Stream Microsoft Dataverse Data into Apache Kafka Topics

Apache Kafka is an open-source stream processing platform that is primarily used for building real-time data pipelines and event-driven applications. When paired with the CData JDBC Driver for Microsoft Dataverse, Kafka can work with live Microsoft Dataverse data. This article describes how to connect, access and stream Microsoft Dataverse data into Apache Kafka Topics and to start Confluent Control Center to help users secure, manage, and monitor the Microsoft Dataverse data received using Kafka infrastructure in the Confluent Platform.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData JDBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Microsoft Dataverse data. When you issue complex SQL queries to Microsoft Dataverse, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Microsoft Dataverse and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations). Its built-in dynamic metadata querying allows you to work with and analyze Microsoft Dataverse data using native data types.

Prerequisites

Before connecting the CData JDBC Driver for streaming Microsoft Dataverse data in Apache Kafka Topics, install and configure the following in the client Linux-based system.

1. Confluent Platform for Apache Kafka
2. Confluent Hub CLI Installation
3. Self-Managed Kafka JDBC Source Connector for Confluent Platform

Define a New JDBC Connection to Microsoft Dataverse data

1. Download CData JDBC Driver for Microsoft Dataverse on a Linux-based system
2. Follow the given instructions to create a new directory extract all the driver contents into it:
   1. Create a new directory named Microsoft Dataverse mkdir CDS
   2. Move the downloaded driver file (.zip) into this new directory mv CDSJDBCDriver.zip CDS/
   3. Unzip the CData CDSJDBCDriver contents into this new directory unzip CDSJDBCDriver.zip
3. Open the Microsoft Dataverse directory and navigate to the lib folder ls cd lib/
4. Copy the contents of the lib folder of Microsoft Dataverse into the lib folder of Kafka Connect JDBC. Check the Kafka Connect JDBC folder contents to confirm that the cdata.jdbc.cds.jar file is successfully copied into the lib folder cp * ../../confluent-7.5.0/share/confluent-hub-components/confluentinc-kafka-connect-jdbc/lib/ cd ../../confluent-7.5.0/share/confluent-hub-components/confluentinc-kafka-connect-jdbc/lib/
5. Install the CData Microsoft Dataverse JDBC driver license using the given command, followed by your Name and Email ID java -jar cdata.jdbc.cds.jar -l
6. Enter the product key or "TRIAL" (In the scenarios of license expiry, please contact our CData Support team)
7. Start the Confluent local services using the command: confluent local services start

   This starts all the Confluent Services like Zookeeper, Kafka, Schema Registry, Kafka REST, Kafka CONNECT, ksqlDB and Control Center. You are now ready to use the CData JDBC driver for Microsoft Dataverse to stream messages using Kafka Connect Driver into Kafka Topics on ksqlDB.

8. Create the Kafka topics manually using a POST HTTP API Request: curl --location 'server_address:8083/connectors' --header 'Content-Type: application/json' --data '{ "name": "jdbc_source_cdata_cds_01", "config": { "connector.class": "io.confluent.connect.jdbc.JdbcSourceConnector", "connection.url": "jdbc:cds:OrganizationUrl=https://myaccount.crm.dynamics.com/; InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH", "topic.prefix": "cds-01-", "mode": "bulk" } }'

   Let us understand the fields used in the HTTP POST body (shown above):

   • connector.class: Specifies the Java class of the Kafka Connect connector to be used.
   • connection.url: The JDBC connection URL to connect with Microsoft Dataverse data.

     Built-in Connection String Designer

     For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Microsoft Dataverse JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

     java -jar cdata.jdbc.cds.jar

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

     You can connect without setting any connection properties for your user credentials. Below are the minimum connection properties required to connect.

     • InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to avoid repeating the OAuth exchange and manually setting the OAuthAccessToken.
     • OrganizationUrl: Set this to the organization URL you are connecting to, such as https://myorganization.crm.dynamics.com.
     • Tenant (optional): Set this if you wish to authenticate to a different tenant than your default. This is required to work with an organization not on your default Tenant.

     When you connect the Common Data Service OAuth endpoint opens in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions. The OAuth process completes automatically.

   • topic.prefix: A prefix that will be added to the Kafka topics created by the connector. It's set to "cds-01-".
   • mode: Specifies the mode in which the connector operates. In this case, it's set to "bulk", which suggests that the connector is configured to perform bulk data transfer.

   This request adds all the tables/contents from Microsoft Dataverse as Kafka Topics.

   Note: The IP Address (server) to POST the request (shown above) is the Linux Network IP Address.

9. Run ksqlDB and list the topics. Use the commands: ksql list topics;
10. To view the data inside the topics, type the SQL Statement: PRINT topic FROM BEGINNING;

Connecting with the Confluent Control Center

To access the Confluent Control Center user interface, ensure to run the "confluent local services" as described in the above section and type http://<server address>:9021/clusters/ on your local browser.

Get Started Today

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData JDBC Driver for Microsoft Dataverse and start streaming Microsoft Dataverse data into Apache Kafka. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.