Connect to Excel Online Data as a SQL Server Linked Server

SQL Server Linked Servers enable the SQL Server Database Engine to read data from remote data sources and execute commands against the remote database servers outside of the instance of SQL Server. Typically, linked servers are configured to enable the execution of a T-SQL statement that includes tables in another instance of SQL Server, or another database product such as Oracle. When paired with CData Connect AI, linked servers provides instant access to Excel Online data from your SQL Server database. This article demonstrates how to connect to Excel Online using Connect AI and query Excel Online data in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).

CData Connect AI provides a pure SQL Server interface for Excel Online, allowing you to query data from Excel Online without replicating the data to a natively supported database. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect AI pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc.) directly to Excel Online, leveraging server-side processing to return the requested Excel Online data quickly.

Configure Excel Online Connectivity for SQL Server

Connectivity to Excel Online from SQL Linked Servers is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Excel Online data from SQL Linked Servers, we start by creating and configuring a Excel Online connection.

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

2. Select "Excel Online" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Excel Online.

   You can connect to a workbook by providing authentication to Excel Online and then setting the following properties:

   • : Set this to the name or Id of the workbook.

     If you want to view a list of information about the available workbooks, execute a query to the Workbooks view after you authenticate.

   • : Set this to true if you are connecting to a workbook in a sandbox account. Otherwise, leave this blank to connect to a production account.

   You use the OAuth authentication standard to authenticate to Excel Online. See the Getting Started section in the help documentation for a guide. Getting Started also guides you through executing SQL to worksheets and ranges.

   👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Excel Online 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 Excel Online data from .

Connect to Excel Online from SQL Server using Connect AI

To establish a connection from SQL Server Linked Server to the CData Connect AI Virtual SQL Server API, follow these steps.

1. Open Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio.
2. In the Object Explorer pane, open Server Objects, right-click Linked Servers, and select New Linked Server.
👁 Selecting new linked server

3. The New Linked Server dialogue opens. On the General page, enter the following information:
   • Enter a name for the server in the Linked server field.
   • Select the radio button Other data source and select SQL Server Native Client 11.0 as the provider.
   • In the Data source field, enter tds.cdata.com,14333
   • In the Catalog field, enter enter the Connection Name of the CData Connect AI data source you want to connect to (for example, ExcelOnline1).
   👁 Configuring the new linked server
   
4. Select the Security page. At the bottom, select the radio button labeled Be made using this security context and enter the following information:
   • Remote login - enter your CData Connect AI username. This is displayed in the top-right corner of the CData Connect AI interface. For example, [email protected].
   • With password - enter the PAT you generated on the Settings page.
   👁 Entering credentials
   
5. Click OK to create the server.
Your linked server can now be used to access the data in the data source you specified. If you need to access data from more sources, create another linked server for each one.

Execute Queries

You can now execute queries to the Excel Online linked server from any tool that can connect to SQL Server. An example SQL query would be:

		SELECT * FROM [CDATA CONNECT CLOUD].[ExcelOnline1].[ExcelOnline].[Test_xlsx_Sheet1]
	

👁 Querying live data in SQL Server Management Studio (Excel Online is shown)
We have successfully created a linked server that allows us to query Excel Online data.

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