Import command for common metadata assets

You can import most types of common metadata assets by using the istool import command with the -commonmetadata parameter.

Purpose

You can import common metadata assets from an archive file that was exported from another instance of the same version of InfoSphere® Information Server. For example, you might export a file from a development environment and then import it into a test or production environment. You can migrate assets between versions of InfoSphere Information Server by importing assets that were exported from an earlier version.

By using the -commonmetadata parameter, you can import the following types of assets:

Implemented data resources
Business intelligence (BI) assets
Physical data model assets
Data connections
Contract libraries

Note: Data connections that are transferred between systems do not work unless the name of the target host system is the same as the name of the source host system. When the host names are not the same, separately export only data connections by using the -cm parameter. Import the data connections by using a mapping file to specify the source host name as the current value and the target host name as the new value.

Note: BI report sections are not supported in this version of InfoSphere Information Server. If you import an archive file from an earlier version, any BI report sections in the file are not imported.

To import logical data model assets, see Import command for logical data model assets and MDM models.

To import custom attributes, see Import command for custom attributes.

You can use a single istool import command with the -all parameter to import most types of metadata assets from an archive file. See Moving all assets from one metadata repository to another.

Prerequisites

You must have the Common Metadata Administrator role.

The preferred way to run this command is in the istool command-line window. If you run this command in your operating system command-line window or in scripts, you must add istool before the command name.

Importing multiple types of assets

Archive files can contain assets from multiple exports of multiple tools. For best performance, when you import from an archive file, or when you migrate assets of varying types in multiple archive files, run separate commands to import the following types of assets in the following order:

Users and groups.
Common metadata.
InfoSphere DataStage® and QualityStage® assets.
Reports.
InfoSphere Information Analyzer assets.
InfoSphere FastTrack assets.
InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog extended data sources.
InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog extension mapping documents.
InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog business glossary assets. In versions earlier than 11.3, these assets are created in InfoSphere Business Glossary.
Custom attributes for InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog extended data sources and extension mappings. In versions earlier than 11.3, these assets are created in InfoSphere Metadata Workbench.

Asset types that are not listed can be imported in any order.

Command syntax for implemented data resource assets, BI assets, physical data model assets, and miscellaneous common metadata assets

Optional parameters and values in the syntax are enclosed in brackets, [ ].

import 
authentication parameters
[generic parameters] 
[-abortAfter number_of_errors]
-archive "file_name_and_path"
[-preview | -replace]
[-responseFile "file_name_and_path"]
[-mapping "file_name_and_path"]
–commonmetadata '[-allowDuplicates]'

Parameters

authentication parameters

Required. All asset interchange commands use authentication parameters to connect to a specific installation of InfoSphere Information Server.

generic parameters

The generic parameters are available to all asset interchange commands. Use the generic parameters to request help on command syntax, to specify silent or verbose operation, and to use a script to run commands.

-abortAfter | -abort number_of_errors

Specifies that the import stops if more than the specified number of errors occur.

-archive | -ar file_name_and_path

Required. Specifies the .isx file to import assets from.

-preview | -pre

Previews the import. The preview lists the assets that will be imported when the import runs. The assets are not imported when you run a command with the -preview parameter.

-replace

Replaces existing common metadata assets with imported assets. If you specify the -replace parameter, and a common metadata asset with the same identity exists in the target metadata repository, the imported asset is merged with the existing asset.

-responseFile | -rf "file_name_and_path"

Specifies the name and path of a response file that contains assets that failed to import during a run of a previous istool import -cm command. Not supported with the -preview parameter. For more information, see Using a response file with istool export and istool import commands.

-mapping | -m file_name_and_path

Specifies the path to the mapping file that instructs the import command to change some properties of imported assets during import, so that the imported assets correctly reconcile with the assets in the metadata repository. For more information, see Using a mapping file with the istool import command.

-commonmetadata | -cm ''

Required. Specifies that common metadata assets are imported. All common metadata assets in the file are imported when you use this parameter, except for logical data model assets, custom attributes, data classes and data collection analyses. The parameter must be followed by two single quotation marks ('), for example, -cm ''. You can use the following option within the single quotation marks:

-allowDuplicates: If duplicate assets exist in the import file, allows them to be imported as separate assets. If the duplicate assets have the same identity as an existing asset in the metadata repository, the existing asset is unchanged by the import, even if you also use the -replace parameter. For guidance on whether to allow duplicates, see Import settings for InfoSphere Metadata Asset Manager.

Exit status

A return value of 0 indicates successful completion. Any other value indicates failure.

Example

The following command uses the -preview parameter to produce a list of common metadata assets (other than logical model assets) that can be imported from the file customer.isx. To import the assets, you must run the command without the -preview parameter.

import –dom ABC:9443 –u user1 –p pass1 -archive "c:\customer.isx" -preview –commonmetadata ''

The following command imports all common metadata assets except logical data model assets, from the file customer.isx.

import –dom ABC:9443 –u user1 –p pass1 -archive "c:\customer.isx" –commonmetadata ''

The following command imports all common metadata assets except logical data model assets, and allows duplicates to be created if duplicates exist in the import file.

import –dom ABC:9443 –u user1 –p pass1 -archive "c:\customer.isx" –commonmetadata '-allowDuplicates'