ETL Links
The presented below websites’ goal is to clear up to the reader the idea of ETL, its ways of usage and useful nuances.
ETL Tools
The websites on the Internet might be divided into two opposite categories. The first group of sites provides a lot of knowledge of different subjects but the offered information are generic and cursory. The second group represents sites offering accurate and detailed knowledge, but their subject area is usually little.
The ETL-Tools.Info portal seems to meet the expectations of both groups’ followers.
It provides both a high level articles on ETL, Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence as well as detailed technical tutorials on Datastage (IBM Infosphere), SAS ETL and Pentaho Data Integration.
Information Management
The ‘Information Management’ site (www.information-management.com) – hosted by the SourceMedia company (award-winning enterprise from New York, providing information, data and software tools) offers a wide range of information about data management that are presented in plenty of articles, e-books, white papers, and newsletters. All the publications are segregated into a few sections (channels).
There’s only one ‘but’ - the site requires registration (that’s told to be completely free, allowing instant access to all the presented materials).
The ‘Information Management’ website itself is active since 1997 as the on-line equivalent of ‘Information Management’ magazine. The site contains all the published articles but also additional ‘exclusive content’ that hasn’t been published.
DWInfoCenter
www.dwinfocenter.org was founded in 1995 by Larry Greenfield of LGI Systems Incorporated. It contains number of articles about data warehousing. The presented materials – written by professionals - are thought to inform about different aspects – advantages but also disadvantages of the subject. The articles apply to the general meaning of data warehousing, its highs and lows, possible errors etc.
‘Dwinfocenter’ – as based on real experience - is a really good source of practical information.
ETL Tool
Most websites – excluding company offers – are concentrated on providing general, theoretical knowledge (the subject – ETL, data warehousing or data integration – is described in a general way, starting with the ideas and rules, and ending with technical aspects, tips, etc).
The Etltool.com website meets the question from a different side. First worked out in 2003, the 'ETL Tool Survey' is properly a comparison of Etl tools offered by differentiated companies. The idea of survey was to check out whether the largest companies really have automatic law to call themselves leaders in data warehousing. The thing was to check if there’s also a quality following the world-famous marks. The tools presented in the comparison are rated under 80 criteria including architecture, functionality, ease-of-use, reusability, debugging, real-time, connectivity and general tool characteristics (the full and accurate list is also presented). The website contains also a description of ETL process and some tips about selecting proper tool.
There’s only one disadvantage about the survey – it costs about €500.
Apatar ETL Tool
Finally, why don’t you check ‘Apatar’ that is an open source data integration and ETL tool.
The www.apatar.com website contains information about the whole system but also solutions and tips. Worth seeing are forums – fast growing and well-hosted. There are also a few guides – advertised as 'data integration best practices' - accessible for free.
Apatar ETL software also might be downloaded for free.
Wikipedia pages and articles
And the last that maybe should be the beginning. There’s no better source of fast and general information than Wikipedia and pages that provide articles.
If you’re new to data management and business intelligence, the pages below might be the best place to start at:
Contact information
If you have any questions or suggestions regarding this portal, or would like to submit a site to the following list, please contact us at: info--at--etltools--dot--net