PowerCenter Version 8.

6
New Features and Enhancements
This document describes new features and enhancements in PowerCenter 8.6:
♦ Command Line Programs, 1
♦ Code Pages, 1
♦ Datatypes, 1
♦ Designer, 1
♦ Functions, 2
♦ Integration Service, 2
♦ Mapping Architect for Visio (Data Stencil), 2
♦ Metadata Manager, 3
♦ Reference Table Manager, 3
♦ Transformations, 4
♦ Web Services Hub, 4
♦ PowerChannel, 4
♦ PowerExchanges (PowerCenter Connects), 4

Command Line Programs

♦ New infacmd commands. The infacmd command line program includes two new commands,
CreateRTMService and UpdateRTMService. For more information, see the PowerCenter Command
Reference.

Code Pages
♦ Compatibility. PowerCenter, PowerExchange, and Complex Data Exchange support the same code pages.

Datatypes
♦ Byte. PowerCenter imports the Informix Byte datatype as a Binary transformation datatype. The minimum
value of the Byte datatype is 1 byte. There is no maximum value. For more information, see the PowerCenter
Designer Guide.
♦ Uniqueidentifier. PowerCenter imports the Microsoft SQL Server uniqueidentifier datatype as a Microsoft
SQL Server Varchar datatype of 38 characters. For more information, see the PowerCenter Designer Guide.

Designer
♦ Workflow Generation Wizard. You can use the Workflow Generation Wizard to create workflows and
sessions from a mapping. For more information, see the PowerCenter Designer Guide.

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 Functions
♦ INSTR function string comparisons. When the Integration Service runs in Unicode mode, you can use the
comparison_type argument to specify whether the INSTR function performs linguistic or binary string
comparisons. For more information, see the PowerCenter Transformation Language Reference.

Integration Service

Logging
♦ Access log files with the high availability option. If you run a session on a primary node that becomes
unavailable, the Log Manager on the backup node can access log files that are stored in a shared location
specified by an absolute path. For more information, see the PowerCenter Administrator Guide.

Parameters and Variables

♦ Get the workflow run ID. Use a built-in mapping variable, session parameter, or workflow variable to get
the workflow run ID. For more information, see the PowerCenter Workflow Administration Guide.

Partitioning
♦ Based on number of CPUs. You can configure dynamic partitioning to set the number of partitions equal to
the number of CPUs on the node that prepares the session. If the session is configured to run on a grid,
dynamic partitioning sets the number of partitions equal to the number of CPUs on the node that prepares
the session multiplied by the number of nodes in the grid. For more information, see the PowerCenter
Workflow Administration Guide.

Performance
♦ View percentage of time a thread spends in each transformation. The session log includes details about the
percentage of time the Integration Service took to process each transformation in a thread. For more
information, see the PowerCenter Performance Tuning Guide.

Real-time Recovery
♦ Improved recovery. The Integration Service writes real-time session recovery information to a queue. The
queue helps maintain data integrity during recovery so no data is lost or duplicated.
When you enable recovery for a real-time session that reads from a JMS or WebSphere MQ source and
writes to a JMS or WebSphere MQ target, the Integration Service writes recovery information to a recovery
queue. The recovery queue stores the reader state, the commit number, and the message ID that the
Integration Service committed to the target. When you recover a session, the Integration Service uses the
recovery information to determine where it stopped processing.
The Integration Service also writes recovery information to a recovery ignore list for a failed JMS or
WebSphere MQ session. The recovery ignore list stores message IDs that the Integration Service wrote to the
target for the failed session. The Integration Service writes recovery information to the list if there is a
chance that the source did not receive an acknowledgement. When you recover a session, the Integration
Service uses the recovery ignore list to prevent data duplication.
♦ Partitioning. You can add partitions to a real-time session that includes a JMS or WebSphere MQ source
and is enabled for recovery.
♦ Resilience. Resilience is available if you have the real-time option.
For more information, see the PowerCenter Workflow Administration Guide.

Mapping Architect for Visio (Data Stencil)

♦ Name change. Data Stencil is renamed Mapping Architect for Visio.

2 PowerCenter Version 8.6 New Features and Enhancements

 ♦ Terminology changes. Data Integration stencil is renamed to Informatica stencil. Data Integration toolbar is
renamed to Informatica toolbar.
♦ New mapping objects. You can include a Stored Procedure transformation in a mapping template or you can
create a mapping template from a mapping that contains a Stored Procedure transformation. You can create
a mapping template from a mapping that contains a mapplet. Or, you can import a mapplet and add the
related mapping objects to the mapping template. Mapplet properties are read-only.
♦ Shortcuts. You can configure a source definition or a target definition to use a shortcut. You can create a
mapping template from a mapping that contains shortcuts to sources or targets.
♦ Reusable transformation. You can configure a transformation to be reusable. You can create a mapping
template from a mapping that contains a reusable transformation.
♦ Multiple pipeline generation. When you import a mapping template in the Designer, you can create a
mapping with more than one pipeline.
♦ Workflow Generation Wizard. You can launch the Workflow Generation Wizard from the Import Mapping
Template Wizard.
For more information, see the PowerCenter Mapping Architect for Visio Guide.

Metadata Manager
♦ Business Name attribute. A metadata object attribute you can use to identify metadata objects according to
their business usage. For more information, see the Metadata Manager Custom Metadata Integration Guide
and the Metadata Manager User Guide.
♦ Data lineage. You can configure the number of resources that appear when you launch a data lineage
diagram and configure the number of resources that appear when you navigate the data lineage diagram. For
more information, see the Metadata Manager User Guide.
♦ Export and import custom attributes. Export or import custom attributes and business name attributes for
packaged resource types. You can export custom attributes for metadata objects in a packaged resource type
to an Excel file, edit the attribute values in the Excel file, and import the attributes into the metadata
catalog. For more information, see the Metadata Manager Custom Metadata Integration Guide.
♦ Objects Relationship Wizard. Use the Objects Relationship Wizard to create relationships for multiple
custom metadata objects in the metadata catalog. For more information, see the Metadata Manager User
Guide.

Metadata Exchanges
♦ IBM DB2 z/OS. Extract metadata from IBM DB2 z/OS.
♦ Netezza. Extract metadata from Netezza.
For more information, see the Metadata Manager Administrator Guide.

Metadata Manager Service

♦ Oracle service name. You can specify an Oracle service name or SID for a Metadata manager repository on
Oracle.
♦ Oracle RAC. You can configure Oracle RAC for a Metadata Manager repository.
For more information, see the PowerCenter Administrator Guide.

Reference Table Manager

♦ Reference Table Manager application. A web application used to manage reference data that is stored in
reference tables. Use Reference Table Manager to create, edit, import, and export reference data. You can also
manage user connections and view user information and audit trail logs. For more information, see the
PowerCenter Reference Table Manager Guide.

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 Transformations
♦ HTTP. You can let the Integration Service determine the authentication type of the HTTP server when the
HTTP server does not return an authentication type to the Integration Service. Or, you can specify the
authentication type for the Integration Service to use.
♦ Unstructured Data. The Complex Data transformation is renamed to Unstructured Data transformation.
Complex Data Exchange is renamed to Data transformation. You can define additional ports and pass
output rows to relational targets from the Unstructured Data transformation. You can create ports by
populating the transformation from a Data Transformation service. You can pass a dynamic service name to
the Unstructured Data transformation with source data.
For more information, see the PowerCenter Transformation Guide.

Web Services Hub

♦ Processing chunked messages. The Web Services Hub can process chunked messages from web service
clients. For more information, see the PowerCenter Web Services Provider Guide.

PowerChannel
♦ Windows EM64T support. You can run a PowerChannel Server on Windows EM64T (64-bit). For more
information about PowerChannel, see the PowerChannel User Guide.

PowerExchanges (PowerCenter Connects)

PowerExchange for SAP NetWeaver BI (BW Option)

♦ Name change. PowerExchange for SAP NetWeaver BW Option is renamed PowerExchange for SAP
NetWeaver BI. For more information, see the PowerExchange for SAP NetWeaver User Guide.

PowerExchange for SAP NetWeaver (mySAP Option)

♦ Name change. PowerExchange for SAP NetWeaver mySAP Option is renamed PowerExchange for SAP
NetWeaver.
♦ Real time sessions with SAP/ALE IDoc Prepare transformations. You can run a real-time session when the
mapping contains an SAP/ALE IDoc Prepare transformation.
♦ Table type parameters. You can import BAPI/RFC transformations from BAPIs that contain table type
parameters.
For more information, see the PowerExchange for SAP NetWeaver User Guide.

PowerExchange for Web Services

♦ Authentication type configuration. You can let the Integration Service determine the authentication type of
the web service provider when the web service provider does not return an authentication type to the
Integration Service. Or, you can specify the authentication type for the Integration Service to use. For more
information, see the PowerExchange for Web Services User Guide.

4 PowerCenter Version 8.6 New Features and Enhancements