Replicate Multiple Avalara AvaTax Accounts via the CData Sync CLI

CData Sync for Avalara AvaTax is a stand-alone application that provides solutions for a variety of replication scenarios such as replicating sandbox and production instances into your database. Both Sync for Windows and Sync for Java include a command-line interface (CLI) that makes it easy to manage multiple Avalara AvaTax connections. In this article we show how to use the CLI to replicate multiple Avalara AvaTax accounts.

Configure Avalara AvaTax Connections

You can save connection and email notification settings in an XML configuration file. To replicate multiple Avalara AvaTax accounts, use multiple configuration files. Below is an example configuration to replicate Avalara AvaTax to SQLite:

Windows

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<CDataSync>
 <DatabaseType>SQLite</DatabaseType>
 <DatabaseProvider>System.Data.SQLite</DatabaseProvider>
 <ConnectionString>User=MyUser;Password=MyPassword;</ConnectionString>
 <ReplicateAll>False</ReplicateAll>
 <NotificationUserName></NotificationUserName>
 <DatabaseConnectionString>Data Source=C:\my.db</DatabaseConnectionString>
 <TaskSchedulerStartTime>09:51</TaskSchedulerStartTime>
 <TaskSchedulerInterval>Never</TaskSchedulerInterval>
</CDataSync>

Java

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<CDataSync>
<DatabaseType>SQLite</DatabaseType>
 <DatabaseProvider>org.sqlite.JDBC</DatabaseProvider>
 <ConnectionString>User=MyUser;Password=MyPassword;</ConnectionString>
 <ReplicateAll>False</ReplicateAll>
 <NotificationUserName></NotificationUserName>
 <DatabaseConnectionString>Data Source=C:\my.db</DatabaseConnectionString>
</CDataSync>

The primary method for performing basic authentication is to provide your login credentials, as follows:

• User: Set this to your username.
• Password: Set this to your password.

Optionally, if you are making use of a sandbox environment, set the following:

• UseSandbox: Set this to true if you are authenticating with a sandbox account.

Authenticating Using Account Number and License Key

Alternatively, you can authenticate using your account number and license key. Connect to data using the following:

• AccountId: Set this to your Account Id. The Account Id is listed in the upper right hand corner of the admin console.
• LicenseKey: Set this to your Avalara Avatax license key. You can generate a license key by logging into Avalara Avatax as an account administrator and navigating to Settings -> Reset License Key.

Configure Queries for Each Avalara AvaTax Instance

Sync enables you to control replication with standard SQL. The REPLICATE statement is a high-level command that caches and maintains a table in your database. You can define any SELECT query supported by the Avalara AvaTax API. The statement below caches and incrementally updates a table of Avalara AvaTax data:

REPLICATE Transactions;

You can specify a file containing the replication queries you want to use to update a particular database. Separate replication statements with semicolons. The following options are useful if you are replicating multiple Avalara AvaTax accounts into the same database:

You can use a different table prefix in the REPLICATE SELECT statement:

REPLICATE PROD_Transactions SELECT * FROM Transactions 

Alternatively, you can use a different schema:

REPLICATE PROD.Transactions SELECT * FROM Transactions

Run Sync

After you have configured the connection strings and replication queries, you can run Sync with the following command-line options:

Windows

AvalaraAvataxSync.exe -g MyProductionAvalaraAvataxConfig.xml -f MyProductionAvalaraAvataxSync.sql

Java

java -Xbootclasspath/p:c:\sqlitejdbc.jar -jar AvalaraAvataxSync.jar -g MyProductionAvalaraAvataxConfig.xml -f MyProductionAvalaraAvataxSync.sql