Services on a node in an Informatica domain use TCP/IP to connect to services on other nodes. Because services can run on multiple nodes in the domain, services rely on the Service Manager to route requests. The Service Manager on the master gateway node handles requests for services and responds with the address of the requested service.
Nodes communicate through TCP/IP on the port you select for a node when you install Informatica Services. When you create a node, you select a port number for the node. The Service Manager listens for incoming TCP/IP connections on that port.
The following figure shows an overview of the connectivity for components in the platform:
The platform uses connection objects to define connectivity information for source and target databases. The connection objects can use native or ODBC connectivity. The Data Integration Service uses connection objects to connect to sources and targets.
The services and clients connect in the following ways:
Model Repository Service
The Model Repository Service uses JDBC to read or write data and metadata in the Model repository. It uses TCP/IP to communicate with the Data Integration Service and the clients.
Data Integration Service
The Data Integration Service uses ODBC or native drivers to connect and read data from a source database and write data to a target database. It uses TCP/IP to communicate with the Model Repository Service, Content Management Service, and client applications.
Informatica Developer
The Developer tool uses TCP/IP to send data transformation requests to the Data Integration Service. It uses TCP/IP to communicate with the Content Management Service to manage reference tables, probabilistic model files, and to retrieve configuration and status information for identity population files and address validation reference data files. When you preview mappings or data objects in the Developer tool, it uses JDBC or ODBC drivers to connect to the source or target database to fetch the metadata required for preview.
Informatica Analyst
The Analyst Service uses TCP/IP to send requests to the Data Integration Service. It uses TCP/IP to communicate with the Content Management Service to manage reference tables. When an Analyst tool user previews profiles or objects, the Analyst Service fetches the metadata that the preview requires from the source or target database. The Analyst Service uses JDBC or ODBC drivers to connect to the source or target database.
If you use ODBC to connect to the source or target database, install the ODBC driver on the node where the Analyst Service runs.
The Analyst Service can also connect to an exception management audit database. The exception management audit database is a centralized audit trail for the work that Analyst tool users perform on Human task instances. The Analyst Service uses JDBC drivers to connect to the exception management audit database.
Content Management Service
The Content Management Service manages the locations and other properties for reference data. The Content Management Service uses TCP/IP to communicate with the Data Integration Service to read and write data in reference tables. The Content Management Service uses JDBC to communicate directly with the reference data warehouse when it creates reference tables.
If multiple instances of a Content Management Service exist in an Informatica domain, the master Content Management Service updates the Data Integration Service. The master Content Management Service uses TCP/IP to communicate with the Domain Service to identify the Model Repository Service and the Data Integration Service to use.