Introduction

The Denodo Platform 9 Certified Developer Associate (DEN9EDUCDA) exam provides organizations that use Denodo Platform 9 with a way to identify suitably qualified staff who understand the concepts and fundamentals for designing, developing, and deploying intelligent data delivery solutions with the Denodo Platform.

Denodo recognizes that not all the people interested in Denodo Certification have the same experience.

Contents of the exam

This exam covers the following technical topics and subject areas:

Preparing for the Certification Exam

Based on your previous experience with the Denodo Platform, use this guide to help plan and prepare for Denodo certifications.

If you need it, there are some examples of questions that can be found in the Exam Guide.

If you don’t have any experience using the Denodo Platform

As you might imagine, certification exams are hard, and preparation is critical to pass. So, before taking the exam, we recommend that you:

If you have taken the recommended Denodo Training courses for the Denodo 9 Certified Developer Associate exam

If you have finished the recommended Denodo Training courses to achieve the Denodo Platform 9 Certified Developer Associate certification, try to get some hands-on experience with Denodo Platform 9 before taking the certification exam.

If you already have experience with the concepts, terminology, and skills needed to develop a Denodo data virtualization project, you know the concepts of linked data and checking/solving errors, and you have advanced knowledge about data virtualization techniques and best practices needed to get the most out of Denodo logical data management projects, then you are ready to take the certification exam.

If you have taken the recommended Denodo Training courses for the Denodo Platform 8.0 Certified Developer exam

If you have completed the recommended Denodo Training courses for the Denodo Platform 8.0 Certified Developer exam, we recommend the following additional courses and resources so that you become well-versed in the latest version of Denodo Platform 9.

To do that, we recommend that you:

If you passed an older version of the Denodo Platform Certified Developer exam

Previous Denodo certifications are not compatible with the newer version. To get the new certifications, you will need to take the Denodo Platform 9 certifications exam.

Please check the Denodo Certification FAQ for additional information in this instance.

Exam Topics

In this section you will learn details about the technical topics and subject areas covered by the exam.

Logical architectures and the Denodo Platform

In this section, the examinee should demonstrate that they understand the basic concepts about logical data management:

  • The Origins of Logical Architectures
  • What is Logical Data Management?
  • Logical Data Management Main Benefits
  • Getting Started with Logical Data Management

How to prepare

This is a theoretical section that covers the basic definition, principles and use cases of data virtualization, the core technology of logical data management.

To start preparing for this section we recommend that you visit the Denodo Site where you can find helpful content, such as:  A Data Virtualization Overview

Next, start reviewing the Denodo Basics tutorial. The introduction includes a definition of the common data problems that organizations face, and how they can be solved using logical data management.

All the content related to this section is included in the official Denodo courses Introduction to Logical Architectures and Denodo Essentials.

Denodo Platform architecture and components

This section covers the basic concepts and an overview of the different Denodo Platform tools. The examinee should have some knowledge of the following topics:

  • Data Access Layer
    • Wrappers
    • Base Views
  • Data Integration Layer
    • Derived Views
    • How VDP Works When a Query is Received
  • Data Publishing Layer
    • How to Access the Created Virtual Schema
  • Basic Concepts
    • Basic VQL
    • Data Definition
    • Primary Keys
    • Folders
    • Associations
    • Query Execution
  • Starting Up the Virtual DataPort Server
  • Design Studio
    • How to Start the Tool
    • Main Areas
    • Folders
    • Available Data Sources
    • Available Operations
    • Publishing Views
    • Quick Search
    • Administration Menu
    • Tools Menu

How to prepare

This section is mainly theoretical. It is important to have a good understanding of the Virtual DataPort architectures, including the different layers and the basic concepts related to the Virtual DataPort.

First, review the official documentation that explains the General Architecture of the Virtual DataPort. In this section, the physical layer, logical layer, and user layer are explained in detail.

The best way to start learning about the basic concepts of the Virtual DataPort is to review the Denodo Basics and Data Combination tutorials, which are available in the Denodo Community.

This section also includes the basic concepts of primary keys and associations.

Here are the main options of the administration tools and the links to the official documentation

These concepts are included under the topics “Virtual DataPort. Architecture,” “Scheduler. Architecture,” “Virtual Data Port. Basic Concepts,” and “Design Studio,” included in the official Denodo course: Denodo Essentials.

Before you launch the Virtual DataPort server and the Design Studio, we recommend that you read the “Start the Virtual DataPort server” section. You can find information for the Scheduler admin tool in the “Installation and Execution” section.

You can also see the following videos, for more information about the administration tools:

Connecting to data sources

This section covers the data sources that you can connect to using the Denodo Platform. It also contains further information on the creation and configuration of base views.

How to prepare

To properly prepare for this section, it’s best to have practical experience. You can gain this experience by completing a variety of tutorials that are available in the Denodo Community. You can start by creating a JDBC data source and base views, which is covered in the Denodo Basics tutorial.

Next, there is an example in the Virtual DataPort Administration Guide, which explains how to create different data sources and base views graphically, starting with JDBC and web services data sources.

The creation of data sources and base views is very similar, as it is simply a case of changing the connection parameters. Once you have understood this process, you can review every data source in more detail in the administration tool or in the Virtual DataPort Administration guide.

As well as the basic way to create different data sources, we recommend that you also review the following information related to this section:

We recommend that you create a data source and base view of every type to check the necessary configuration and understand what is required for each data source.

All these elements are explained in more detail in the topics “JDBC,” “ODBC,” “Web Services,” “Delimited Files,” “JSON / XML,” as well as “Excel” and “Path Types in Data Sources,” in the official course Implementing My First Logical Data Integration.

Also, you can complete the Denodo Platform tutorials. In Denodo Basics, you will get more information about the different data sources available in the Denodo Platform.

Watch the following videos for more information about how to connect to different data sources:

Creating views and combining data

The Denodo Virtual DataPort uses VQL (Virtual Query Language) for data definition and data manipulation. VQL enables administrators to create and update the elements that constitute the system catalog, as well as to query and update the unified information views. The examiner should be familiar with VQL.

Please note: VQL supports two types of sentences: DDL and DML.

  • DDL (Data Definition Language): is used to create and manage views. For example: CREATE, DROP, ALTER, DESC…
  • DML (Data Manipulation Language): is like SELECT, which enables query execution and the definition of derived views.

The following section is focused on Data Definition Language to describe the process of creating the following types of views using our example to illustrate the process:

  • Base Views
  • Selection Views
  • Union Views
  • Join Views
  • Flatten Views
  • Intersect Views
  • Minus Views

How to prepare

The examinee should be able to understand the VQL language. The best way to prepare for this section is to create different elements and execute different queries in the VQL Shell. Here is a list of all the main parts of the VQL language:

All the information related to VQL is contained in the guide "Virtual DataPort VQL Guide". The Implementing My First Logical Data Integration course also contains all the information related to this section under the topics "Execution of Denodo Views" and "View Management."

In the Denodo Basics and Data Combination tutorials you will get more information about how to create views using the Virtual DataPort.

And you can also get more information in the following videos:

Executing Views

The Virtual DataPort supports normal queries, but it also contains a set of predefined stored procedures and enables users to create new custom stored procedures.

Please note: VQL supports two types of sentences: DDL and DML. To refresh:

  • DDL (Data Definition Language): is used to create and manage views. For example: CREATE, DROP, ALTER, DESC…
  • DML (Data Manipulation Language): is like SELECT, which enables query execution and the definition of derived views.

This section is focused on the Data Manipulation Language including how to execute your views, which can combine data from different sources:

How to prepare

The examinee should be able to understand all the available operations in the Virtual DataPort and how to configure them. These are all the operations that are contained in this section:

In the following videos you will find more information about how to execute Denodo Platform views:

Execution traces and logs

This is an important section for administration. You should be able to understand the logs and how to resolve issues

How to prepare

To be able to handle any potential issues that arise when using the Denodo Platform, an administrator should understand the following

All of this information is included in the official course, "Implementing My First Logical Data Integration."

Development best practices

The final section of this exam is related to organizing your developments (including database management, user management, and roles) with your team.

How to prepare

The Virtual DataPort includes several ways to organize your developments, the most important of which are:

All of this information is available in the sections entitled "Data Virtualization Project Management" and "Development with Version Control Systems" in the course Denodo Project Management.

Enabling caches in Denodo Platform views

Virtual DataPort incorporates a system called a "cache module", which can store a local copy of the data retrieved from data sources in a JDBC database. The questions in this section relate to information about how to configure, load, and perform maintenance on the cache module.

How to prepare

The configuration of the cache database is done in the Server Administration menu; the exam taker should understand:

To understand the cache module, we recommend that you enable the cache and change the configuration, understanding the results in every case.

You can practice with the cache using the Caching tutorial. This lets you enable the cache and check the results on your views.

Information related to the cache database is included in the topic "Cache" of the course "Advanced Features of Denodo Views".

Publishing data services

This section contains questions related to accessing the views created in the Virtual DataPort. It includes questions about how to publish REST and SOAP web services, Denodo RESTful web services, and clients that can be used to consume the data.

How to prepare

This section can be divided in three sections:

  1. Publishing web services: This part contains questions about how to publish SOAP and REST web services. The best way to prepare for this section is to publish and configure a few views and consume data from these views by calling the created web service.
    • SOAP Web Service: We recommend creating this type of web service, publishing different views, and calling them. Other important aspects of this type of web service that should be reviewed are the created WSDL, the configuration of input/output fields, and advanced configuration.
    • RESTful Web Services: The best way to gain practical experience with this is to practice creating RESTful web services, publishing different views, and reviewing how they can be called using the different available formats (HTML, JSON, XML, RSS). Other parts that should be reviewed are how to configure input/output fields, advanced configuration, and URL format.
  2. Denodo RESTful Web Services and Associations: The RESTful web service of the Denodo Platform is an HTTP service that publishes the contents of the entire Virtual DataPort server. We recommend that you access this web service and review the following:
    • The types of resources exposed by the RESTful web service
    • How to invoke the RESTful web service
    • The URI format of the RESTful web service
    • HTTP methods and their equivalent VQL statements

    Associations represent relationships between views. Users can navigate through associations using navigation queries or the RESTful web service. The best way to understand associations is to create them and then use navigational queries and the RESTful web service to understand how to navigate between associated views.

  3. Client access to Virtual DataPort: Finally, exam takers should know other ways to access the virtual data layer. The most important ways to execute queries to the Virtual DataPort server are:
    • Access through JDBC: We recommend that you connect with the Virtual DataPort server using a database tool like DBVisualizer.
    • Access through ODBC: To test this connection we recommend that you use an ODBC client like WinSQL.
    • Web services (as explained above).

All of this information is included in the topics "Data Services," "Data Services. SOAP", "Data Services. REST", "Associations", and "Denodo RESTful WS" in the official course "Building API Services with Denodo".

You can also practice with the following Denodo Platform tutorials:

More information is available in the following videos:

Conclusions

In this guide, we have reviewed all the sections that are part of the Denodo Platform 9 Certified Developer exam, with details and links to the official documentation. As we have indicated in different sections, the best way to understand the Denodo Platform and to acquire practical experience is by creating and configuring the different parts that we have explained in every section.

After reviewing all the materials, please see the example questions in the Denodo Platform 9 Certified Developer Associate Exam Guide at this link.