Connect to Zenefits Data in as an External Source in Dremio

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

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

ARP Connector

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

JDBC Driver for Zenefits

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

Connecting to Zenefits

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

java -jar cdata.jdbc.api.jar

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

Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the Zenefits Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\Zenefits.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for Zenefits (see below).

Zenefits API Profile Settings

In order to authenticate to Zenefits, you'll need to provide your API Key. To create an API Key, from your account head over to Company Overview > Custom Integrations, then besides Rest API Access select Add Token. Set the API Key in the ProfileSettings property to connect.

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:api:RTK=5246...;Profile=C:\profiles\Zenefits.apip;ProfileSettings='APIKey=my_api_token';

Access Zenefits as an External Source

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

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

More Information & Free Trial

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