Data Manager

COSMOS System Diagram

Data assembly

A data assembly is a framework for data transformation. The framework can be configured declaratively in an XML file, by combining one or more assembly components together to execute the desired sequence of transformations to a data stream. The assembly is valid as long as the output of a component matches the input requirements of the next component in the assembly. While most use cases require a linear sequence of steps, it is also permissible for the assembly to be branched into multiple outputs, possibly multiplexed on certain conditions. This will make the assembly definition close to a workflow definition (a Compuware requirement).

Assembly component

An assembly is a software component that takes in an input data stream of a predefined structure, and output the processed data stream. Data processing may involve filtering, transforming input data into another format, or writing the data to database. An assembly component is reusable. It is agnostic of where input data come from, and who will consume its output. COSMOS may ship with some useful assembly components, e.g. CBE to WEF transformer. However, assembly components should be considered an extension of the data assembly framework, and is intended to be provided and customized by users of the COSMOS framework.

Data Manager

The data manager is a component of the COSMOS framework. It is an adapter that plugs an existing data source into the COSMOS framework. It registers the data source with the COSMOS framework and handles with handshakes with the broker. It provides a query service for COSMOS clients. The query service understands CMDBf query or provides application specific WSDM capabilities for clients to gain access to data of the data source. It can make use of the data assembly to transform the output of the query to the desired output format (e.g. CMDBf response syntax). The request to the data manager may be in the form of a service request. (You may call this type of data manager a service manager.) The request can invoke a data assembly as a long running process that collects live statistical data from a server and write to a database.