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URL: https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/netsuite-cloud-linked-server.rst

⇱ Connect to NetSuite Data as a SQL Server Linked Server

Connect to NetSuite Data as a SQL Server Linked Server

👁 Dibyendu Datta
Dibyendu Datta
Lead Technology Evangelist
Use CData Connect AI to create a linked server for live NetSuite data.

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 NetSuite data from your SQL Server database. This article demonstrates how to connect to NetSuite using Connect AI and query NetSuite data in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).

CData Connect AI provides a pure SQL Server interface for NetSuite, allowing you to query data from NetSuite 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 NetSuite, leveraging server-side processing to return the requested NetSuite data quickly.

About NetSuite Data Integration

CData provides the easiest way to access and integrate live data from Oracle NetSuite. Customers use CData connectivity to:

  • Access all editions of NetSuite, including Standard, CRM, and OneWorld.
  • Connect with all versions of the SuiteTalk API (SOAP-based) and SuiteQL, which functions like SQL, enabling easier data querying and manipulation.
  • Access predefined and custom reports through support for Saved Searches.
  • Securely authenticate with Token-based and OAuth 2.0, ensuring compatibility and security for all use cases.
  • Use SQL stored procedures to perform functional actions like uploading or downloading files, attaching or detaching records or relationships, retrieving roles, getting extra table or column info, getting job results, and more.

Customers use CData solutions to access live NetSuite data from their preferred analytics tools, Power BI and Excel. They also use CData's solutions to integrate their NetSuite data into comprehensive databases and data warehouse using CData Sync directly or leveraging CData's compatibility with other applications like Azure Data Factory. CData also helps Oracle NetSuite customers easily write apps that can pull data from and push data to NetSuite, allowing organizations to integrate data from other sources with NetSuite.

For more information about our Oracle NetSuite solutions, read our blog: Drivers in Focus Part 2: Replicating and Consolidating ... NetSuite Accounting Data.


Getting Started


Configure NetSuite Connectivity for SQL Server

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

  1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
    2. 👁 Adding a Connection
  2. Select "NetSuite" from the Add Connection panel
    3. 👁 Selecting a data source
  3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to NetSuite.

    The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid NetSuite user credentials. In addition, the AccountId must be set to the ID of a company account that can be used by the specified User. The RoleId can be optionally specified to log in the user with limited permissions.

    See the "Getting Started" chapter of the help documentation for more information on connecting to NetSuite.

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

Connect to NetSuite 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.
    3. 👁 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, NetSuite1).
      • 👁 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.
    6. 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 NetSuite linked server from any tool that can connect to SQL Server. An example SQL query would be: 

		SELECT * FROM [CDATA CONNECT CLOUD].[NetSuite1].[NetSuite].[SalesOrder]
👁 Querying live data in SQL Server Management Studio (Excel Online is shown)
We have successfully created a linked server that allows us to query NetSuite data.

Get CData Connect AI

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