Connect to Certinia Data in the Denodo Platform

Denodo Platform is a data virtualization product providing a single point of contact for enterprise database data. When paired with the CData JDBC Driver for Certinia, Denodo users can work with live Certinia data alongside other enterprise data sources. This article explains how to create a virtual data source for Certinia in the Denodo Virtual DataPort Administrator.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData JDBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Certinia data. When you issue complex SQL queries to Certinia, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Certinia and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations). Its built-in dynamic metadata querying allows you to work with and analyze Certinia data using native data types.

Create the Certinia Virtual Port

To connect to live Certinia data from Denodo, you need to copy the JDBC Driver JAR file to the external library directory for Denodo and create a new JDBC Data Source from the Virtual DataPort Administrator tool.

1. Download the CData JDBC Driver for Certinia installer, unzip the package, and run the JAR file to install the driver.
2. Copy the JAR File (and license file if it exists) from the installation location (typically C:\Program Files\CData\CData JDBC Driver for Certinia\lib\) to the Denodo external library directory (C:\Denodo\Denodo Platform\lib-external\jdbc-drivers\cdata-certinia-19).
3. Open the Denodo Virtual DataPort Administrator tool and navigate to the Server Explorer tab.
4. Right-click "admin" and select New -> Data source -> JDBC. 👁 Creating a new JDBC data source.
   
5. Configure the JDBC Connection:
   • Name: your choice, e.g.: certinia
   • Database adapter: Generic
   • Driver class path: C:\Denodo\Denodo Platform\lib-external\jdbc-drivers\cdata-certinia-19
   • Driver class: cdata.jdbc.certinia.CertiniaDriver

   • Database URI: Set this to a JDBC URL using the necessary connection properties. For example,

     jdbc:certinia:User=myUser;Password=myPassword;Security Token=myToken;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;

     👁 Configuring the JDBC connection (NetSuite is shown).
     

     Information on creating the Database URI follows:

     Built-In Connection String Designer

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

     	java -jar cdata.jdbc.certinia.jar
     	

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

     There are several authentication methods available for connecting to Certinia: login credentials, SSO, and OAuth.

     Authenticating with a Login and Token

     Set the User and Password to your login credentials. Additionally, set the SecurityToken. By default, the SecurityToken is required, but you can make it optional by allowing a range of trusted IP addresses.

     To disable the security token:

     1. Log in to Certinia and enter "Network Access" in the Quick Find box in the setup section.
     2. Add your IP address to the list of trusted IP addresses.

     To obtain the security token:

     1. Open the personal information page on certinia.com.
     2. Click the link to reset your security token. The token will be emailed to you.
     3. Specify the security token in the SecurityToken connection property or append it to the Password.

     Authenticating with OAuth

     If you do not have access to the user name and password or do not want to require them, use the OAuth user consent flow. See the OAuth section in the Help for an authentication guide.

     Connecting to Certinia Sandbox Accounts

     Set UseSandbox to true (false by default) to use a Certinia sandbox account. Ensure that you specify a sandbox user name in User.

     👁 Using the built-in connection string designer to generate a JDBC URL (Salesforce is shown.)
     
6. Click the "Test connection" button to confirm the configuration and click Save.

View Certinia Data in the VirtualPort Administrator Tool

After creating the data source, you can create a base view of Certinia data for use in the Denodo Platform.

1. Click the "Create base view" button in the newly created VirtualPort (admin.Certinia).
2. Expand the object tree and select the objects (tables) you wish to import. 👁 Selecting objects to import (NetSuite is shown).
   
3. Click the "Create selected" button to create views of the Certinia data.
   Optional: Click "Create associations from foreign keys" to define relationships between the objects.
4. With the view(s) created, navigate to a table (cdata_certinia_account) in the Server Explorer and double-click the selected table.
5. In the new tab, click "Execution panel" to open a query panel.
6. Customize the query in the "Execute" tab or use the default:

   SELECT * FROM cdata_certinia_account CONTEXT ('i18n'='us_est', 'cache_wait_for_load'='true')
   

   👁 Configuring the query to view the data.
   
7. Click Execute to view the data. 👁 Viewing the data.
   

With the base view created, you can now work with live Certinia data like you would any other data source in Denodo Platform, for example, querying Certinia in the Denodo Data Catalog.

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData JDBC Driver for Certinia and start working with your live Certinia data in Denodo Platform. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.