Data architects and data scientists, as well as DBAs and governance teams, may need to use or migrate data in legacy file formats and databases. Additionally, the ability to mash-up those sources with newer file and database repositories is important in data integration (ETL) and analytic projects, as well as in data profiling for data loss prevention and privacy law compliance.

Users of  IRI CoSort (data transformation and reporting), IRI NextForm (data migration and replication), and IRI FieldShield (data masking) software, have traditionally acquired and manipulated data in structured (flat) files and relational databases. Recent support has been added in the IRI Workbench (Eclipse) GUI for unstructured sources and Micro Focus COBOL index files.

Through a new partnership with CONNX Solutions, IRI Workbench users can use specialized ODBC and JDCB drivers to access and view data in legacy formats like Adabas, Datacom, IDMS, Model 204, and Pick. Connections to these sources not only expand solution reach for IRI users, they eliminate the need to assign more resources to the problem of unlocking esoteric data.

Below is the updated list of supported data sources for those using IRI software. Parentheses denote integration of the IRI Workbench GUI or other dependencies for reaching the data. Italics indicate sources requiring CONNX driver installation.

Access	D3	IDMS	MyBase	Reality/X
Acucobol Vision	Datacom	IDS	MySQL	RRDS
Adabas	Dataflex	IDX 3, 4 & 8	Netezza	RTF (WB)
Adabas D	Db4o	Image	NonStop SQL	SAP Hana
Advanced Pick	dBase	IMS	ObjectStore	Sequoia
ALLBASE	Delimited	Informix	Oracle	Sharebase
Altibase (FACT)	Derby (WB)	Ingres	Outlook (WB)	SQL Anywhere
Alpha Five	Desktop Adapter	InterBase	Paradox	SQL Server
Amazon RDS	DL/1	Intersystems Cache	Pathway	SQLite
ASN.1 TAP 3	DSM	ISM	PDF (WB)	Supra
Azure	Enscribe	Jasmine	PDS	Sybase ASA/E & IQ
BIRT DB (WB)	Enterprise Adapter	jBase	PervasiveSQL	Terracotta
BIRT Hive (WB)	ESDS	K-ISAM	Pick	Teradata (WB)
BIRT JDBC (WB)	Excel (WB)	Knowledgeman	Pick64+	Text
BIRT POJO (WB)	ELF web logs	KSDS	Pl-Open	Tibero (FACT)
BizTalk	FileMaker	LDIF	PostgreSQL	Total
Cache	Firebird	Line Sequential	Powerflex	Ultimate
C-ISAM	Fixed	Lotus Approach	Powerhouse	UltPlus
CLF web logs	Flat Files	Lotus Notes	PowerPoint (WB)	UniData
Clipper	Focus	Manman	Progress	UniVerse
Codasyl	FoxPro	Max DB	QueryObject	UTF-8
Corvision	GA-Power 95, R91	Mentor/pro	rBase	UTF-8
ConceptBase	Gemstone	MF-ISAM	R83	VSAM
CSV	GENESIS	MF Var. Length	Rdb	VSAM-MVS (Unikix)
DB2 (UDB)	Gigabase	MO	REALITY	VSAM-VSE
DB2 for i5/OS (WB)	H2	Model 204	Record Sequential	Web Services (WB)
DB2 for z/OS (WB)	Heap / print	MongoDB (WB)	Red Brick	Word (WB)
D-ISAM	HSQLDB (WB)	Mumps	RMS	XML

The procedure for connecting to a non-native database in the IRI Workbench involves installing CONNX software and drivers. After a data dictionary file is created in the CONNX software, that file is then used in the Workbench with the CONNX driver as a data source. Following our user guide, setup can take as little as 20 minutes.

In the Workbench, the data source name (DSN) is available (as any native DSN would be) and displays in the lower left area of the Data Source Explorer workspace. This enables the use of that data (and its metadata) throughout the IRI Workbench environment.

Consider the following IRI CoSort (SortCL program) example; the script created in the new sort job wizard will use the connection to define the reordering of the ‘Customers’ table in a mainframe C-ISAM repository by zip code:

In this next example, IRI NextForm remaps data in multiple C-ISAM files (reflected as ODBC-connected DB tables) using a common mapping rule:

When the job wizard is complete, a portable job script is produced, and the script can be run from the GUI (or on the command line) to perform the specified migration:

In this same environment, data can be migrated, transformed, masked, etc., for whatever the needs may be and the licenses allow.  The ability to successfully access a large variety of structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data sources demonstrates IRI’s congruent commitment to supporting both legacy systems and emerging platforms.