Dimension servers work in conjunction with dimension adapters, and serve as a centralized source of dimension information for all other pipeline components.
- Dimension adapters load dimension information from your dimension source files.
- The dimension server gets its dimension information from the dimension adapters.
- Other pipeline components get their dimension information from the dimension server.
Setting up your pipeline with a dimension server allows you to change your dimension adapters as needed without having to change the dimension source for all other pipeline components that require dimension information.
In addition to functioning as a centralized source for dimension information, dimension servers also coordinate the loading and saving of dimension information that is generated when using the Auto Generate option during source property-to-dimension mapping. Auto-generated dimensions are persisted in the file location that is specified as part of the dimension server component.
Typically, there is only one dimension server per pipeline.
