Frequently asked questions for DataStage as a Service Anywhere

Contents

How to purchase DataStage-aaS?

Can IBM Cloud see my data when jobs are run on a remote engine?

No. With DataStage-aaS, IBM Cloud has no direct access to the remote engine. The remote engine checks a queue that is maintained by IBM Cloud for job runs and job information.

Is Red Hat OpenShift required?

No. The remote engine manifests as a lightweight container, and does not require Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform to run.

Is the remote engine available for stand-alone or classic DataStage?

No. Remote engine capability is available only for modern DataStage and IBM Cloud.

What is the difference between the control plane and data plane?

The control plane (design time) sits on IBM Cloud and is where you log in and access the DataStage application to design and interact with your DataStage flows. The Dallas and Frankfurt data centers only affect the control plane. The data plane (runtime) is the parallel engine where completed DataStage jobs are executed. Therefore, DataStage flows are created on the control plane, and DataStage jobs are run on the data plane.

Is remote runtime engine for DataStage-aaS Anywhere available in any geolocation?

Yes. With DataStage-aaS you can execute DataStage jobs within a local remote engine in your own environment. You can deploy remote engines in any geolocation, data center, cloud, and on-premises. The control plane (design time) is located only in Dallas and Frankfurt, but the data plane is local to the user and can be run on any docker or Kubernetes based deployment.

Is there a limit to a number of remote engines deployed?

No. There is no limit to the number of remote engines that you can deploy. You can deploy one remote engine per project, multiple remote engines per project, or tie multiple projects to one remote engine. However, once a remote engine deployment is selected for a specific project, you cannot switch back to IBM-hosted deployment.

Is an inbound and outbound network required?

Only the outbound network is needed. There are no incoming calls to the remote engine.

Is the runtime environment a set size?

No. You can enable dynamic scaling and add or remove engines throughout the month.

Can Databand monitor DataStage-aaS Anywhere jobs?

Yes.

Is remote engine capability available for other IBM Cloud Pak for Data products?

Remote engine capability currently supports only the DataStage runtime. All other IBM Cloud Pak® for Data services, such as Watson Pipelines, are not currently supported by the remote engine capability. You can resolve this limitation by refactoring file processing before or after job properties within a DataStage flow.

Do I control my egress charges with DataStage-aaS Anywhere?

With DataStage-aaS Anywhere, data egress costs are under your control. You can deploy the runtime of DataStage in any location or multiple locations - you are recommended to locate as closely as possible to your workload to minimize or completely eliminate egress charges.

Does the Container Process run as a non-root user?

Yes. On Red Hat OpenShift clusters, the deployment uses the restricted security context constraints (SCCs).

What is the remote engine behavior while importing?

Import behavior for ODBC connection by using DSN from ODBC configuration

When you import ISX/ZIP file to the project bound to Cloud Pak for Data remote engine, if ODBC platform connection uses DSN from odbc.ini, the connection is imported as a flow or local connection. All imported flows and subflows that reference the connection are updated to use flow connections.

Import behavior for JDBC connection

When you import ISX/ZIP file to the project bound to Cloud Pak for Data remote engine the connection is imported as a flow or local connection. You can manually upload driver to remote engine persistent volume. All imported flows and subflows that reference the connection are updated to use flow connections.