Tools → Inspector Tool

About the Inspector Tool

For a given tenant, the Inspector Tool checks the lineage references of Incorta metadata objects including tables, schemas, business schemas, business schema views, dashboards, and session variables. It also checks for inconsistencies and validation errors in joins, tables, views, formulas, and dashboards.

Because the tool uses Incorta itself for reporting issues, the Inspector Tool consists of several components:

• a Cluster Management Console (CMC) scheduled job that generates .csv files in a given tenant directory as a local data files
• the InspectorMetadata schema
• the incortaInspector business schema
• the InspectorTool dashboard folder and related dashboards

About an Inspector job

An Inspector job is a scheduled job in the CMC. How a CMC Administrator enables the Inspector Tool Scheduler differs in Incorta releases. For Incorta 4.6, 4.7, and 4.8, a CMC Administrator enables the Inspector Tool Scheduler for a given tenant as an Incorta Labs feature. For Incorta 4.9, a CMC Administrator creates an Inspector job.

For the selected tenant in the cluster, an Inspector job performs the following:

• Creates a tenant export
• Creates the related .csv files in the tenant data directory
• Writes the inspector.log file

About the Inspector Tool dashboards

You can use the Inspector dashboards to identify specific issues with your tenant. Here are some examples:

• An invalid join due to mismatched data types or unsupported data types
• A join with a missing table
• A join with a missing column
• A join on a parent table column that is not a key column
• A join on a child table with multiple parent tables
• A join using an invalid formula column
• A join on a formula column that references columns in two or more schemas
• A cyclical join between two or more tables such as A > B > C > D > A that can be resolves with a table alias
• Between two tables, identify multiple join paths
• A table enabled for incremental loads but without incremental logic specified
• A table enabled for incremental loads with incremental logic specified but no key column specified
• A table with a runtime security filter that references a missing session variable or the session variable has a missing definition
• An alias table with no existing base reference table
• An alias table out of sync with the existing base reference table
• A formula that refers to a column that does not exist
• A formula that that references columns in two or more schemas
• A business schema view that references a column in table that does not exist
• A session variable that references another session variable that does not exist
• A dashboard that references a missing session variable
• A dashboard that references a missing table or business schema view column

Identified issues have a severity rating. You can also use dashboards to identify potential performance concerns.

Here is a summary of the dashboards available with the Inspector Tool:

• 0- Run status
• 1- Validation UseCases
• 2- Unused Entities
• 3- Schemas Details
• 4- Dashboards Lineage Summary
• 5- Tables Used in Business Views
• 6- Tables Used In Materialized Views

0- Run status

This dashboard captures runtimes of the Inspector Tool. In doing so, the dashboard captures basic counts for the various objects within a tenant for each runtime. The insights are:

• Tenant Validation
• Tenant_Dashboards
• Tenant_Joins
• Tenant_Schemas
• Tenant_BusinessSchemas
• Tenant_MVs

1- Validation UseCases

The Validation UseCases dashboard identifies errors in the tenant such as broken references, duplicates, and invalid formulas. Employ the dashboard filters to quickly identify high severity issues. Focus on fixing all high severity (1 & 2) issues. The dashboard insights are:

• Summary
• Errors & Warnings
• Error & Warning Codes
• Errors & Warnings Per Schema
• Errors Details
• Warnings Details

2- Unused Entities

This dashboard identifies columns and business schema columns that are not used in dashboards. You may consider removing unused columns from business schema or schemas. Removing unused columns can help improve schema load times, reduce storage needs, and free memory. The dashboard insights are:

• Unused Columns
• Unused business schema columns

3- Schemas Details

The Schemas Details dashboard provides a detail view of all the schemas in a tenant, include the tables, joins, and columns. The dashboard insights are:

• Schemas Summary
• Tables
• Joins
• Columns

4- Dashboards Lineage Summary

Use the dashboard to get a quick view of data elements or calculations that could possibly be moved closer to the source. Employ the dashboard filter to help identify the lineage relationships of all the tenant's dashboards. The details include the insights type as well as the source columns. The dashboard insights are:

• Summary
• Dashboards
• Minified Lineage

5- Tables Used in Business Views

Use this dashboard to identify all the business schemas in a tenant, the view names, and the columns. he dashboard insights are:

• Summary
• Business Schemas

6- Tables Used In Materialized Views

Use this dashboard to identify all the materialized views in a tenant, including any referenced tables within the code or script of the materialized view.

Enable, schedule, and download for Incorta 4.6, 4.7, and 4.8

For a given tenant, a CMC Administrator enables the Inspector Tool Scheduler and schedules an Inspector Tools job. A CMC Administrator also downloads the Inspector Tool related schema, business schema, and dashboards files for all tenants.

Enable the Inspector Tool Scheduler and specify a schedule

As a CMC Administrator, you must enable the Inspector Tool Scheduler for each tenant configuration.

Here are the steps to enable this option for a specific tenant configuration in the CMC:

• As the CMC Administrator, sign in to the CMC.
• In the Navigation bar, select Clusters.
• In the cluster list, select a Cluster name.
• In the canvas tabs, select the Tenants tab.
• In the Tenant list, for the given tenant, select Configure.
• In the left pane, select Incorta Labs.
• In the right pane, toggle Inspector Tool Scheduler to enabled.
• Specify the schedule expression as follows:
  • Every in terms of numeric frequency, time intervals, and recurrence
  • Starting at in terms of a set time and GMT
  • From in terms of a Start Date, optional End Date, and Does Not End selection
• Select Save.

Download the Inspector Tool files

A CMC Administrator downloads for all tenants, the related Inspector Tool schema, business schema, and dashboards files.

Here are the steps to download schema, business schema, and dashboards:

• As the CMC Administrator, sign in to the CMC.
• In the Navigation bar, select Clusters.
• In the cluster list, select a Cluster name.
• In the canvas tabs, select Cluster Configurations.
• In the panel tabs, select Default Tenant Configurations.
• In the left pane, select Incorta Labs.
• In the right pane, in the description of the Inspector Tool Scheduler, select the download link.
• In the Box folder, select the following files to download:
  • business_schema.zip
  • dashboards.zip
  • schema.zip

Create and download for Incorta 4.9

A CMC Administrator creates an Inspector job in the for a given tenant. A CMC Administrator also downloads the Inspector Tool related schema, business schema, and dashboards files for all tenants.

Create an Inspector job

There are two ways to create an Inspector job in the CMC:

• Create an Inspector job in the CMC Scheduler
• Create an Inspector job to execute immediately

Create an Inspector job in the CMC scheduler

A newly created Inspector job is by default an Active job. Here are the steps to create an Inspector job:

• As the CMC Administrator, sign in to the CMC.
• In the Navigation bar, select Scheduler.
• In the Inspector tab, in Cluster Name, select a cluster.
• In the List view, in the Action Menu, select +.
• In the Add a new job dialog, specify the following:
  • Name
  • Tenant
• Specify the schedule expression as follows:
  • Every in terms of numeric frequency, time intervals, and recurrence
  • Starting at in terms of a set time and GMT
  • From in terms of a Start Date, optional End Date, and Does Not End selection
• Select Add job.

Create an Inspector job to execute immediately

For a given tenant, you can execute an Inspector job immediately. Follow theses steps:

• As the CMC Administrator, sign in to the CMC.
• In the Navigation bar, select Clusters.
• In the cluster list, select a cluster name.
• In the canvas tabs, select Tenants.
• In the list view, for a tenant row, select the Kebab icon.
• In the More Options menus, select Execute Inspector now to immediately execute an Inspector job.

Download the Inspector Tool files

A CMC Administrator downloads for all tenants, the related Inspector Tool schema, business schema, and dashboards files.

Here are the steps to download schema, business schema, and dashboards:

• As the CMC Administrator, sign in to the CMC.
• In the Navigation bar, select Scheduler.
• In the Inspector tab, select the information icon.
• In the tooltip, select the download link.
• In the Box folder, select the following files to download:
  • business_schema.zip
  • dashboards.zip
  • schema.zip

Import, Load, and Review

The steps are the same for importing files, loading the schema, and reviewing dashboards for all versions of Incorta.

A tenant Super User can import the schema, business schema, and dashboard for a given tenant. Next, the tenant Super User performs a full load of the schema. In addition, the Super User can share with various groups and users the dashboards or assign the required access rights to view the dashboards.

Import the Inspector Tool files

A tenant Super User can import the schema, business schema, and dashboards for a given tenant. After successfully downloading the zip files, a tenant Super User imports the schema, business schema, and dashboards.

Import the Inspector Tool schema

Here are the steps to import the Inspector Tool schema for a given tenant:

• Sign in to the Incorta tenant as the Super User.
• In the Navigation bar, select Schema
• In the Action bar, select + New.
• In the Add New Menu, select Import Schema.
• Drag and drop the schema.zip file to the Import Schema dialog.
• In the Import Results dialog, verify the schema name, InspectorMetadata, and select Close.

The InspectorMetadata schema contains the following tables:

• BUSINESS_SCHEMA_VIEWS
• JOINS_DETAILS
• LINEAGE_REPORT
• MV_REFERENCED_TABLES
• SCHEMA_TABLES
• VALIDATION

Import the Inspector Tool business schema

Here are the steps to import the Inspector Tool business schema for a given tenant:

• Sign in to the Incorta tenant as the Super User.
• In the Navigation bar, select Business Schema.
• In the Action bar, select + New.
• In the Add New Menu, select Import Business Schema.
• Drag and drop the business_schema.zip file to the Import Business Schema dialog.
• In the Import Results dialog, verify the schema name, incortaInspector, and select Close.

The incortaInspector business schema contains the following folder and views:

• TenantHierarchy (folder)
  • DashboardLineage
  • Schemas
  • Joins
  • BusinessSchemas
  • MVs
• validation

Import the Inspector Tool dashboards

Here are the steps to import the Inspector Tool dashboards for a given tenant:

• Sign in to the Incorta tenant as the Super User.
• In the Navigation bar, select Content.
• In the Action bar, select + New.
• In the Add New Menu, select Import Folder/Dashboard.
• Drag and drop the dashboards.zip file to the Import Folder/Dashboard dialog.

In the InspectorTool folder, there are several Inspector Tool dashboards:

• 0- Run status
• 1- Validation UseCases
• 2- Unused Entities
• 3- Schemas Details
• 4- Dashboards Lineage Summary
• 5- Tables Used in Business Views
• 6- Tables Used In Materialized Views

Load the InspectorMetadata schema

• Sign in to the Incorta tenant as the Super User or other user that belongs to a group with the Schema Manager role and edit access rights to the InspectorMetadata schema.
• In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
• In the Schema Manager, select the InspectorMetadata schema.
• In the Schema Designer, in the Action bar, select Load → Load Now → Full.

Review the Inspector Tool dashboards

• Sign in to the Incorta tenant as the Super User or other user that belongs has view access rights to the InspectorTool folder in the Content Manager.
• In the Navigation bar, select Content.
• In the Card view or List view, select the InspectorTool dashboard folder.
• Review the 0- Run status dashboard and confirm the Inspector scheduled job.
• Review the 1- Validation UseCases dashboard.
• In the Error & Warning Codes insight, identify all the Severity-1 issues.

You can review additional dashboards. To learn more, review About the Inspector Tool dashboards.