Connect to Azure Synapse Data in as an External Source in Dremio

The CData JDBC Driver for Azure Synapse implements JDBC Standards and allows various applications, including Dremio, to work with live Azure Synapse data. Dremio is a data lakehouse platform designed to empower self-service, interactive analytics on the data lake. With the CData JDBC Driver, you can include live Azure Synapse data as a part of your enterprise data lake. This article describes how to connect to Azure Synapse data from Dremio as an External Source.

The CData JDBC Driver enables high-speed access to live Azure Synapse data in Dremio. Once you install the driver, authenticate with Azure Synapse and gain immediate access to Azure Synapse data within your data lake. By surfacing Azure Synapse data using native data types and handling complex filters, aggregations, & other operations automatically, the CData JDBC Driver grants seamless access to Azure Synapse data.

Build the ARP Connector

To use the CData JDBC Driver in Dremio, you need to build an Advanced Relation Pushdown (ARP) Connector. You can view the source code for the Connector on GitHub or download the ZIP file (GitHub.com) directly. Once you copy or extract the files, run the following command from the root directory of the connector (the directory containing the pom.xml file) to build the connector.

mvn clean install

Once the JAR file for the connector is built (in the target directory), you are ready to copy the ARP connector and JDBC Driver to your Dremio instance.

Installing the Connector and JDBC Driver

Install the ARP Connector to %DREMIO_HOME%/jars/ and the JDBC Driver for Azure Synapse to %DREMIO_HOME%/jars/3rdparty. You can use commands similar to the following:

ARP Connector

docker cp PATH\TO\dremio-azuresynapse-plugin-20.0.0.jar dremio_image_name:/opt/dremio/jars/

JDBC Driver for Azure Synapse

docker cp PATH\TO\cdata.jdbc.azuresynapse.jar dremio_image_name:/opt/dremio/jars/3rdparty/

Connecting to Azure Synapse

Azure Synapse will now appear as an External Source option in Dremio. The ARP Connector built uses a JDBC URL to connect to Azure Synapse data. The JDBC Driver has a built-in connection string designer that you can use (see below).

Built-in Connection String Designer

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

java -jar cdata.jdbc.azuresynapse.jar

Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

Connecting to Azure Synapse

In addition to providing authentication (see below), set the following properties to connect to a Azure Synapse database:

• Server: The server running Azure. You can find this by logging into the Azure portal and navigating to Azure Synapse Analytics -> Select your database -> Overview -> Server name.
• Database: The name of the database, as seen in the Azure portal on the Azure Synapse Analytics page.

Authenticating to Azure Synapse

Connect to Azure Synapse using the following properties:

• User: The username provided for authentication with Azure.
• Password: The password associated with the authenticating user.

NOTE: To use the JDBC Driver in Dremio, you will need a license (full or trial) and a Runtime Key (RTK). For more information on obtaining this license (or a trial), contact our sales team.

Add the Runtime Key (RTK) to the JDBC URL. You will end up with a JDBC URL similar to the following:

jdbc:azuresynapse:RTK=5246...;User=myuser;Password=mypassword;Server=localhost;Database=Northwind;

Access Azure Synapse as an External Source

To add Azure Synapse as an External Source, click to add a new source and select AzureSynapse. Copy the JDBC URL and paste it into the New AzureSynapse Source wizard.

Save the connection and you are ready to query live Azure Synapse data in Dremio, easily incorporating Azure Synapse data into your data lake.

More Information & Free Trial

Using the CData JDBC Driver for Azure Synapse in Dremio, you can incorporate live Azure Synapse data into your data lake. Check out our CData JDBC Driver for Azure Synapse page for more information about connecting to Azure Synapse. Download a free, 30 day trial of the CData JDBC Driver for Azure Synapse and get started today.