Discovery Companion application
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      1. biGENIUS-X Knowledge Base
      2. Discovery Companion application

      Use the Discovery Companion application

      You will first need to install the Discovery Companion.

      Prepare the source YAML file

      The Discovery Companion app needs a source from which to ingest metadata. The source is a YAML file (called Recipe) containing:

      • The specifications for accessing the source system (file, database, etc.)
      • The specifications for the output file (type, path)

      Example for a Microsoft SQL Server source database:

      source:
        type: mssql
        config:
          # Coordinates
          host_port: localhost:1460
          database: AdventureWorks2019
          schema_pattern: {'allow': ['Sales.*'], 'deny': [], 'ignoreCase': True}
          # Credentials
          username: sa
          password: Admin2022!
      sink:
        type: file
        config:
          filename: ./outputs/mssql_adw_sales_output.json

      We have provided examples for the following source systems:

      You can also use environment variables in the source YAML recipe.

      For more details, see: Use environment variables with the Discovery Companion application.

      Use the Discovery Companion

      When your source YAML file is ready, you can use the Discovery Companion:

      • Open Windows Powershell (or equivalent)
      • Execute the following command (replace csv_example.yaml by the name of your source YAML file) :
      bgdiscovery -f csv_example.yaml

      Ensure that the output folder specified in your source YAML file exists. (In our example, this is the folder named outputs).

      The -f operator is a Powershell string format operator. More information here.

      • You should have the following result:
      • The output discovery file can be found in the output path, in this example ./outputs/csv_discovery_output.json:

      • It contains metadata data extracted from the CSV file structure, mainly the column names and the data types. This information enables discovery within the application later on.

      If you run into any issues, please refer to our FAQs section for guidance on the Discovery Companion application:

      Demonstration video