How to connect PolyBase to SuiteCRM

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 SuiteCRM, you get access to your SuiteCRM data directly alongside your SQL Server data. This article describes creating an external data source and external tables to grant access to live SuiteCRM 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 SuiteCRM data using PolyBase due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from SQL Server to SuiteCRM, the driver pushes down supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to SuiteCRM 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 SuiteCRM data, using a single query to pull data from distributed sources.

Connect to SuiteCRM

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 SuiteCRM Sys is created automatically).

The User and Password properties must be set to valid SuiteCRM user credentials. Additionally, specify the URL to the SuiteCRM application, for example http://suite.crm.com.

Note that retrieving SuiteCRM metadata can be expensive. It is advised that you store the metadata locally as described in the Caching Metadata section of the data provider help documentation.

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

Create an External Data Source for SuiteCRM 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 SuiteCRM data.

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

CREATE DATABASE SCOPED CREDENTIAL suitecrm_creds
WITH IDENTITY = 'suitecrm_username', SECRET = 'suitecrm_password';

Create an External Data Source for SuiteCRM

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

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

For SuiteCRM, 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_suitecrm_source
WITH ( 
 LOCATION = 'odbc://SERVER_URL',
 CONNECTION_OPTIONS = 'DSN=CData SuiteCRM Sys',
 -- PUSHDOWN = ON | OFF,
 CREDENTIAL = suitecrm_creds
);

Create External Tables for SuiteCRM

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

Sample CREATE TABLE Statement

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

CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE Accounts(
 Name [nvarchar](255) NULL,
 Industry [nvarchar](255) NULL,
 ...
) WITH ( 
 LOCATION='Accounts',
 DATA_SOURCE=cdata_suitecrm_source
);

Having created external tables for SuiteCRM 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 SuiteCRM, freeing up local resources and computing power. Download a free, 30-day trial of the ODBC Driver for SuiteCRM and start working with live SuiteCRM data alongside your SQL Server data today.