How to connect PolyBase to SAP BusinessObjects BI

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 SAP BusinessObjects BI, you get access to your SAP BusinessObjects BI data directly alongside your SQL Server data. This article describes creating an external data source and external tables to grant access to live SAP BusinessObjects BI data using T-SQL queries.

NOTE: PolyBase is only available on SQL Server 19 and above, and only for Standard SQL Server.

The CData ODBC drivers offer unmatched performance for interacting with live SAP BusinessObjects BI data using PolyBase due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from SQL Server to SAP BusinessObjects BI, the driver pushes down supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to SAP BusinessObjects BI 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 SAP BusinessObjects BI data, using a single query to pull data from distributed sources.

Connect to SAP BusinessObjects BI

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 SAP BusinessObjects BI Sys is created automatically).

To connect to your SAP Business Objects BI instance, you must set the following connection properties:

• Url: set this to the rest API URL. After logging into the Central Management Console, choose 'Applications' from the combo box. Double-click on 'RESTful Web Service' and you'll see the access URL. By default it is, http://{Server-Name}:6405/biprws.
• User: set this to the username of your instance.
• Password: set this to the password of your instance.

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

Create an External Data Source for SAP BusinessObjects BI 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 SAP BusinessObjects BI data.

NOTE: IDENTITY and SECRET correspond with the User and Password properties for SAP BusinessObjects BI.

CREATE DATABASE SCOPED CREDENTIAL sapbusinessobjectsbi_creds
WITH IDENTITY = 'sapbusinessobjectsbi_username', SECRET = 'sapbusinessobjectsbi_password';

Create an External Data Source for SAP BusinessObjects BI

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

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

For SAP BusinessObjects BI, 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_sapbusinessobjectsbi_source
WITH ( 
  LOCATION = 'odbc://SERVER_URL',
  CONNECTION_OPTIONS = 'DSN=CData SAP BusinessObjects BI Sys',
  -- PUSHDOWN = ON | OFF,
  CREDENTIAL = sapbusinessobjectsbi_creds
);

Create External Tables for SAP BusinessObjects BI

After creating the external data source, use CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE statements to link to SAP BusinessObjects BI data from your SQL Server instance. The table column definitions must match those exposed by the CData ODBC Driver for SAP BusinessObjects BI. 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 SAP BusinessObjects BI MyCustomReport would look similar to the following:

CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE MyCustomReport(
  StoreName [nvarchar](255) NULL,
  TotalRevenue [nvarchar](255) NULL,
  ...
) WITH ( 
  LOCATION='MyCustomReport',
  DATA_SOURCE=cdata_sapbusinessobjectsbi_source
);

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