Connect to Raisers Edge NXT Data in as an External Source in Dremio

The CData JDBC Driver for Raisers Edge NXT implements JDBC Standards and allows various applications, including Dremio, to work with live Raisers Edge NXT 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 Raisers Edge NXT data as a part of your enterprise data lake. This article describes how to connect to Raisers Edge NXT data from Dremio as an External Source.

The CData JDBC Driver enables high-speed access to live Raisers Edge NXT data in Dremio. Once you install the driver, authenticate with Raisers Edge NXT and gain immediate access to Raisers Edge NXT data within your data lake. By surfacing Raisers Edge NXT data using native data types and handling complex filters, aggregations, & other operations automatically, the CData JDBC Driver grants seamless access to Raisers Edge NXT 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 Raisers Edge NXT to %DREMIO_HOME%/jars/3rdparty. You can use commands similar to the following:

ARP Connector

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

JDBC Driver for Raisers Edge NXT

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

Connecting to Raisers Edge NXT

Raisers Edge NXT will now appear as an External Source option in Dremio. The ARP Connector built uses a JDBC URL to connect to Raisers Edge NXT 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 Raisers Edge NXT JDBC Driver. Double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command line.

java -jar cdata.jdbc.raiseredgenxt.jar

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

Before establishing a connection, supply the SubscriptionKey, found in the Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT Profile.

Authenticating to Raiser's Edge NXT

Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT uses the OAuth authentication standard. You can connect to without setting any connection properties using the embedded OAuth credentials.

Alternatively, you can authenticate by creating a custom app to obtain the OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL connection properties.

See the Help documentation for an authentication guide.

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:raiseredgenxt:RTK=5246...;SubscriptionKey=MySubscriptionKey;OAuthClientId=MyOAuthClientId;OAuthClientSecret=MyOAuthClientSecret;CallbackURL=http://localhost:33333;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH

Access Raisers Edge NXT as an External Source

To add Raisers Edge NXT as an External Source, click to add a new source and select RaiserEdgeNXT. Copy the JDBC URL and paste it into the New RaiserEdgeNXT Source wizard.

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

More Information & Free Trial

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