Connectors → Custom CData

About the Custom CData Connector

With the Custom CData Connector, you can use a CData JDBC driver to ingest data from any of the over 200 databases, applications, and object stores supported by CData JDBC drivers. You can review the CData JDBC driver documentation at Drivers & Data Connectors.

Note

Please contact Incorta Support to request the CData driver be added to your cluster. Note that the CData Driver may require additional licensing and may not have been verified or tested by Incorta. You can review the CDATA JDBC driver documentation at Drivers & Data Connectors.

The Custom CData connector supports the following Incorta specific functionality:

FeatureSupported
Chunking
Data Agent
Encryption at Ingest
Incremental Load
Load Filter
Multi-Source
OAuth
Performance Optimized
Single-Source
Spark Extraction
Webhook Callbacks

Deploy the JAR file

The Custom CData Connector requires a JAR file for the related JDBC driver. Here is an example for Snowflake:

  • cdata.jdbc.snowflake.jar
Note

For the Driver class name, refer to CData JDBC Driver Documentation.

  • To deploy the JAR file on an Incorta Cloud cluster, contact Incorta Support to assist you with deploying the jar.
  • To deploy the JAR file on an On-Premises cluster, a System Administrator with root access will need to copy the JDBC driver JAR file to each Incorta Node in an Incorta cluster. A CMC Administrator will need to restart each Analytics and Loader Service in the cluster.

Here are the steps to copy the JAR file to a standalone On-Premises cluster:

  • Contact Incorta Support and download the Customer CData connector driver JAR file.
  • Copy the cdata.jdbc.<connectorName>.jar file to the host of the Analytics Service and Loader Service.
  • For each Analytics Service and Loader Service host, copy the JAR file to the <IncortaNode>/extensions/connectors/shared-libs/ directory.
Note

Starting with 2024.1.x, Incorta has moved the Custom CData connectors from <IncortaNode>/extensions/connectors/customCData/ to <IncortaNode>/extensions/connectors/shared-libs/.

Allow the Custom CData connector

In order to use the Custom CData connector, a Cluster Management Console (CMC) administrator must first allow it. Here are the steps:

  • Sign in to the CMC.
  • In the Navigation bar, select Clusters.
  • In the cluster list, select a Cluster name.
  • In the canvas tabs, select Connectors.
  • Select Manage Connectors.
  • Select Allow for the custom CData connector.
  • Select OK.
  • Restart the services.
Note

There is an associated cost to allow a CData connector. Contact your Incorta Sales Executive for details.

Steps to connect a data source

To connect a data source and Incorta, here are the high level steps, tools, and procedures:

Create an external data source

Here are the steps to create a external data source with the Custom CData connector:

  • Sign in to the Incorta Direct Data Platform™.
  • In the Navigation bar, select Data.
  • In the Action bar, select + New → Add Data Source.
  • In the Choose a Data Source dialog, in Custom, select Custom CData.
  • In the New Data Source dialog, specify the applicable connector properties.
  • To test, select Test Connection.
  • Select Ok to save your changes.
Custom CData connector properties

Here are the properties for the Custom CData connector:

PropertyControlDescription
Data Source Nametext boxEnter the name of the data source
Driver Classtext boxEnter the driver class for the data source. For example, the Snowflake driver name is
cdata.jdbc.xyz.XYZDriver. To find the drive name, refer to the "Establishing a Connection" article in the CData JDBC Driver for XYZ documentation.
Connection Stringtext boxEnter the jdbc connection string.
Show CatalogstoggleEnable to list any data catalogs
Show SchemastoggleEnable to list any data schema
Enable OAuthtoggleEnable to allow OAuth authentication
OAuth Client Idtext boxThe client ID assigned when you register your application with an OAuth authorization server.
OAuth Client Secrettext boxThe client secret assigned when you register your application with an OAuth authorization server.

Create a physical schema with the Schema Designer

Here are the steps to create a custom SQL physical schema using the Schema Designer:

  • Sign in to the Incorta Direct Data Platform™.
  • In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
  • In the Action bar, select + New → Create Schema.
  • In Name, specify the physical schema name, and select Save.
  • In Start adding tables to your schema, select SQL Database.
  • In the Data Source dialog, specify the Custom CData table data source properties.
  • Select Add.
  • In the Table Editor, in the Table Summary section, enter the table name.
  • To save your changes, select Done in the Action bar.
Custom CData table data source properties

For a physical schema table in Incorta, you can define the following Custom CData specific data source properties as follows:

PropertyControlDescription
Typedrop down listDefault is SQL Database
Data Sourcedrop down listSelect the Custom CData external data source
IncrementaltoggleEnable the incremental load configuration for the physical schema table
Fetch Sizetext boxUsed for performance improvement, fetch size defines the number of records that will be retrieved from the database in each batch until all records are retrieved. The default is 5000.
Querytext boxEnter the SQL query to retrieve data from the Custom CData database table. This is a SELECT statement for a SQL query. You must specify a FROM clause. You need to know the Table Name. A file name will serve as a table name.
Update Querytext boxEnable Incremental to configure this property. Enter the SQL query to retrieve data updates from the Custom CData database table.
Incremental Field Typedrop down listEnable Incremental to configure this property. Select the format of the table date column:
  ●  Timestamp
  ●  Unix Epoch (seconds)
  ●  Unix Epoch (milliseconds)
CallbacktoggleEnable this option to call back on the source data set
Callback URLtext boxEnable Callback to configure this property. Specify the URL.

View the physical schema diagram with the Schema Diagram Viewer

Here are the steps to view the physical schema diagram using the Schema Diagram Viewer:

  • Sign in to the Incorta Direct Data Platform™.
  • In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
  • In the list of schemas, select the Custom CData schema.
  • In the Schema Designer, in the Action bar, select Diagram.

Load the physical schema

Here are the steps to perform a Full Load of the Custom CData physical schema using the Schema Designer:

  • Sign in to the Incorta Direct Data Platform™.
  • In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
  • In the list of schemas, select the Custom CData schema.
  • In the Schema Designer, in the Action bar, select LoadFull Load.
  • To review the load status, in Last Load Status, select the date.

Explore the physical schema

With the full load of the Custom CData physical schema complete, you can use the Analyzer to explore the schema, create your first insight, and save the insight to a new dashboard.

To open the Analyzer from the schema, follow these steps:

  • In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
  • In the Schema Manager, in the List view, select the Custom CData schema.
  • In the Schema Designer, in the Action bar, select Explore Data.

Known Issue

  • Loading schemas created based on some custom CData connectors might fail with the following error: A table could not be found that matches #DUMMY. To solve this issue, add the SupportEnhancedSql property to the connection string and set it to true, for example, jdbc:googleads:InitiateOAuth=OFF;DeveloperToken=myDeveloperToken;ClientCustomerId=myClientCustomerId;SupportEnhancedSql=true;.