Synchronize with Virtual DataPort¶

Data Catalog needs to keep a copy of Virtual DataPort’s catalog for proper operation. To create this copy the first time and to keep it updated, you have to launch a synchronization process. Go to the Administration menu and select the Sync with VDP option. The synchronization between both catalogs follows these steps:

1. Find changes in databases. Data Catalog compares the databases in its own catalog with the current databases in Virtual DataPort’s catalog.

2. Show changes in databases. Data Catalog shows a dialog with the changes it found: what databases have been modified, which ones have been removed and which new databases have been created since the last synchronization.

3. Apply changes to databases. If you confirm the changes, the Data Catalog will update its copy of the catalog with the changes it found.

4. This process is repeated for views and web services.

5. Retrieve VDP tags. Data Catalog shows a dialog with the list of tags found in Virtual DataPort. Select those tags you want to synchronize and they will be imported into Data Catalog. This step is only available with the Semantics FeaturePack.

The image below represents an example of the dialog that the Data Catalog shows with the changes it found.

Dialog with the changes found in web services during the synchronization¶

In this dialog you will find the following information:

• Modified elements. This list shows the elements previously synchronized that still exist in Virtual DataPort, but contain some of the following differences:

  • Its description has changed.

  • The description of any of its fields has changed.

  • Its schema has changed. In this case, its name will be preceded by an icon.

  If there are modified elements, you will need to make a decision on how the descriptions of these elements should be updated:

  • Server with local changes. The descriptions will be overwritten with the ones from Virtual DataPort, except for the ones that have been edited from Data Catalog, that will be preserved.

  • Local. The descriptions from Data Catalog will be preserved.

  • Server. The descriptions will be overwritten with the ones from Virtual DataPort.

  The schemas will always be updated after synchronizing to reflect the ones in Virtual DataPort.

• New elements in server. This list shows the elements in Virtual DataPort that did not exist in the last synchronization and, therefore, they are not currently present in Data Catalog. They will be created after synchronizing.

• Elements removed from server. This list shows the elements previously synchronized that are not currently present in Virtual DataPort. They will be removed from Data Catalog after synchronizing.

• Renamed elements. If a view or web service previously synchronized has been renamed in Virtual DataPort, it will appear in the list New elements in server, with its new name, and in the list of Elements removed from server, with its old name. To preserve all metadata in Data Catalog about it, you need to indicate the correspondence between those two elements by dragging one of them and dropping it into the other one. This correspondence will appear in the list of Renamed elements. If you want to remove the correspondence, click its icon.

The image below shows the dialog to select the VDP tags that will be synchronized.

Dialog with the tags found in Virtual DataPort during synchronization¶

In this dialog you should take into consideration the following aspects:

• The check box will be disabled if a tag with the same name already exists in Data Catalog.

• Previously synchronized tags will be selected by default.

• If some tag no longer exists in Virtual DataPort, it will not be shown in the dialog and it will be removed from Data Catalog during the synchronization process.

• If you confirm the changes, the Data Catalog will import the selected VDP tags with their descriptions and their assignments to views and view fields.