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Database Reader

You can use Database Reader to read all the data that exists in a supported database or data warehouse at the time the Striim application containing Database Reader is started. The most common use case for Database Reader is to load this existing data to the target to establish an initial, point-in-time copy of the source data that can serve as a starting point for subsequent continuous updates or syncs. This process is called "initial load" in Striim, and "historical sync" or "initial snapshot" by others. After completing the initial load using Database Reader, you can use a CDC reader (if available) or Incremental Batch Reader to continuously load updates to the source database or data warehouse to the target.

Database Reader supports the following sources:

Note

Most sources supported by Database Reader are also supported by Incremental Batch Reader.

If the connection to the database is interrupted, the application will halt.

The drivers for BigQuery, Oracle, Snowflake, and SQL Server are bundled with the Forwarding Agent. For all other databases, when this adapter is deployed to a Forwarding Agent, the appropriate JDBC driver must be installed as described in Installing third-party drivers in the Forwarding Agent.

If you are using Database Reader to perform an initial load before running an application using a CDC reader, enable CDC on the source and perform the setup tasks for the CDC reader before starting the initial load.

Performing initial loads with Database Reader

Fast Snapshot Recovery during initial load

When a Database Reader application with recovery enabled is stopped, halts, or terminates before the initial load has completed, when you restart the application it will resume reading tables that have not been completely written to the target. Database Reader's Restart Behavior on IL Interruption setting gives you three choices for what the writer will do:

  • Keep target table data (default): The application will resume loading, from the beginning, the source tables that had not yet been fully written to the target before the application was interrupted, appending the data to any target tables with partial data. This will typically result in duplicate rows in the target or the application halting with a duplicate row error, which will require manual effort (described below) to resolve. This is the default because it is the closest to the behavior of Striim 4.x, in which recovery was not supported for Database Reader.

  • Replace target table (recommended): Striim will drop and re-create any target tables with partial data or no data, then resume loading, from the beginning, the source tables that had not yet been fully written to the target before the application was interrupted. This option requires Create Schema to be True, and the writer must have DROP permission on tables in the target schema.

  • Truncate target table: Striim will delete all data from target tables with partial data or no data, then resume loading, from the beginning, the source tables that had not yet been fully written to the target before the application was interrupted. The writer must have TRUNCATE permission on tables in the target schema.

    Functionally, Truncate target table is similar to Replace target table except it does not require you to give Striim permission to drop tables in the target.

If you create the Database Reader application using a wizard, to change the Restart Behavior on IL Interruption setting you must modify the application in the Flow Designer.

In detail, depending on the initial load status of each source table, after the application is restarted Striim will do the following or, in the case of Keep target table data, you must do the following.

table status: description

Keep target table data

Replace target table

Truncate target table

WAITING_TO_PROCESS: Database Reader had not read the table before the application was interrupted.

If Create Schema is True, you must manually drop the table before restarting the application.

If Create Schema is False, you must manually truncate the target table before restarting the application.

Striim will drop and re-create the target table.

Striim will attempt to truncate the target table. If the table does not exist, the application will halt.

SCHEMACREATION_COMPLETED: Create Schema is True and the table has been created in the target, but Database Reader had not started reading the table's data before the application was interrupted.

You must manually truncate the target table before restarting the application. (Writing data may have begun even though the status had not yet changed to IL_INPROGRESS.)

Striim will drop and re-create the target table

Striim will truncate the empty target table.

IL_INPROGRESS: Database Reader was reading the table when the application was interrupted.

You must manually truncate the target table before restarting the application.

Striim will drop and re-create the target table

Striim will attempt to truncate the target table. If the table does not exist, the application will halt.

IL_COMPLETED: The table was fully written to the target before the application was interrupted.

No action required.

Database Reader will not read the table again.

Database Reader will not read the table again.

Creating a Database Reader application

Creating a Database Reader application using TQL

The following example creates a cache of data retrieved from a MySQL table:

CREATE TYPE RackType(
  rack_id String KEY,
  datacenter_id String,
  rack_aisle java.lang.Integer,
  rack_row java.lang.Integer,
  slot_count java.lang.Integer
);
CREATE CACHE ConfiguredRacks USING DatabaseReader (
  ConnectionURL:'jdbc:mysql://10.1.10.149/datacenter',
  Username:'username',
  Password:'passwd',
  Query: "SELECT rack_id,datacenter_id,rack_aisle,rack_row,slot_count FROM RackList"
)
QUERY (keytomap:'rack_id') OF RackType;
The following example creates a cache of data retrieved from an Oracle table:
CREATE TYPE CustomerType (
  IPAddress  String KEY,
  RouterId  String,
  ConnectionMode  String,
  CustomerId  String,
  CustomerName  String
);
CREATE CACHE Customers USING DatabaseReader (
  Password: 'password',
  Username: 'striim',
  ConnectionURL: 'jdbc:oracle:thin:@node05.example.com:1521:test5',
  Query: 'SELECT ip_address, router_id, connection_mode, customer_id, customer_name FROM customers',
  FetchSize: 1000
)
QUERY (keytomap:'IPAddress') OF CustomerType;

Database Reader programmer's reference

This section applies when using Database Reader with Db2 for iSeries or LUW, HP NonStop, Sybase, or Teradata. For other sources, see:

Database Reader properties

property

type

default value

notes

Connection Profile Name

enum

Not applicable to Db2 for iSeries or LUW, HP NonStop, Sybase, or Teradata.

Connection URL

String

When connecting through an SSH tunnel (see Using an SSH tunnel to connect to a source or target), specify the IP address of the tunnel.

  • for Db2` for iSeries (AS/400): jdbc:as400://<host name>:<port>

    for Db2 LUW: jdbc:db2://<host name>:<port>/DB2LUW

    See Runtime considerations when using Database Reader with Db2 sources for more information.

  • for HP NonStop SQL/MX: jdbc:t4sqlmx://<IP address>:<port> or jdbc:t4sqlmx://<IP address>:<port>/catalog=<catalog name>;schema=<schema name>

  • for Sybase: jdbc:jtds:sybase:<ip address>:<port>/<database name>

  • for Teradata: jdbc:teradata://<ip address>/DBS_PORT=<port>,DATABASE=<database name>

For other sources, see links in Database Reader.

Create Schema

Boolean

False

If set to True, when Database Reader's output stream is the input stream of an Azure Synapse Writer, BigQuery Writer, Database Writer (for MariaDB, MariaDB Xpand, MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, or YugabyteDB only), Databricks Writer, Fabric Data Warehouse Writer, Fabric Mirror Writer, Iceberg Writer, Snowflake Writer, or Spanner Writer target, the schema(s) and tables specified in the Tables property in the writer will be created in the target.

For example, if the Tables property in the writer is sourceschema1.%,targetschema1.%;sourceschema2.%,targetschema2.% then the schemas targetschema1 and targetschema2 will be created in the target, and all the tables in sourceschema1 and sourceschema2 will be created in the corresponding target schema.

Data types will be mapped as per Data type support & mapping for schema conversion & evolution. Single-column PRIMARY KEY constraints will be replicated in the target. DEFAULT, FOREIGN KEY, NOT NULL, composite PRIMARY KEY, and UNIQUE KEY constraints will not be replicated.

If a table already exists in the target, Striim will verify that the source and target structure match. If they do not, the application will halt and log a TargetTableSchemaMismatchException.

MON output for the target tables will include a schemaCreationStatus of Pending, InProgress, Success, or Failed.

Database Provider Type

String

Default

Controls which icon appears in the Flow Designer and whether Use Connection Profile appears in the web UI..

Not applicable to Db2 for iSeries or LUW, HP NonStop, Sybase, or Teradata.

Excluded Tables

String

Data for any tables specified here will not be returned. For example, if Tables uses a wildcard, data from any tables specified here will be omitted. Multiple table names (separated by semicolons) and wildcards may be used exactly as for Tables.

Fetch Size

Integer

100

Sets the maximum number of records to be fetched from the database in a single JDBC method execution (see the discussion of fetchsize in the documentation for your JDBC driver).

JAAS Configuration

String

Not applicable to Db2 for iSeries or LUW, HP NonStop, Sybase, or Teradata.

Password

encrypted password

The password for the specified user. See Encrypted passwords.

Parallel Threads

Integer

1

For Fast Snapshot Loading to Azure Synapse, BiqQuery, Databricks, Fabric Data Warehouse, Microsoft Dataverse, or Snowflake, specify the number of threads Database Reader will use. This value should not be higher than the number of tables to be read. For other targets, leave set to the default of 1.

When Database Reader is started, the tables will be distributed among the threads in round-robin fashion, then each thread will read one table at a time. When the Tables property is a list of tables, the tables are read in that order. If the Tables property uses a wildcard, the sequence is determined by the order in which the JDBC driver gives Database Reader the list of tables.

Known issue DEV-49013: the maximum number of tables supported by Parallel Threads is 255.

Query

String

Optionally, specify a single SQL SELECT statement specifying the data to return. You may query tables, aliases, synonyms, and views.

Query is not supported when Create Schema is True, Parallel Threads is greater than 1, or Restart Behavior on IL Interruption is Truncate_target_table or Replace_target_table.

When Query is specified and Tables is not, the WAEvent TableName metadata field value will be QUERY. When both Query and Tables are specified, the data specified by Query will be returned, and the Tables setting will be used only to populate the TableName field.

If the query includes a synonym containing a period, it must be enclosed in escaped quotes. For example: select * from \"synonym.name\"

If using a query when the output of a DatabaseReader source is the input of a DatabaseWriter target, specify the target table name as the value of DatabaseReader's Tables field.

Quiesce on IL Completion

Boolean

False

Restart Behavior on IL Interruption

Enum

Keep target table data

See Fast Snapshot Recovery during initial load.

Return DateTime As

String

Joda

Set to joda to return timestamp values as Joda timestamps.

Set to String to return timestamp values as strings. The primary purpose of this option is to avoid losing precision when microsecond timestamps are converted to Joda milliseconds. The format of the string is yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss.ffffff.

SSL Config

String

Not applicable to Db2 for iSeries or LUW, HP NonStop, Sybase, or Teradata.

Tables

String

Specify the table(s) or view(s) to be read.

You may specify multiple tables and views as a list separated by semicolons or with the % wildcard. For example, HR% would read all the tables whose names start with HR. You may use the % wildcard only for tables, not for schemas or databases. The wildcard is allowed only at the end of the string: for example, mydb.prefix% is valid, but mydb.%suffix is not.

If you are using the Query property, specify QUERY as the table name.

Modifying this property can interfere with recovery. If recovery is enabled for the application and it is necessary to modify the tables list, export the application (see Apps page), drop it, update the exported TQL with the new values, and import it (see Apps page).

Use Connection Profile

Boolean

False

Not applicable to Db2 for iSeries or LUW, HP NonStop, Sybase, or Teradata.

Username

String

Specify the DBMS user name the adapter will use to log in to the server specified in ConnectionURL.

For all databases, this user must have SELECT permission or privileges on the tables specified in the Tables property. For Db2 on z/OS, this user must also have SELECT privileges on the SYSCOLUMNS, SYSTABLES, and SYSVIEWS catalog tables. For Oracle, this user must also have SELECT privileges on DBA_TAB_COLS and ALL_COLL_TYPES.

Vendor Configuration

Striing

Not applicable to Db2 for iSeries or LUW, HP NonStop, Sybase, or Teradata.

The output type is WAevent.

Sample Database Reader WAEvent

For the following row:

id  first_name  last_name  phone  street          city          state  zip_code
1   Deborah     Burks      NULL   9273 Thorne AV  Orchard Park  NY     14127

The WAEvent would be similar to:

WAEvent{
  data: [1,"Deborah","Burks",null,"9273 Thorne AV","Orchard Park","NY","14127"]
  metadata: {"TableName":"BikeStores.sales.customers","ColumnCount":8,
    "OperationName":"SELECT","OPERATION_TS":1681412863364}
  userdata: null
  before: null
  dataPresenceBitMap: "fwM="
  beforePresenceBitMap: "AAA="
  typeUUID: {"uuidstring":"01edda2e-77f7-9b21-83c2-8e859085da65"}
};

The operation name for Database Reader WAEvents is always SELECT.

DatabaseReader data type support and correspondence

The information in these tables also applies to Incremental Batch Reader.

For Db2 for iSeries or LUW

DB2 type

Striim type

BIGINT

java.lang.String

BINARY

java.lang.String

BLOB

java.lang.String

CHAR

java.lang.String

CLOB

java.lang.String

DATE

java.lang.String

DBCLOB

java.lang.String

DECFLOAT

java.lang.String

DECIMAL

java.lang.String

DOUBLE

java.lang.String

GRAPHIC

java.lang.String

INTEGER

java.lang.String

NUMERIC

java.lang.String

REAL

java.lang.String

SMALLINT

java.lang.String

TIME

java.lang.String

TIMESTAMP

java.lang.String

VARBINARY

java.lang.String

VARCHAR

java.lang.String

VARGRAPHIC

java.lang.String

XML

java.lang.String

For HP NonStop, Sybase, or Teradata:

JDBC column type

TQL type

notes

Types.ARRAY

java.lang.String

Types.BIGINT

java.lang.Long

Types.BIT

java.lang.Boolean

Types.CHAR

java.lang.String

Types.DATE

org.joda.time.LocalDate

Types.DECIMAL

java.lang.String

Types.DOUBLE

java.lang.Double

Types.FLOAT

java.lang.Double

Types.INTEGER

java.lang.Integer

Types.NUMERIC

java.lang.String

Types.REAL

java.lang.Float

Types.SMALLINT

java.lang.Short

Types.TIMESTAMP

org.joda.time.DateTime

Types.TINYINT

java.lang.Short

For MySQL, if the source tables contain columns of this type, append ?tinyInt1isBit=false to the connection URL (jdbc:mysql://<ip address>:<port>/<database name>?tinyInt1isBit=false).

Types.VARCHARCHAR

java.lang.String

other types

java.lang.String

Database Reader runtime considerations

Do not perform a REPLACE or ALTER ... RECOMPILE on an application or flow containing a Database Reader when recovery is enabled. If it is necessary to modify the application, export the application (see Apps page), drop it, update the exported TQL with the new values, and import it (see Apps page).

Runtime considerations when using Database Reader with Db2 sources

Database Reader supports the following sources:

  • Db2 for iSeries (AS/400) V7R4M0

  • Db2 for LUW 11.5.9

  • Db2 for z/OS versions 12 and 13.

Before Striim can read from those sources, you must install the appropriate JDBC driver for your DB2 environment

Limitations for Db2 for iSeries and LUW

The following limitations do not apply to Db2 for z/OS.

  • Create Schema is not supported.

  • The schema conversion utility is not supported.

  • Incremental Batch Reader does not support reading from DB2 for iSeries or LUW and there is no CDC reader for DB2 for for iSeries or LUW. In other words, only "lift and shift" use cases are supported.

(Contact Striim support for more information.