Denodo Platform Architecture and Components
What this domain tests
Architecture questions ask which Denodo component performs which job, and how a query flows from a client to a source. You need to distinguish the runtime server from development, metadata, scheduling, deployment, and monitoring tools, and know where optional acceleration fits.
Components and roles
- Virtual DataPort (VDP) is the runtime data virtualization server. It stores databases and views, parses VQL, optimizes queries, delegates to sources, combines results, enforces view-level security, and can use cache and MPP.
- Design Studio is the web-based modeling environment in current releases; the older Administration Tool is the thick client. It is where base, derived, and interface views are created and tested.
- Data Catalog is the metadata and governance layer: search, lineage, glossary, tags, and marketplace publishing. It describes artifacts; it does not execute queries.
- Scheduler runs jobs such as cache preloading, exports, and data movement on a timetable.
- Solution Manager promotes versioned artifacts across environments, for example development to test to production.
- Diagnostic & Monitoring Tool shows server health, sessions, query activity, and logs.
- Embedded MPP is an optional distributed engine for complex federated work that cannot be pushed down efficiently.
- Cache Engine stores result sets in memory or a cache database. JDBC, ODBC, and ADBC drivers connect clients; Control Center installs and updates the platform; Denodo Express is a limited free edition.
Worked example
A Power BI dashboard connects over JDBC to VDP and queries an interface view. VDP parses VQL, checks the optimizer and cache, pushes a date filter to the source, and uses MPP for a large join that the source cannot handle. The Data Catalog records lineage from the view to its sources, while the Scheduler preloads the cache before business hours. Solution Manager later promotes the changed view from test to production. The reasoning: each component has a distinct responsibility; mixing them up is the usual error.
Traps that cost marks
- Saying the Data Catalog executes or stores query results.
- Confusing Scheduler with the query optimizer.
- Treating Solution Manager as a high-availability runtime component.
- Assuming MPP is mandatory; it is an optional acceleration path.