How to connect PolyBase to NetSuite

PolyBase for SQL Server allows you to query external data by using the same Transact-SQL syntax used to query a database table. When paired with the CData ODBC Driver for NetSuite, you get access to your NetSuite data directly alongside your SQL Server data. This article describes creating an external data source and external tables to grant access to live NetSuite data using T-SQL queries.

NOTE: PolyBase is only available on SQL Server 19 and above.

The CData ODBC drivers offer unmatched performance for interacting with live NetSuite data using PolyBase due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from SQL Server to NetSuite, the driver pushes down supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to NetSuite and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations (often SQL functions and JOIN operations) client-side. And with PolyBase, you can also join SQL Server data with NetSuite data, using a single query to pull data from distributed sources.

Getting Started

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Connect to NetSuite

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs. To create an external data source in SQL Server using PolyBase, configure a System DSN (CData NetSuite Sys is created automatically).

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.

Click "Test Connection" to ensure that the DSN is connected to NetSuite properly. Navigate to the Tables tab to review the table definitions for NetSuite.

Create an External Data Source for NetSuite Data

After configuring the connection, you need to create a master encryption key and a credential database for the external data source.

Creating a Master Encryption Key

Execute the following SQL command to create a new master key, 'ENCRYPTION,' to encrypt the credentials for the external data source.

CREATE MASTER KEY ENCRYPTION BY PASSWORD = 'password';

Creating a Credential Database

Execute the following SQL command to create credentials for the external data source connected to NetSuite data.

NOTE: IDENTITY and SECRET correspond with the User and Password properties for NetSuite.

CREATE DATABASE SCOPED CREDENTIAL netsuite_creds
WITH IDENTITY = 'netsuite_username', SECRET = 'netsuite_password';

Create an External Data Source for NetSuite

Execute a CREATE EXTERNAL DATA SOURCE SQL command to create an external data source for NetSuite with PolyBase:

• Set the LOCATION parameter , using the DSN and credentials configured earlier.

For NetSuite, set SERVERNAME to the URL or address for your server (e.g. 'localhost' or '127.0.0.1' for local servers; the remote URL for remote servers). Leave PORT empty. PUSHDOWN is set to ON by default, meaning the ODBC Driver can leverage server-side processing for complex queries.

CREATE EXTERNAL DATA SOURCE cdata_netsuite_source
WITH ( 
 LOCATION = 'odbc://SERVER_URL',
 CONNECTION_OPTIONS = 'DSN=CData NetSuite Sys',
 -- PUSHDOWN = ON | OFF,
 CREDENTIAL = netsuite_creds
);

Create External Tables for NetSuite

After creating the external data source, use CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE statements to link to NetSuite data from your SQL Server instance. The table column definitions must match those exposed by the CData ODBC Driver for NetSuite. You can refer to the Tables tab of the DSN Configuration Wizard to see the table definition.

👁 Table definition in the DSN Configuration Wizard (Salesforce is shown)

Sample CREATE TABLE Statement

The statement to create an external table based on a NetSuite SalesOrder would look similar to the following:

CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE SalesOrder(
 CustomerName [nvarchar](255) NULL,
 SalesOrderTotal [nvarchar](255) NULL,
 ...
) WITH ( 
 LOCATION='SalesOrder',
 DATA_SOURCE=cdata_netsuite_source
);

Having created external tables for NetSuite in your SQL Server instance, you are now able to query local and remote data simultaneously. Thanks to built-in query processing in the CData ODBC Driver, you know that as much query processing as possible is being pushed to NetSuite, freeing up local resources and computing power. Download a free, 30-day trial of the ODBC Driver for NetSuite and start working with live NetSuite data alongside your SQL Server data today.