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Import Dynamics 365 Data Using Azure Data Factory


Use CData Connect Cloud to connect to Dynamics 365 Data from Azure Data Factory and import live Dynamics 365 data.

Microsoft Azure Data Factory (ADF)) is a completely managed, serverless data integration service. When combined with CData Connect Cloud, ADF enables immediate cloud-to-cloud access to Dynamics 365 data within data flows. This article outlines the process of connecting to Dynamics 365 through Connect Cloud and accessing Dynamics 365 data within ADF.

CData Connect Cloud offers a cloud-to-cloud interface tailored for Dynamics 365, granting you the ability to access live data from Dynamics 365 data within Azure Data Factory without the need for data replication to a natively supported database. Equipped with optimized data processing capabilities by default, CData Connect Cloud seamlessly channels all supported SQL operations, including filters and JOINs, directly to Dynamics 365. This harnesses server-side processing to expedite the retrieval of the desired Dynamics 365 data.

About Dynamics 365 Data Integration

CData simplifies access and integration of live Microsoft Dynamics 365 data. Our customers leverage CData connectivity to:

  • Read and write data in the full Dynamics 365 ecosystem: Sales, Customer Service, Finance & Operations, Marketing, and more.
  • Extend the native features of Dynamics CRM with customizable caching and intelligent query aggregation and separation.
  • Authenticate securely with Dynamics 365 in a variety of ways, including Azure Active Directory, Azure Managed Service Identity credentials, and Azure Service Principal using either a client secret or a certificate.
  • Use SQL stored procedures to manage their Dynamics 365 entities - listing, creating, and removing associations between entities.

CData customers use our Dynamics 365 connectivity solutions for a variety of reasons, whether they're looking to replicate their data into a data warehouse (alongside other data sources) or analyze live Dynamics 365 data from their preferred data tools inside the Microsoft ecosystem (Power BI, Excel, etc.) or with external tools (Tableau, Looker, etc.).


Getting Started


Configure Dynamics 365 Connectivity for ADF

Connectivity to Dynamics 365 from Azure Data Factory is made possible through CData Connect Cloud. To work with Dynamics 365 data from Azure Data Factory, we start by creating and configuring a Dynamics 365 connection.

CData Connect Cloud uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources.

  1. Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection
  2. Select "Dynamics 365" from the Add Connection panel
  3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Dynamics 365.

    Edition and OrganizationUrl are required connection properties. The Dynamics 365 connector supports connecting to the following editions: CustomerService, FieldService, FinOpsOnline, FinOpsOnPremise, HumanResources, Marketing, ProjectOperations and Sales.

    For Dynamics 365 Business Central, use the separate Dynamics 365 Business Central driver.

    OrganizationUrl is the URL to your Dynamics 365 organization. For instance, https://orgcb42e1d0.crm.dynamics.com

  4. Click Create & Test
  5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Dynamics 365 Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add a Personal Access Token

If you are connecting from a service, application, platform, or framework that does not support OAuth authentication, you can create a Personal Access Token (PAT) to use for authentication. Best practices would dictate that you create a separate PAT for each service, to maintain granularity of access.

  1. Click on your username at the top right of the Connect Cloud app and click User Profile.
  2. On the User Profile page, scroll down to the Personal Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
  3. Give your PAT a name and click Create.
  4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to Dynamics 365 data from Azure Data Factory.

Access Live Dynamics 365 Data in Azure Data Factory

To establish a connection from Azure Data Factory to the CData Connect Cloud Virtual SQL Server API, follow these steps.

  1. Login to Azure Data Factory.
  2. If you have not yet created a Data Factory, Click New -> Dataset.
  3. In the search bar, enter SQL Server and select it when it appears. On the following screen, enter a name for the server. In the Linked service field, select New.
  4. Enter the connection settings.
    • Name - enter a name of your choice.
    • Server name - enter the Virtual SQL Server endpoint and port separated by a comma: tds.cdata.com,14333
    • Database name - enter the Connection Name of the CData Connect Cloud data source you want to connect to (for example, Dynamics3651).
    • User Name - enter your CData Connect Cloud username. This is displayed in the top-right corner of the CData Connect Cloud interface. For example, [email protected].
    • Password - select Password (not Azure Key Vault) and enter the PAT you generated on the Settings page.
    • Click Create.
  5. In Set properties, set the Name, choose the Linked service we just created, select a Table name from those available, and Import schema from connection/store. Click OK.
  6. After creating the linked service, the following screen should appear:
  7. Click preview data to see the imported Dynamics 365 table.
    8. You can now use this dataset when creating data flows in Azure Data Factory.

Get CData Connect Cloud

To get live data access to 100+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications, try CData Connect Cloud today!

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