Connect to Live SingleStore Data in PostGresSQL Interface through CData Connect AI

There are a vast number of PostgreSQL clients available on the Internet. PostgreSQL is a popular interface for data access. When you pair PostgreSQL with CData Connect AI, you gain database-like access to live SingleStore data from PostgreSQL. In this article, we walk through the process of connecting to SingleStore data in Connect AI and establishing a connection between Connect AI and PostgreSQL using a TDS foreign data wrapper (FDW).

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

Connect to SingleStore in Connect AI

CData Connect AI uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources.

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

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

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to SingleStore.

   The following connection properties are required in order to connect to data.

   • Server: The host name or IP of the server hosting the SingleStore database.
   • Port: The port of the server hosting the SingleStore database.
   • Database (Optional): The default database to connect to when connecting to the SingleStore Server. If this is not set, tables from all databases will be returned.

   Connect Using Standard Authentication

   To authenticate using standard authentication, set the following:

   • User: The user which will be used to authenticate with the SingleStore server.
   • Password: The password which will be used to authenticate with the SingleStore server.

   Connect Using Integrated Security

   As an alternative to providing the standard username and password, you can set IntegratedSecurity to True to authenticate trusted users to the server via Windows Authentication.

   Connect Using SSL Authentication

   You can leverage SSL authentication to connect to SingleStore data via a secure session. Configure the following connection properties to connect to data:

   • SSLClientCert: Set this to the name of the certificate store for the client certificate. Used in the case of 2-way SSL, where truststore and keystore are kept on both the client and server machines.
   • SSLClientCertPassword: If a client certificate store is password-protected, set this value to the store's password.
   • SSLClientCertSubject: The subject of the TLS/SSL client certificate. Used to locate the certificate in the store.
   • SSLClientCertType: The certificate type of the client store.
   • SSLServerCert: The certificate to be accepted from the server.

   Connect Using SSH Authentication

   Using SSH, you can securely login to a remote machine. To access SingleStore data via SSH, configure the following connection properties:

   • SSHClientCert: Set this to the name of the certificate store for the client certificate.
   • SSHClientCertPassword: If a client certificate store is password-protected, set this value to the store's password.
   • SSHClientCertSubject: The subject of the TLS/SSL client certificate. Used to locate the certificate in the store.
   • SSHClientCertType: The certificate type of the client store.
   • SSHPassword: The password that you use to authenticate with the SSH server.
   • SSHPort: The port used for SSH operations.
   • SSHServer: The SSH authentication server you are trying to authenticate against.
   • SSHServerFingerPrint: The SSH Server fingerprint used for verification of the host you are connecting to.
   • SSHUser: Set this to the username that you use to authenticate with the SSH server.
   👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add SingleStore 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 SingleStore data from PostgreSQL.

Build the TDS Foreign Data Wrapper

The Foreign Data Wrapper can be installed as an extension to PostgreSQL, without recompiling PostgreSQL. The tds_fdw extension is used as an example (https://github.com/tds-fdw/tds_fdw).

1. You can clone and build the git repository via something like the following view source:

   sudo apt-get install git
   git clone https://github.com/tds-fdw/tds_fdw.git
   cd tds_fdw
   make USE_PGXS=1
   sudo make USE_PGXS=1 install
   

   Note: If you have several PostgreSQL versions and you do not want to build for the default one, first locate where the binary for pg_config is, take note of the full path, and then append PG_CONFIG=
2. After you finish the installation, then start the server:

   sudo service postgresql start
   

3. Then go inside the Postgres database

   psql -h localhost -U postgres -d postgres
   

   Note: Instead of localhost you can put the IP where your PostgreSQL is hosted.

Connect to SingleStore data as a PostgreSQL Database and query the data!

After you have installed the extension, follow the steps below to start executing queries to SingleStore data:

1. Log into your database.
2. Load the extension for the database:

   CREATE EXTENSION tds_fdw;
   

3. Create a server object for SingleStore data:

   CREATE SERVER "SingleStore1" FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER tds_fdw OPTIONS (servername'tds.cdata.com', port '14333', database 'SingleStore1');
   

4. Configure user mapping with your email and Personal Access Token from your Connect AI account:

   CREATE USER MAPPING for postgres SERVER "SingleStore1" OPTIONS (username '[email protected]', password 'your_personal_access_token' );
   

5. Create the local schema:

   CREATE SCHEMA "SingleStore1";
   

6. Create a foreign table in your local database:

   #Using a table_name definition:
   
   CREATE FOREIGN TABLE "SingleStore1".Orders ( 
   id varchar, 
   ShipCity varchar) 
   SERVER "SingleStore1"
   OPTIONS(table_name 'SingleStore.Orders', row_estimate_method 'showplan_all');
   
   #Or using a schema_name and table_name definition:
   
   CREATE FOREIGN TABLE "SingleStore1".Orders ( 
   id varchar, 
   ShipCity varchar) 
   SERVER "SingleStore1"
   OPTIONS (schema_name 'SingleStore', table_name 'Orders', row_estimate_method 'showplan_all');
   
   #Or using a query definition:
   
   CREATE FOREIGN TABLE "SingleStore1".Orders (
   id varchar, 
   ShipCity varchar) 
   SERVER "SingleStore1"
   OPTIONS (query 'SELECT * FROM SingleStore.Orders', row_estimate_method 'showplan_all');
   
   #Or setting a remote column name:
   
   CREATE FOREIGN TABLE "SingleStore1".Orders (
   id varchar,
   col2 varchar OPTIONS (column_name 'ShipCity'))
   SERVER "SingleStore1"
   OPTIONS (schema_name 'SingleStore', table_name 'Orders', row_estimate_method 'showplan_all');
   

7. You can now execute read/write commands to SingleStore:

   SELECT id, ShipCity
   FROM "SingleStore1".Orders;
   

More Information & Free Trial

Now, you have created a simple query from live SingleStore data. For more information on connecting to SingleStore (and more than 200 other data sources), visit the Connect AI page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live SingleStore data in PostgreSQL.