Load REST Data to a Database Using Embulk

Embulk is an open source bulk data loader. When paired with the CData JDBC Driver for REST, Embulk easily loads data from REST to any supported destination. In this article, we explain how to use the CData JDBC Driver for REST in Embulk to load REST data to a MySQL dtabase.

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

Configure a JDBC Connection to REST Data

Before creating a bulk load job in Embulk, note the installation location for the JAR file for the JDBC Driver (typically C:\Program Files\CData\CData JDBC Driver for REST\lib).

Embulk supports JDBC connectivity, so you can easily connect to REST and execute SQL queries. Before creating a bulk load job, create a JDBC URL for authenticating with REST.

See the Getting Started chapter in the data provider documentation to authenticate to your data source: The data provider models REST APIs as bidirectional database tables and XML/JSON files as read-only views (local files, files stored on popular cloud services, and FTP servers). The major authentication schemes are supported, including HTTP Basic, Digest, NTLM, OAuth, and FTP. See the Getting Started chapter in the data provider documentation for authentication guides.

After setting the and providing any authentication values, set to "XML" or "JSON" and set to more closely match the data representation to the structure of your data.

The property is the controlling property over how your data is represented into tables and toggles the following basic configurations.

• Document (default): Model a top-level, document view of your REST data. The data provider returns nested elements as aggregates of data.
• FlattenedDocuments: Implicitly join nested documents and their parents into a single table.
• Relational: Return individual, related tables from hierarchical data. The tables contain a primary key and a foreign key that links to the parent document.

See the Modeling REST Data chapter for more information on configuring the relational representation. You will also find the sample data used in the following examples. The data includes entries for people, the cars they own, and various maintenance services performed on those cars.

Built-in Connection String Designer

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

java -jar cdata.jdbc.rest.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.)

Below is a typical JDBC connection string for REST:

jdbc:rest:DataModel=Relational;URI=C:/people.xml;Format=XML;

Load REST Data in Embulk

After installing the CData JDBC Driver and creating a JDBC connection string, install the required Embulk plugins.

Install Embulk Input & Output Plugins

1. Install the JDBC Input Plugin in Embulk.
   https://github.com/embulk/embulk-input-jdbc/tree/master/embulk-input-jdbc

embulk gem install embulk-input-jdbc

2. In this article, we use MySQL as the destination database. You can also choose SQL Server, PostgreSQL, or Google BigQuery as the destination using the output Plugins.
   https://github.com/embulk/embulk-output-jdbc/tree/master/embulk-output-mysql

   embulk gem install embulk-output-mysql
   

With the input and output plugins installed, we are ready to load REST data into MySQL using Embulk.

Create a Job to Load REST Data

Start by creating a config file in Embulk, using a name like rest-mysql.yml.

1. For the input plugin options, use the CData JDBC Driver for REST, including the path to the driver JAR file, the driver class (e.g. cdata.jdbc.rest.RESTDriver), and the JDBC URL from above
2. For the output plugin options, use the values and credentials for the MySQL database

Sample Config File (rest-mysql.yml)

in:
	type: jdbc
	driver_path: C:\Program Files\CData[product_name] 20xx\lib\cdata.jdbc.rest.jar
	driver_class: cdata.jdbc.rest.RESTDriver
	url: jdbc:rest:DataModel=Relational;URI=C:/people.xml;Format=XML;
	table: "people"
out: 
	type: mysql
	host: localhost
	database: DatabaseName
	user: UserId
	password: UserPassword
	table: "people"
	mode: insert

After creating the file, run the Embulk job.

embulk run rest-mysql.yml

After running the the Embulk job, find the Salesforce data in the MySQL table.

Load Filtered REST Data

In addition to loading data directly from a table, you can use a custom SQL query to have more granular control of the data loaded. You can also perform increment loads by setting a last updated column in a SQL WHERE clause in the query field.

in:
	type: jdbc
	driver_path: C:\Program Files\CData[product_name] 20xx\lib\cdata.jdbc.rest.jar
	driver_class: cdata.jdbc.rest.RESTDriver
	url: jdbc:rest:DataModel=Relational;URI=C:/people.xml;Format=XML;
	query: "SELECT [ personal.name.first ], [ personal.name.last ] FROM people WHERE [RecordId] = 1"
out: 
	type: mysql
	host: localhost
	database: DatabaseName
	user: UserId
	password: UserPassword
	table: "people"
	mode: insert

More Information & Free Trial

By using CData JDBC Driver for REST as a connector, Embulk can integrate REST data into your data load jobs. And with drivers for more than 200+ other enterprise sources, you can integrate any enterprise SaaS, big data, or NoSQL source as well. Download a 30-day free trial and get started today.