The Null Target

The null target #

From version 2023.03.31.14, Arcion Replicant supports the /dev/null device file as a “dummy” data target. This allows you to measure source extraction performance and validate your source configurations, without having to configure an actual target platform.

In UNIX and Linux systems, the /dev/null device file discards everything we write to it. This makes the null device file perfect for testing and validating one end of a data pipeline by dumping source data into /dev/null.

How to use /dev/null as target #

To use /dev/null as target, follow these steps:

  1. Choose and configure a source platform, for example, Microsoft SQL Server.

    Tip: To see the available sources, visit our connectors page. For documentation on the available sources, expand the Source Connector Setup section under Sources in the left navigation menu by clicking the expander arrow.

  2. Specify the following configuration for the null target:

    type: NULLSTORAGE

storage-location: PATH_TO_VALID_LOCATION

    Replace PATH_TO_VALID_LOCATION with a valid path on disk.

    Arcion Replicant temporarily stores very small files during the process in storage-location for internal functions. Replicant doesn’t store any source data in that location.

  3. Run Replicant with the necessary options and arguments. For example:

    ./bin/replicant snapshot \
conf/conn/sqlserver.yaml \
conf/conn/null.yaml \
--extractor conf/src/sqlserver.yaml \

    In the preceding command:

    1. We run Replicant in snapshot mode for snapshot replication.
    2. We specify the path to the connection configuration file of the source and the null target.
    3. We specify the path to the Extractor configuration file using the --extractor argument.

    The preceding command illustrates a very basic use case of running Replicant with the null target. According to your requirements, you can include filter, mapper, notification, and other configuration files by specifying different CLI options and arguments. With /dev/null as target, you can tune performance and test your source requirements freely. For more information on different Replicant CLI options, see Running Replicant.