Replicate Multiple Dropbox Accounts

CData Sync is a stand-alone application that provides solutions for a variety of replication scenarios such as replicating sandbox and production instances into your database. CData Sync includes a web-based interface that makes it easy to manage multiple Dropbox connections. In this article we show how to use the web app to replicate multiple Dropbox accounts to a single database.

Configure the Replication Destination

Using CData Sync, you can replicate Dropbox data to any number of databases, both cloud-based and on-premises. To add a replication destination, navigate to the Connections tab.

1. Click Add Connection.
2. Select a destination and enter the necessary connection properties. In this article, we use SQLite.
3. Enter the necessary connection properties. To replicate Dropbox to a SQLite database, enter a file path in the Data Source box.
4. Click Test Connection to ensure that the connection is configured properly.
5. Click Save Changes.

Configure Dropbox Connections

You can configure connections to Dropbox from the Connections tab. To add a connection to one of your Dropbox accounts, navigate to the Connections tab. For each Dropbox account you wish to replicate, do the following:

1. Click Add Connection.
2. Select a source (Dropbox).
3. Configure the connection properties.
   
   

   Dropbox uses the OAuth authentication standard. To authenticate using OAuth, you can use the embedded credentials or register an app with Dropbox.

   See the Getting Started guide in the CData driver documentation for more information.

4. Click Connect to ensure that the connection is configured properly.
5. Click Save Changes.

Configure Queries for Each Dropbox Instance

CData Sync enables you to control replication with a point-and-click interface and with SQL queries. To configure a replication, navigate to the Jobs tab and click Add Job. Select the Source and Destination for your replication.

Replicate Entire Tables

To replicate an entire table, click Add Tables in the Tables section, choose the table(s) you wish to replicate, and click Add Selected Tables.

Customize Your Replication

You can use a SQL query to customize your replication. The REPLICATE statement is a high-level command that caches and maintains a table in your database. You can define any SELECT query supported by the Dropbox API. To customize your replication, click Add Custom Query in the Tables section and define the Query Statement.

The statement below caches and incrementally updates a table of Dropbox data:

REPLICATE Files;

You can specify a file containing the replication queries you want to use to update a particular database. Separate replication statements with semicolons. The following options are useful if you are replicating multiple Dropbox accounts into the same database:

• Use a different table prefix in the REPLICATE SELECT statement:

  REPLICATE PROD_Files SELECT * FROM Files;

• Alternatively, use a different schema:

  REPLICATE PROD.Files SELECT * FROM Files;

Schedule Your Replication

In the Schedule section, you can schedule a job to run automatically, configuring the job to run after specified intervals ranging from once every 10 minutes to once every month.

Once you have configured the replication job, click Save Changes. You can configure any number of jobs to manage the replication of the data from your different Dropbox accounts.