How to connect to Azure Data Lake Storage Data from IntelliJ

The CData JDBC Driver for Azure Data Lake Storage enables you to access Azure Data Lake Storage as a JDBC data source, providing integration with rapid development tools in IDEs. This article shows how to use the data source configuration wizard to connect to Azure Data Lake Storage data in IntelliJ.

Create a JBDC Data Source for Azure Data Lake Storage

Follow the steps below to add the driver JAR and define connection properties required to connect to Azure Data Lake Storage data.

1. In the Data Sources window, right-click and then click Add Data Source -> DB Data Source.

2. In the Data Source Properties dialog that appears, the following properties are required:

   • JDBC Driver Files: Click the button next to this menu to add the JDBC Driver file cdata.jdbc.adls.jar, located in the installation directory.
   • JDBC Driver Class: In this menu, select cdata.jdbc.adls.ADLSDriver from the list.

   • Database URL: Enter the connection URL in the JDBC URL property. The URL must start with jdbc:adls: and includes connection properties separated with semicolons.

     Authenticating to a Gen 1 DataLakeStore Account

     Gen 1 uses OAuth 2.0 in Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) for authentication.

     For this, an Active Directory web application is required. You can create one as follows:

     1. Sign in to your Azure Account through the
     2. Select "Entra ID" (formerly Azure AD).
     3. Select "App registrations".
     4. Select "New application registration".
     5. Provide a name and URL for the application. Select Web app for the type of application you want to create.
     6. Select "Required permissions" and change the required permissions for this app. At a minimum, "Azure Data Lake" and "Windows Azure Service Management API" are required.
     7. Select "Key" and generate a new key. Add a description, a duration, and take note of the generated key. You won't be able to see it again.

     To authenticate against a Gen 1 DataLakeStore account, the following properties are required:

     • Schema: Set this to ADLSGen1.
     • Account: Set this to the name of the account.
     • OAuthClientId: Set this to the application Id of the app you created.
     • OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the key generated for the app you created.
     • TenantId: Set this to the tenant Id. See the property for more information on how to acquire this.
     • Directory: Set this to the path which will be used to store the replicated file. If not specified, the root directory will be used.

     Authenticating to a Gen 2 DataLakeStore Account

     To authenticate against a Gen 2 DataLakeStore account, the following properties are required:

     • Schema: Set this to ADLSGen2.
     • Account: Set this to the name of the account.
     • FileSystem: Set this to the file system which will be used for this account.
     • AccessKey: Set this to the access key which will be used to authenticate the calls to the API. See the property for more information on how to acquire this.
     • Directory: Set this to the path which will be used to store the replicated file. If not specified, the root directory will be used.

     Built-in Connection String Designer

     For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Azure Data Lake Storage JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

     java -jar cdata.jdbc.adls.jar
     

     Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

     👁 Using the built-in connection string designer to generate a JDBC URL (Salesforce is shown.)
     

     A typical JDBC URL is the following:

     jdbc:adls:Schema=ADLSGen2;Account=myAccount;FileSystem=myFileSystem;AccessKey=myAccessKey;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;

Edit and Save Azure Data Lake Storage Data

To discover schema information, right-click the data source you just created and click Refresh Tables. To query a table, right-click it and then click Open Tables Editor.