Data Virtualization for Business Intelligence Systems

Chapter 3

Data Virtualization ServerThe Building Blocks

3.1 Introduction

In this and the following three chapters we’re opening up the hood of a data virtualization server and taking a peek at the internal technology and the building blocks. Topics addressed include the following:

• Importing existing tables and nonrelational data sources

• Defining virtual tables, wrappers, and mappings

• Combining data from multiple data stores

• Publishing virtual tables through APIs, such as SQL and SOAP

• Defining security rules

• Management of a data virtualization server

• Caching of virtual tables

• Query optimization techniques

This chapter deals with the first four items on this list.

3.2 The High-Level Architecture of a Data Virtualization Server ...