Physical and Logical Agents

1. Understanding Physical Agents

• Definition: A physical agent refers to a specific, individual agent that corresponds to either a standalone agent or a Java EE agent.
• Unique Name: Each physical agent should have a unique name within the Oracle Data Integrator Topology.
• Deployment: A physical agent is deployed on a specific machine or server. It can be a standalone agent on its own server or part of a larger Java EE environment.
• Role: It performs the actual integration tasks (orchestration and transformation) as part of the execution process.

 

2. Understanding Logical Agents

• Definition: A logical agent is an abstract concept that groups physical agents with identical roles across different environments.
• Grouping Physical Agents: Physical agents with the same function or role (e.g., for similar tasks in different environments) can be organized into a logical agent, which simplifies management.
• Contexts: Logical agents are associated with specific contexts. A context defines the environment in which the agent is used (e.g., development, production).

 

3. Relationship Between Physical and Logical Agents

• Mapping: A logical agent is tied to one or more physical agents. This relationship is configured through contexts, allowing logical agents to span multiple environments.
• Execution Translation: When an execution is started in Oracle Data Integrator, you specify both the logical agent and the context.
• Oracle Data Integrator will then translate this information into a single physical agent that will actually perform the task.
• Flexibility: This setup allows you to manage your integration environment more flexibly, with logical agents abstracting the physical layer.

 

4. How to Configure a Logical Agent

• Step 1: Create a logical agent in the ODI Topology by grouping physical agents with identical roles across different environments.
• Step 2: Define contexts that associate physical agents with specific environments (such as development, testing, or production).
• Step 3: Link the logical agent to one or more physical agents via contexts.
• Step 4: Specify the logical agent and context when you start an execution. Oracle Data Integrator will resolve this to a specific physical agent for task execution.

 

5. Benefits of Using Logical and Physical Agents

• Simplified Management: Logical agents allow you to abstract the physical agents, simplifying the management of agents across different environments.
• Environment Flexibility: You can configure the same logical agent to map to different physical agents in various environments, making it easy to scale and maintain integration across different setups.
• Context-Based Configuration: By linking agents to contexts, you can easily switch between different environments (e.g., moving from development to production) without changing the agent configuration.

 

6. Key Differences Between Physical and Logical Agents

Feature	Physical Agent	Logical Agent
Definition	A specific, individual agent (standalone or Java EE).	A logical grouping of physical agents with identical roles.
Uniqueness	Must have a unique name in the Topology.	Groups multiple physical agents under one logical name.
Role	Performs the integration tasks.	Abstracts and represents physical agents in different environments.
Configuration	Configured directly in the ODI Topology.	Configured through contexts to point to physical agents.
Usage	Used directly for task execution.	Used for abstraction, mapping to physical agents during execution.

 

7. Example of Logical and Physical Agent Setup

• Scenario: Assume you have a physical agent in both Development and Production environments that performs the same tasks.
• Step 1: You define two physical agents, one for Development (devAgent) and one for Production (prodAgent).
• Step 2: You create a logical agent (integrationAgent) that groups both the devAgent and prodAgent.
• Step 3: When executing an integration task, you specify the logical agent (integrationAgent) and the context (dev or prod).
• Step 4: Oracle Data Integrator resolves this to the appropriate physical agent based on the context and environment.

 

8. When to Use Logical vs Physical Agents

• Use Physical Agents when you need direct, individual management of integration servers or agents on specific machines.
• Use Logical Agents when you need to manage multiple agents across environments with the same role, simplifying deployment and management.