Talend Tutorial

Talend is an ETL tool that provides solutions for data integration, data quality, data preparation, big data, and application integration. The big data and data integration tools of Talend are extensively used. Talend tool is available in both open-source and premium versions. It allows the organizations to make better decisions and turn data-driven. 

It offers a unified platform that satisfies our requirements in a standard foundation. It provides rapid development and deployment for automating a task. Compared to other ETL tools, Talend is less expensive when compared to other tools as it is open-source. It is the only ETL tool containing all the plugins for effortlessly integrating with the Big data environment.  

Leading MNCs like Allianz, Capgemini, Infosys, SONY, Virtusa, SYNTEL use the Talend tool to handle big data tasks. So, join our Talend training to build a rewarding career in the Bigdata domain. According to Indeed.com, the average salary of a Talend developer in the US is around $105K per annum. This Talend tutorial is helpful for beginners who want to be ETL experts or Big data professionals who want to use the Talend tool in the Big data environment.

Talend Tutorial for Beginners

In this Talend tutorial, we will start from the basics of Talend and learn all the major Talend concepts that a Talend professional must be aware of. Now, let’s have a look at the components of this tutorial.

What is Talend

Today’s IT landscape is increasingly complex, with enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), finance, warehousing, human resources, and e-business systems, both within and outside the enterprise, all needing to exchange data. The real-time nature of business today and the fast pace of business change add to the need to have a set of tools and skills that make the business of integrating systems quick and easy. New systems come along all the time, but it is also a requirement to respond quickly to new business opportunities that drive system integrations. Company takeovers and mergers, new markets and customers, new suppliers, and joint ventures are commonplace events that all require data to be exchanged on a one-off or regular basis to make them work.

Talend ETL's open-source approach shatters the traditional proprietary model by supplying open, innovative, and powerful software solutions with the flexibility to meet the needs of all organizations. By publishing the code of its core modules under the GNU Public License or the Apache License, Talend offers the developer community the ability to improve products and make enhancements that can benefit everyone.

Talend Product Portfolio

It was the first commercial open source vendor of data integration software. Other vendors have since entered this market, including Apatar, Jitterbit, and Pentaho. Non-open source data integration vendors include Software AG, Ab Initio, SAS Institute, Pervasive Software, IBM, Informatica, SAP, RedHat.

Talend Open Studio for Big Data: combining big data technologies into a unified open-source environment simplifying the loading, extraction, transformation, and processing of large and diverse data sets

Talend Enterprise Big Data: a big data integration solution that extends Talend Open Studio for Big Data with teamwork and management features

Talend Platform for Big Data: a powerful and versatile big data integration and data quality solution that simplifies the loading, extraction, and processing of large and diverse datasets so you can make more informed and timely decisions

Talend Open Studio for Data Integration: an open-source application for data integration job design with a graphical development environment

Talend Enterprise Data Integration: extends Talend Open Studio for Data Integration with technical support and additional features

Talend Platform for Data Management: turn disparate, duplicate sources of data into trusted stores of consolidated information

Talend Platform for Data Services: a comprehensive unified data, application, and service integration solution that lessens the impact of changing data structures while making the management of data across domains easier.

Talend Open Studio for MDM: a set of functions for master data management that provides functionality for integration, quality, governance, mastering, and collaborating on enterprise data

Talend Platform for Master Data Management: turn disparate, inconsistent information across a business into a single, reliable “version of the truth”, providing increased confidence in decisions made

Talend Open Studio for Data Quality: an open-source data profiling tool that examines the content, structure, and quality of complex data structures

As you might expect, there is no end of options to choose from to fulfill the need for such a critical systems-development activity. From complex multi-million dollar integration suites from the major systems vendors to humble, yet powerful, scripting languages such as Perl, there is something for every budget and taste. So what is Talend Open Studio for Data Integration and why should you consider it for your next integration project?

What is Talend Open Studio

Talend Open Studio for Data Integration is an open-source graphical development environment for creating and deploying custom integrations between systems. It comes with over 600 pre-built connectors that make it quick and easy to connect databases, transform files, load data, move, copy and rename files, and connect individual components to define complex integration processes.

Talend Open Studio for Data Integration is a code generator, and so does a lot of the “heavy lifting” for you. As such, it is a suitable tool for experienced developers and non-developers alike. Talend Open Studio for Data Integration is easy to use and reduces the time taken to develop integrations from weeks and months to days or even hours.

Integration jobs are created from components that are configured rather than coded and jobs can be run from within the development environment or executed as standalone scripts.

Common use cases for Talend Open Studio for Data Integration

• Data migration from one database to another: This is a common scenario when new systems are implemented or existing systems are upgraded. Data has to be populated into the new or upgraded system and database schemas may be subtly or completely different, requiring some modification of the data before loading. Data migrations tend to be “one-off” activities, not integrations that are deployed on an ongoing basis. The Studio facilitates data migrations through its many database connectors and actions.
• Regular file exchanges between systems: The humble flat file is still a cornerstone of many systems integrations. Their low-tech approach makes them particularly suitable for batch processes when real-time data flows are unnecessary. File exchanges will often require some form of file transformation, either data content, data format, or both. The Studio can manage many different file formats and, with its file management capabilities such as FTP and archiving (zipping), can facilitate a full end-to-end file exchange process.
• Data synchronization: Enterprises often have multiple data repositories of the same data. For example, data about customers might reside in the CRM system, the finance system, and the distribution system. They will probably have similar but different data models across these systems and every time a change is made in one, the same change needs to be made in the others—typically a time-consuming and manual process. The Studio can be used to keep the data in-sync across systems with jobs that automate and transform the data transfer.
• ETL (Extract, Transform, and Load):A key component process of a data warehouse or business intelligence system, ETL processes extract data from operational systems, transform the data, apply a series of rules or functions, and load the data into a database or data warehouse system.

Benefits of Talend Open Studio

An obvious question to ask is “Why should I use Talend Open Studio above other similar products? What can it do for me?” Talend Open Studio for Data Integration offers many benefits:

• The Studio is open source, free to download and use, with access to the source code, allowing users to extend the product to their particular needs if required.
• The Studio is a great productivity booster. It’s easy to learn and quick to develop. Even novice developers will be building complex integrations in no time.
• The Studio’s pre-built components handle many common and not-so-common tasks. Developers can focus on the end-to-end process, rather than the low-level technical details.
• Talend has an active and open user community. Practical, problem-solving advice is easy to access.

This article is just an overview to enlighten you on the Talend software products. The Talend training sessions are however designed to be more composed, knowledgeable, and in-depth.