Connect to Act CRM Data in Airbyte ELT Pipelines

Airbyte empowers users to load your data into any data warehouse, data lake, or database. When combined with CData Connect AI, Airbyte users can create Extract, Load, Transform (ELT) pipelines directly from live Act CRM data. This article illustrates the process of connecting to Act CRM through Connect AI and constructing ELT pipelines for Act CRM data within Airbyte.

CData Connect AI offers a dedicated SQL Server interface for Act CRM, facilitating data querying without the need for data replication to a native database. With built-in optimized data processing capabilities, CData Connect AI efficiently directs all supported SQL operations, including filters and JOINs, straight to Act CRM. This harnesses server-side processing to swiftly retrieve the desired Act CRM data.

Configure Act CRM Connectivity for Airbyte

Connectivity to Act CRM from Airbyte is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Act CRM data from Airbyte, we start by creating and configuring a Act CRM connection.

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
👁 Adding a Connection

2. Select "Act CRM" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Act CRM.

   The and properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid Act! user credentials. In addition to the authentication values, see the following:

   • Connecting to Act! Premium

     In addition to the authentication values, the to Act! is also required; for example https://eup1-iis-04.eu.hosted.act.com/.

     Additionally, you must specify the you will connect to. This is found by going to the About Act! Premium menu of your account, at the top right of the page, in the ? menu. Use the Database Name in the window that appears.

   • Connecting to Act! Premium Cloud

     To connect to your Act! Premium Cloud account, you also need to specify the property. This property is found in the URL address of the Cloud account; for example https://eup1-iis-04.eu.hosted.act.com/ActCloudName/.

   Note that retrieving ActCRM metadata can be expensive. It is advised that you set the property to store the metadata locally.

   👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Act CRM Connection page and update the User-based permissions. 👁 Updating permissions
   

Add a Personal Access Token

When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give the PAT a name and click Create. 👁 Creating a new PAT
   
4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

With the connection configured and a PAT generated, you are ready to connect to Act CRM data from Airbyte.

Connect to Act CRM from Airbyte

To establish a connection from Airbyte to CData Connect AI, follow these steps.

1. Log in to your Airbyte account 👁 Logging into Airbyte
   
2. On the left panel, click Sources, then Add New Source
   • Set Source Type to MSSQL Server to connect the TDS endpoint
   • Set Source Name
   • Set Host URL to tds.cdata.com
   • Set Port to 14333
   • Set Database to the name of the connection you previously configured, e.g. ActCRM1.
   • Set Username to your Connect AI username
   • Set SSL Method to Encrypted (trust server certificate), leave the Replication Method as standard, and set SSH Tunnel Method to No Tunnel
   • (Optional) Set Schema to anything you want to apply to the source
   • Set Password to your Connect AI PAT
   • (Optional) Enter any needed JBDC URL Params
3. Click Test and Save to create the data source.

Create ELT Pipelines for Act CRM Data

To connect Act CRM data with a new destination, click Sources and then Set Up Connection to connect to your destination. Select the source created above and your desired destination, then allow Airbyte to process. When it is done, your connection is ready for use.

Get CData Connect AI

To get live data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from Airbyte, try CData Connect AI today!