Accenture

1> Difference between aggregate and rollup?

Aggregation and Rollup both can summarize the data but rollup is
much more convenient to use. In order to understand how a particular
summarization being rollup is much more explanatory compared to
aggregate. Rollup can do some other functionality like input and
output filtering of records.

Rollup has a good control over record selection grouping and

aggregation as compared to that of aggregate. Rollup is an updated
version of aggregate. Better go for rollup over Aggregate.

2 what is the difference between rollup and scan?

1. By using scan we can generate the cumulative summary of records i.e
Year to date totals for groups of records.
2. For each input record there is a out put record in scan.
3. By using Rollup we can generate the aggregate values with aggregate
functions(for record count,sum,avg).

2> What is override key in join?

Alternative names for the key fields in particular in port
3> What is surrogate Key?

4> A key is a field or set of fields that uniquely identifies a record in a file
or table.

5> A natural key is a key that is meaningful in some business or real-world

sense. For example, a social security number for a person, or a serial
number for a piece of equipment, is a natural key.

6> A surrogate key is a field that is added to a record, either to replace the
natural key or in addition to it, and has no business meaning.
Surrogate keys are frequently added to records when populating a data
warehouse, to help isolate the records in the warehouse from changes
to the natural keys by outside processes.

7> What is parallelism? What are they?

There are three types of parallelism

Component Parallelism:
In CP the data travel parallel through different branches of graphs
The execution of components simultaneously on different branches of a
graph
 The Components replicate are good example of component parallism

8> Difference b/n data and pipeline parallelism?

9> What is multi-file and multi-file system in abinitio?
10>
11> Where did you used multifile system in your project
12> Partition and de-partition components and explain?
13> Where did you use load balance/ partition by %?
14> What is difference b/n.dbc and .cfg?

.cfg file is for the remote connection and .dbc is for connecting the
database.

.cfg contains :

1. The name of the remote machine

2. The username/pwd to be used while connecting to the db.

The location of the operating system on the remote machine.

15> 4. The connection method.

16> and .dbc file contains the information:

17> 1. The database name

18> 2. Database version

19> 3. Userid/pwd

20> 4. Database character set and some more...

21>
22> What is lookup file?
Lookup is used to share the data through out the graph.
It is very small enough put in memeory or buffer
It d0esn’t have ports
It is with key parameter

23> Parameters of look up file?

Key & Record Format are the parameters.
24> What are the continuous components in abinitio?
25> How do you run your graph from command prompt/UNIX?
26> How do you schedule your Graph?
27> What are grep and egrep and fgrep?
28> How can you run your graph infinitely?
29> What is ramp and limit
 30> Truncate and delete?
31> Nth highest salary?
32> Difference between Reformat and redefine Format?
33> Deleting duplicate rows?

34> Materialized view?

35> Trunk and round?
36> What is dimension modeling?
37> Difference between star and snow flake schema?
38> What is data mart?
39> Dimension key?
40> Fact and dimension table?
41> How many fact tables are there in your project?
42> Number of tables in you project?

Polaris

43> What is degenerated dimension?

44> What is fact less fact table?
45> What is star schema and what is snow flake schema? Deciding
factors?
46> Early arrival facts late arrival facts?
47> Junk dimension?
48> What is dimension?
49> Can I have two surrogate keys?
50> Fact table contents and dimension table contents?
51> What is Sand Box?
52> Fain-in and Fan-out?
53> What are the things when you run a Graph?

NCR

54> What is difference between Reformat and redefine format?

> When do I use a Replicate versus a Broadcast?

. What value should I set the for the max-core parameter?

When should I use in-memory Rollup or Join versus sorted input and a
Sort component?

If there is no advantage to sorting the data for other reasons, it is

generally better to use an in-memory ROLLUP or JOIN

55> Can I use a graph or a command to move my multifiles in a 2-

way multifile system (MFS) to a 4-way MFS?
Yes
56> How can I increase the time-out value for starting an Ab Initio
process?
 How does job recovery work?

What is the difference between m_rollback and m_cleanup? When

would I use them?

What does the error message "straight flows may only connect ports
having equal depths" mean?

57> . What is AB_WORK_DIR and what do I need to know

about it?

What does the error message "Trouble writing to socket: No

space left on device" mean?

Ans: This error message means your work directory (AB_WORK_DIR) is full.

. What is layout?

58> What does the error message "too many open files"
mean, and how do I fix it?

Ans: This error message occurs most commonly when the value of the max-
core parameter of the SORT component is set too low. In these cases,
increasing the value of the max-core parameter solves the problem.

What does the error message "Failed to allocate <n> bytes"

mean and how do I fix it?

This error message is generated when an Ab Initio process has exceeded its
limit for some type of memory allocation.

Three things can prevent a process from being able to allocate memory:

 The user data limit (ulimit -Sd and ulimit -Hd). These settings do not
apply to Windows systems.
 Address space limit.

 The entire computer is out of swap space

What do I need to do to configure to run my graph across two

or more machines?

59> . What’s the difference between a phase and a

checkpoint?
 60> Why am I getting a "remote job failed to start up" error
message?

Every time you run a graph, communication takes place between various
parts of the Ab Initio software. Incorrect setup of this communication can
lead to this error.

In some cases, it might not be apparent that there is more than one machine
involved in the execution of the graph. This situation typically arises if some
of the components in the graph are configured to run on a remote machine.
If the communication between the machine with the Co>Operating System
specified in the Connections dialog and the remote machine is not set up
properly, you could see this error message.

You can also get this error if you are using an EME datastore or a database
on a remote machine.

To troubleshoot this error:

1. Determine which machines are involved in the execution of the graph.

2. Make sure the Co>Operating System is installed on each machine

How can I implement/use SFTP for file transfer instead of the

FTP-To/FTP-From components? Can I just point to the SFTP
executable?

How can I execute my .profile file when logging in via SSH in

the GDE?

SSH does not execute the .profile or environment files automatically when
running in a non-interactive session (that is, within Ab Initio). However, SSH
has the facility to execute its own environment file.

What communication ports does the GDE use when

communicating with the Co>Operating System. I’m trying to
set up my firewall.

The communication ports used depend on the communication protocol

selected. In short, the GDE uses:

 DCOM: 135 & **

 SSH(secure shell): 22
  Rexec: 512

 Telnet: 23 & **

The ** refer to the dynamically determined port the Application Hub sets up
for the file transfer

What communication ports are used between the Co>Operating

System and EME connections?
You can use configuration variables to control the communication ports
used for inter-Co>Operating System and EME connections. These
variables restrict the range of ports used, and specify excluded ports
What are the differences between the various GDE connection
methods?

How can I use AB_TCP_PORT and AB_AIR_TCP_PORT variables

to control the port ranges used for communication with the
GDE?

What is the difference between API mode and utility mode in

database components?

What is ABLOCAL () and how can I use it to resolve failures

when unloading in parallel?

Some complex SQL statements contain grammar that is not

recognized by the Ab Initio parser when unloading in parallel. In
this case you can use the ABLOCAL construct to prevent the
INPUT TABLE component from parsing the SQL (it will get passed
through to the database). It also specifies which table to use for
the PARALLEL clause

How do I create a database configuration (.dbc) file for my

table?

How can I generate DML for a database table from the

command line?

. If I use the layout Database: default in my database

component, which working directory does the Co>Operating
System use?

The directory specified by AB_WORK_DIR is the working directory for

database layouts. AB_DATA_DIR provides disk storage for the
temporary files
 Can I access different databases in the same graph, for
example, unloading from Oracle and loading into Teradata?

Yes, you can access different databases from within the same graph.
Each component that references a database needs its own database
configuration file

I can't browse tables from the database component. What's

wrong?

Probably either the database package piece of the Co>Operating

System or the Co>Operating System itself is not installed on the
machine with the database. Other possible causes for this error are
incorrect values in your .dbc file or, if your database is on a remote
machine, incorrect values in the .abinitiorc file

How does Ab Initio software determine the degree of

parallelism for my database component when the layout is set
to Database: default?

The definition of the default layout varies with the specific database
component used. For INPUT TABLE and OUTPUT TABLE, the default
layout depends on which database you are accessing. For the other
database components, the default layout is serial

Why do I get the error message "NULL value in assignment for

left-hand side" when trying to assign a value to a vector?

What are NULLs, and how does Ab Initio software handle

them?

What are vectors? Why would I use them?

What are data-sized vectors? How do I work with them?

. How can I quickly test my DML expressions?

M_env

. I can't check in a file. What should I look for?

Normally, the EME is not used to store data files. However, there
might be times when doing this might make sense
1. Remove the existing dataset object.

2. Check in the file

 Can I delete objects in the EME that I do not use?

How do I make a backup of my EME datastore?

To back up your EME datastore you must use either the air repository online-
backup start or air repository backup command. We recommend using air
repository online-backup start, if possible, because it does not require
you to shut down the datastore.

Do not use air repository create-image to back up the datastore

How do I find the version of my EME data store?

M_env -v

Is there a way to make my graph conditional, so that certain

components may not run?

Yes

How do I remove watcher files?

To delete all watcher datasets in the default directory (for all graphs),
use the GDE menu option Delete Watcher Datasets

 At a Korn shell prompt, issue the following command:

m_rm -f -rmdata GDE-WATCHER-xxx

How do I read in a set of files based on a pattern in the

filename?

What is the order of execution for the different parameters that

you can specify in a graph, for example, graph parameters,
sandbox parameters and so on?

. How can I terminate a graph based on a condition?

You can use a REFORMAT component with a force_error function to

test for a condition and terminate the graph if that condition is met

How can I share parameters between graphs?

You can use EME project and sandbox parameters to share parameters
between graphs in the same sandbox
 How can I reference a value in one component that I created in
a different component?

Ab Initio software supports global variables for one instance of a single

component: a variable that is global is visible to all transforms in a package,
in a single component. However, global variables between components are
not supported, because Ab Initio software implements each component as a
separate operating system process that can communicate with another
component only via data flows.

To share information between components, you can use one of three

techniques

Can I read from and write to the same file in a graph?

Yes, this is possible with Co>Operating System Version 2.12 and

later. There are two ways to do it

 Read from a file and then write to the same file.

 First write to a file and then read from the same file

Should I use a Reformat component with a lookup file or a Join

component in my graph?

Yes

What is the use of aggregation when we have rollup

What are kinds of layouts does ab initio supports

Serial,parallel and database

How can you run a graph infinitely?

How do you add default rules in transformer?

Have you ever encountered an error called "depth not equal"?

Depths are not equal --- occurs when you are trying to join two
different depths of multi files

Which of the following components requires a sorted input

102. A graph has been checked out from the data store by user
A and userB.Now if the graph has been locked by user A. Is it
possible for user B to edit it? (TRUE/FALSE)
No

What is max core parameter

THBS

What is NVL () function

What is Normalization?

What is denormalization?

How do you crate empty stable based on existing table.

What is surrogate key?

What is SCD?

What is Type-I, Type-II and Type-III.

How do you implement with abinitio.

If I want all the columns which are present in table a how do

you join with table b?

How do you get nth max salary?

What is table space?

What is index?

What is sequence how do you crate it on table?

How did you migrated code from Windows to UNIX

How do you create 100 tables in DB with abinitio?

Version of UNIX

How do you delete file older than 18 days.

How do you delete files which are created during last 18 days?

How do you get count of apple banana mango from a file?

Assume the file is not sorted

How do you increase perform of graph.

What is sequence how do you crate it on table?

How do you run join component parallel?

Synopsis: you have EMP and Dept as Multi files (2 Way) now
tell me if you want run join in parallel?

How do you attach header and footer to a file?

How do you compare versions of objects which are on different

EME?

How do you check whether sandbox contains latest version of

EME or not?

Emphasis EDS

Why do want change?

What is Sandbox?

What are the differences between 2.14 and 1.14?

Have given GDE what are all the parameters you need to
set/require to connect and run your graph?

What is the difference between replicate and broadcast?

What are the differences rexec and telnet connection methods?

TCS Questions

1) What Components are used in ur Project?

2) For what purpose used FilterByExpression and Reformat?

3) Difference between Redefine and Reformat?

4) Why r u used ComputeCheckSum?

5) What is EME ?

6) What is SandBox?

7) Tell abt ClearCase and ClearQuest?

8) How do u retrieve data from EME? And how will u convert

into graph?

9) How do u Convert data from EME to Unix Environment?

10) To write the ShellScript for retrieve the 5th record only?

11) What is GroupBy and where it is is used in your project?

12) Count (fieldname)-Is it including also NULL value?

13) How do you convert COBOL copy book to DML?

14) What Schema used in ur project?

15) Difference between StarSchema and SnowflakeSchema?

16) What is Fact Table?

17) What Dimensions and Measures are used ?

18) What is LookUp?What are types?

19) What is Psuedo Column?

 20) What Is Multi Reformat?

Other Important Topics

Ramp and limit

Types of flows

How do you truncate table.(sat all possible ways)

Have you worked on packages.

How do you improve Graph performance?

How do you add default rules to transform ?

Rollup component? Functionality and sequention of method

call.

What is local-lookup

What is ad-hoc multifile.

Check point and phase?

What is .mpc file?

Depth not equal, brokenpipeline,toomany files open errors?

How do you reject records based on value of dml fields?

By force_error

For a given EMP table how do you get Total salary in single
record single column?

What is output index in reformat?

One record goes only one transform output port pair only

How do you get records from range a specified range Ex 10 -25.

 By using m_dump

How do you get even record /odd records ?

What is repartitioning ?

Depth not found error?

If you don’t have version tags associated with EME objects,

how do you find versions?

Command line syntax for checkin and check out?

air project export object name from eme to sanbao

How do you delete objects from Repository?

How do you list only directories in UNIX?

Ls –l |grep ‘^d’

How do you find files older than 7days in UNIX?

find ./ -mtime 7(howmany days) filename

How do you find files not older than 7days.

How do you search for multiple patterns in UNIX ?

How do you generate encrypted password ?

How do you find whether encrypted password is valid or not