Metadata bridges

You can use bridges to import or export metadata. A MetaBroker® is a type of bridge.

Metadata is data about data. Metadata can describe the design, development and implementation of information systems, and the movement of data. For example, the description of a database table is metadata. The attributes and relationships of a table are metadata. The definitions of the columns in the table, the data types of the columns, and the derivations that transform the columns are metadata. Data that is collected when you run jobs in IBM® WebSphere® DataStage® and QualityStage Designer is operational metadata.

IBM Information Server provides many metadata bridges. MetaBrokers are bridges that use IBM MetaBroker technology.

Bridges convert metadata from one format to another by mapping the elements to a standard model that translates the semantics of the source and the target tool. Tools that access the repository, such as IBM WebSphere Information Analyzer, IBM WebSphere Business Glossary, and the Designer client, can manipulate these metadata objects as required by their users. When you use the Designer client, for example, you can use the imported table definitions to create jobs. When you use the glossary you can apply business terms to columns and other objects.

You can use most bridges to import metadata from a particular tool, file, or database into the metadata repository of IBM WebSphere Metadata Server. Some bridges can be used to export metadata from the metadata repository to third-party tools. For example, you can use the CA ERwin 4.0 MetaBroker to export metadata from the repository to an XML file that can be consumed by ERwin.

In addition to importing metadata into the repository and exporting metadata from the repository, users of IBM Rational® Data Architect MetaBroker can import metadata into Rational Data Architect version 7 and Rational Data Architect version 6 Fixpack 1, and export metadata from those versions of Rational Data Architect to the metadata repository.

You can use bridges to import and export the following types of objects:

Bridges support Unicode, which enables you to process data in a wide variety of languages and display data in any character set.

Related tasks
Filtering metadata
Related reference
Software requirements for using all bridges

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