Address reference data contains authoritative data for the postal addresses in a country. For many countries, the address reference data contains complete data for every postal address. When you run a mapping with a Verifier transformation, the transformation compares the input address data to the reference data files.
The mapping compares the elements in each input address separately and collectively against the reference data to verify that the address identifies a single deliverable address. The mapping results include the verified or corrected versions of the address and any additional information that you requested.
Consider the following rules and guidelines for address reference data:
•The Secure Agent downloads the current versions of the files that you need. If the current version of a file is already present on the Secure Agent host machine, the file is not downloaded again.
The download operation checks the files that the mapping requires and does not necessarily check the status of every reference data file on the system.
•The download operation downloads a hash file with each reference data file. When you run a mapping, the Secure Agent uses the hash file data to verify that the reference data location contains the current version of the file.
The address reference data files and hash data files are read-only files. Do not move or delete any file that the Secure Agent downloads for address verification.
•The default location of the reference data files is [Informatica_root_directory]/avdata. You can review or update the reference data location in the Administrator service.
•If you change the reference data location, the Secure Agent downloads the reference data to the new location on the next occasion that you run a mapping.
•Ensure that you have enough disk space available in the system for the download files. The disk space that you require depends on the countries for which you download data and the number and type of files that you download. The full set of global reference data files takes up approximately 18 GB of disk space.
If the current mapping requires a large volume of reference data, the download process may take some time.
•The reference data files require a valid license. The verifier reads the license information from one or more license files that the Secure Agent can access. You enter the path to the license files as a data property on the Secure Agent.
•The address reference data that enables certified address verification for United States addresses is not licensed for use outside the United States.