Why
The need for a server edition appeared pretty quickly once our customers started performing more transformations on larger datasets. Basically, it was demanded by the switch of usage pattern from personal to team use:- Multiple projects run by multiple users
- Data volumes required more RAM and CPU power than a typical personal computer has
- Scheduled long-running transformations
- Shared source files and data sources
What's this
EasyMorph Server is a Windows service with a web console and the same columnar in-memory data transformation engine which is employed by desktop editions of EasyMorph. It runs on schedule projects created in any desktop edition (including the free edition, yay!). Project parameters can be assigned (overridden) in Server tasks. Project logs can be viewed right in the web console and are updated in real-time. |
| Task list (click to zoom). |
The Server engine performs slightly better than the engine of desktop editions. It runs 10-20% faster and utilizes 10-30% less memory due to server-specific optimizations. For instance, unlike the desktop editions, Server doesn't store some intermediate results since there is no need to display them in UI.
EasyMorph Server is designed for analytical teams with limited or no IT support. Therefore, it's very easy to install and maintain. The installer package also includes EasyMorph Server Monitor -- a simple utility to manage the service: start it, stop it, view the server log, and change HTTP port for that rare case when the default one is not available.
Documentation
While the Server doesn't allow creating or editing projects (projects are designed in desktop editions) it still can be helpful for business users that only run projects (created by someone else) because they can view auto-generated documentation on data transformation logic in projects, and understand what happens under the hood when they trigger a data transformation task. For instance, they can see expressions used to calculate columns, filtering conditions, data sources, parameters, etc.Since the documentation has a permanent URL it can be accessed (opened) from external applications such as Tableau dashboards or Qlik applications.
 |
| Integration with Tableau dashboard through Actions. |
API
Right from the beginning EasyMorph Server is built around a public RESTful API that can be used by external applications in order to create, modify and trigger Server tasks programmatically. The API enables tight integration with 3rd party tools.Customization / White-labeling
The Server's UI is customizable. You can change colors and styles, use your own logo and modify links in the web console's header to match your corporate style. Even more than that -- if you're developing and selling an analytical application you can use EasyMorph Server as native component of your application under an OEM license. Note that desktop EasyMorph (required for creating/editing projects) is not customizable.
What's next
The version 1.0 is, as it's supposed to be for a very first release, somewhat basic :) But it doesn't mean it's going to stay like that -- we have a lot of things on the roadmap:Soon, we will be introducing events -- a means to arrange task cascading and non-schedule triggers (e.g. running a task when a file appears/changes). Private groups will allow restricting access to particular tasks. Email integration will appear in one of the future releases and will make automated receiving and processing email attachments possible. Impact tracking will allow logging and analyzing what project created, consumed or modified what file or database table.
Licensing
EasyMorph Server is licensed per server with no limit on users which means that any number of users can access the Server, create and run tasks, and view documentation on them. Together with the ability to run projects created in the free desktop edition this makes EasyMorph Server one of the most affordable department-level ETL systems on the market. More on the licensing on our web-site: http://easymorph.com/server.html.
Dmitry Gudkov