When you run a mapping in the native environment, the Data Integration Service in the Informatica domain runs the mapping. When you run the mapping in a non-native environment, the Data Integration Service pushes the run-time processing to a compute cluster in the non-native environment.

When you run the mapping in a non-native environment, the Data Integration Service uses a proprietary rule-based methodology to determine the best engine to run the mapping. The rule-based methodology evaluates the mapping sources and the mapping logic to determine the engine. The Data Integration Service translates the mapping logic into code that the engine can process, and it transfers the code to the engine.

The following image shows the processing environments and the run-time engines in the environments: