IBM DataStage Interview Questions and Answers
Ques 1. What is IBM DataStage?
IBM DataStage is an ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) tool used for designing, developing, and running jobs that move and transform data.
Example:
In DataStage, you can create a job to extract data from a source, transform it, and load it into a target database.
Ques 2. Explain the main components of a DataStage job.
DataStage jobs consist of stages, links, and containers. Stages represent processing components, links define the flow of data, and containers group stages and links.
Example:
A DataStage job may have stages for reading data from a file, transforming it using a transformer stage, and loading it into a database.
Ques 3. What is the purpose of a Transformer stage?
The Transformer stage is used for transforming data within a DataStage job. It allows you to define expressions, derive new columns, and apply various transformations to the data.
Example:
You can use a Transformer stage to concatenate two columns, calculate a sum, or convert data types.
Ques 4. Differentiate between a Sequential File and a Dataset stage.
A Sequential File stage is used for reading and writing data in a row-wise manner, while a Dataset stage is used for parallel processing of data in chunks or partitions.
Example:
If processing a large dataset, using a Dataset stage can improve performance by leveraging parallel processing.
Ques 5. What is a Surrogate Key and why is it used in Data Warehousing?
A Surrogate Key is a unique identifier for a record in a data warehouse. It is typically a system-generated key used to maintain data integrity and enable efficient data warehousing operations.
Example:
In DataStage, a Surrogate Key may be generated using a Sequential File stage or a database sequence.
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