I've tried reading the Wikipedia article for "extract, transform, load", but that just leaves me more confused...
Can someone explain what ETL is, and how it is actually done?
+1
A:
ETL is taking data from one system (extract), modifying it (transform) and loading it into another system (load).
And not necessarily in that order. You can TEL, or ELT. Probably not LTE though. :-)
It's a catch-all name for any process that takes data from one system and moves it to another.
Chris Kaminski
2010-08-03 00:32:52
A:
ETL is for data warehousing. It's not a specific implementation to load a data warehouse, it's just a very high-level algorithm that should be used to populate a data warehouse.
- Extract pulls data from some source.
- Transform takes the data and manipulates it so that it can be used for..
- Loading into your system.
TheCloudlessSky
2010-08-03 00:33:10
ETL isn't just for data warehouses, nor is it only for loading data warehouses. if you create a mart off the house, that's an ETL system too.
coffeepac
2010-08-04 22:03:03
@coffeepac - Sure, but it's most commonly used with data warehouses.
TheCloudlessSky
2010-08-05 00:21:03
A:
Extract means to take data out of one or many databases. Transform means to change the data however you need it changed to suit the needs of your business. Load means to put it in the target database.
Dylan West
2010-08-03 00:34:01
a database doesn't have to be the source or target. unorganized flat files, web data stream or any pile of data can be the source.
coffeepac
2010-08-04 22:01:43
A:
My favorite answer: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/51198/what-etl-tool-do-you-use/67784#67784
runrig
2010-08-09 18:08:41