Informatica FAQ

Requirements

What are the supported Operating Systems for the Informatica Cloud Secure Agent?

Detailed Informatica Supported Platform information can be found in Informatica's Installation and Getting Started Guide Supported Platforms and System Requirements.

Are there other requirements such as DNS entries, static or reserved IPs, and firewall rules for this agent? 

No

 

What data will be transported using Informatica? Will it include PII?

We expect that all data imports will be done using Informatica, including daily updates from your SIS, which will certainly include PII. Here's a document on Informatica Cloud Security policies if there are questions/concerns. 

 

What is included in my Informatica Cloud license?

The standard Informatica Cloud license structure includes two (2) Connections (flat file and Salesforce), one (1) Production Org, one (1) Sandbox Org, and up to two (2) Secure Agents. If there is a need for more components, please contact your Account Executive.

Install

Can we use the Informatica Cloud hosting facility referenced in Informatica documentation?

Because your data files reside on your campus network, it's necessary for some software to be on the same network to get that data into "the cloud".  We don't have clients using the Informatica Cloud hosting facility, because doing so would require establishing a separate secure file transfer mechanism between your campus network and the hosted box with the agent on it. Having the secure agent on your own server allows you to keep your data files on your network.

 

Do I have to use the Default Directory Structure outlined in the instructions?

No. You are not required to use the Default Directory Structure (DDS) that is provided to you in the .zip file. However, all of the pre- and post-processing commands in the standard imports and exports migrated to your Informatica Org refer to the  DDS. If you choose to use a different path, you may need to modify the pre- and post-processing commands in your Informatica Cloud Data Synchronization Tasks.

 

Does the secure agent have to be installed on a server?

The agent just needs to be installed on a Windows or Linux machine that meets the specifications. We generally recommend a server, so there aren't issues with the agent shutting down. More detailed information can be found in the Informatica article: Minimum requirements and best practices when installing Informatica Cloud Secure Agent. 

 

For the IP address ranges, is the connection being initiated from the server running the Secure Agent, or from one of those IPs? 

The connection is being initiated from the server running the Agent.

 

In the user guide it states “When you install a Secure Agent on Windows, the Secure Agent must be part of the local Administrators group. “ Does this mean that the Secure Agent creates it’s own user account, or that the account being used to install the program must be an administrator?

The account being used to install the program must be an administrator on the server.

 

The user guide also states “On Windows, configure a network login for the Secure Agent service. The Secure Agent can access the network with the privileges and permissions associated with the login.” What is this account used for? 

This is related to above - you can create a new user on the machine for the agent, or use an existing administrator account to run the agent. You just have to have a user with admin privileges to run the agent. 

 

Is a Windows or Linux server preferable?

Either Linux or Windows are acceptable as long as they meet the specs we’ve shared, but if you have a choice, we see fewer issues with setup on Windows.

 

What are the specific server specifications needed? 

Detailed Informatica Cloud Secure Agent information can be found in Informatica's Installation and Configuration Guide Verify the Minimum System Requirements.

 

What credentials do I need to use in the Informatica Secure Agent? 

The Secure Agent requires credentials to access your Informatica Cloud org. When prompted, enter the username and password for your direct log-in. This is not your Salesforce username or password. 

To reset your password, log-in to Informatica via Single-Sign on in the CRM. Navigate to the Administer tab and click Users. Passwords can be reset by an Administrator of the Informatica org. 

Note: Please do not use special characters in the user name or password, it will cause a Login Failed when setting up the agent.  

 

What do the Informatica Post-Processing Commands do?

Informatica Cloud post-processing commands are used to archive files after they are imported/processes from the Informatica "dropbox" folder.

The syntax for post-processing commands depend on:

The Agent’s operating system:

• Windows OS --> Batch script commands
• Linux OS --> Shell script commands

The location of the default directory

Example post-processing command for a task flow making use of Powercenter, as taken from a Windows ACT task with the default dropbox location: (new lines added for readability)

MOVE %TargetX_ETL_Dir%\TargetX\dropbox\ACT_Data.txt

%TargetX_ETL_Dir%\TargetX\archives\ACT\^"ACT_%DATE:/=-%.txt^" &

DEL %TargetX_ETL_Dir%\TargetX\dropbox\ACT_Data.csv

The above example has two discrete operations

Move ACT_Data.txt from the dropbox folder to the ACT archive folder, using today’s date for the new filename.

^"ACT_%DATE:/=-%.txt^" is a piece of work to fully understand, but it effectively becomes ACT_<today>.txtwhere <today> is replaced with some rendition of the current date.

Delete ACT_Data.csv from the dropbox folder. The Powercenter task created this using ACT_Data.txt, and it’s no longer needed. Only Powercenter flows should use this. 

If we add some color-coding, it would look something like:

If you plan to run the same process on multiple files in the same day, you will want to consider the following, which includes a time stamp:MOVE %TargetX_ETL_Dir%\TargetX\dropbox\ACT_Data.txt
%TargetX_ETL_Dir%\TargetX\archives\ACT\^"ACT_%DATE:/=-%%TIME::=-%.txt^"

 

What firewall port(s) do I need to have open on the Informatica Cloud Secure Agent machine?

The Informatica Cloud Secure Agent makes outbound communication to the Informatica Cloud server. You would have to provide access to tcp port 443.

 

What Port needs to be open for the secure agent? 

Port 443. 

 

What IP Address ranges does the Secure Agent use?

https://kb.informatica.com/faq/7/Pages/20/524982.aspx?myk=secure%20agent%20ip%20address%20ranges

 

When does the installation of the secure agent need to be completed? 

TargetX will provision the tool and set up your account, connected to your Salesforce org. In order for it to be fully functional, we just need the Secure Agent installation completed. Once we provision Informatica Cloud we’ll send an email with detailed instructions for the Secure Agent Installation. The installation does not need to happen right away. In my experience, the installation shouldn't take more than an hour if the instructions are followed carefully. 

 

Where do we obtain the needed installation documentation, files, etc?

We’ll send an email with detailed instructions for the Secure Agent Installation as well as the folder structure that needs to be set up on the server.

 

Why is Secure Agent necessary?

The Informatica Cloud Secure Agent is a lightweight program that runs tasks and enables secure communication across the firewall between your organization and Informatica Cloud (the data integration tool provided with your TargetX contract). The agent is essentially the "pathway" across your firewall so data files can be stored on your secure server, but the data can be transferred (securely) to cloud services like Salesforce. 

When the Secure Agent runs a task, it connects to the Informatica Cloud hosting facility to access task information. Then the Secure Agent connects directly and securely to sources and targets, transfers data between sources and targets, and performs any additional task requirements.

 

Why does the person installing the software needs to be a Salesforce/Informatica user?

The person installing the secure agent needs be both a Salesforce and Informatica user so they can log into Salesforce and connect to the proper Informatica org. Their Salesforce license could be de-activated after the installation, if the user doesn’t need to continue to be a Salesforce user.  

 

Configuration

Does the secure agent utilize a service account vs. an individual user account? 

The secure agent can utilize a general “service” account or an individual user account (licensing is the same in Salesforce). It's a good idea - and fairly common practice among our clients - to set up a service account without password expiration, so that account can be used for Informatica connectors to Salesforce as well as your form connectors. 

 

 

How do I create or update an Informatica Crosswalks/Lookups?

Create a Comma-Separated-Values (.csv) file with Current & New values - in Columns A & B respectively

1. Place *.csv Lookup file in the Informatica lookup_files/ directory
2. Go to Data Services > Data Synchronization
3. Edit the desired Task
4. Go to the tab labeled “5. Field Mapping”
5. Under “Target” / “Actions”, click the middle icon to Add or Edit lookup

 

What are the file naming conventions for the TargetX Standard Import and Export Processes?

The naming conventions can be found in the standard imports and exports article. 

Who will be using this agent and how will it be accessed?

The agent is accessed by the Informatica Cloud tool. Users sign into Informatica Cloud using single sign-on through Salesforce. So once the agent is configured, no one should need to access it directly, per se, except perhaps for an occasional reboot.

Data

How are the files transferred to the server? 

In addition to installing the agent, we'll have you set up some folders on the server for your files. How files are transferred to the server is up to you - most of our clients give admissions folks access to drop files on the server, some have their end users go through IT.

 

Will any data reside on Informatica servers?

All data files moving into the TargetX CRM will be placed on your server, and those files will be loaded into the CRM using Informatica Cloud. If we create any data exports from the CRM as part of your implementation, the files generated by those processes would be placed on the server as well. No data passes through or resides on Informatica's servers. Informatica Cloud only stores the metadata required to perform tasks.

Errors

To review specific error messages, see Resolving Common Informatica Integration Errors.

Where can I view the Data Synchronization Task error files?

Informatica Cloud generates error rows files for data synchronization tasks. An error rows file shows rows that failed and the reason each row failed. 

Previewing the Error Rows File

You can Preview the first 25 rows and first 50 columns of the error rows file from All Jobs or Running Jobs in Monitor, or on the My Jobs page in Data Integration:

From the Landing page, click Monitor:

Click any of the options on the left, such as All Jobs. Hover over the Failed status to view errors or Copy the error message.

For additional information on Data Integration job log files, see Informatica’s article Data Integration job log files.