A session is a set of instructions that tells the Integration Service how and when to move data from sources to targets. A session is a type of task, similar to other tasks available in the Workflow Manager. In the Workflow Manager, you configure a session by creating a Session task. To run a session, you must first create a workflow to contain the Session task.

When you create a Session task, enter general information such as the session name, session schedule, and the Integration Service to run the session. You can select options to run pre-session shell commands, send On-Success or On-Failure email, and use FTP to transfer source and target files.

Configure the session to override parameters established in the mapping, such as source and target location, source and target type, error tracing levels, and transformation attributes. You can also configure the session to collect performance details for the session and store them in the PowerCenter repository. You might view performance details for a session to tune the session.

You can run as many sessions in a workflow as you need. You can run the Session tasks sequentially or concurrently, depending on the requirement.

The Integration Service creates several files and in-memory caches depending on the transformations and options used in the session.