby allowing security to be managed from a central location within

the enterprise and driving down administration costs.

Row and Column access control with DB2 10 allows fine-grained control of what

data within a table a user can access. The ability to restrict access to particular

rows and to mask columns, while the user is unaware of the missing data,

reduces both administration and storage, thus driving down costs.