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Use CData Connect Cloud to connect to Dynamics CRM data from SAS Viya and deploy self-service analytics using live Dynamics CRM data.
SAS Viya is an analytics platform that enhances data management, machine learning, and analytics, fostering efficient decision-making and insights. When paired with CData Connect Cloud, you get instant, cloud-to-cloud access to Dynamics CRM data for building predictive models, crafting stunning insights to make data-driven decisions, and more. This article shows how to connect to Connect Cloud from the SAS Viya cloud platform and integrate live Dynamics CRM data into your self-service AI and analytics deployments.
CData Connect Cloud provides a pure SQL, cloud-to-cloud interface for Dynamics CRM, allowing you to easily integrate with live Dynamics CRM data in SAS Viya — without replicating the data. CData Connect Cloud looks exactly like a SQL Server database to SAS Viya and uses optimized data processing out of the box to push all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc.) directly to Dynamics CRM, leveraging server-side processing to return Dynamics CRM data quickly.
Configure Dynamics CRM Connectivity for SAS Viya
Connectivity to Dynamics CRM from SAS Viya is made possible through CData Connect Cloud. To work with Dynamics CRM data from SAS Viya, we start by creating and configuring a Dynamics CRM connection.
- Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection.
- Select "Dynamics CRM" from the Add Connection panel
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Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Dynamics CRM.
The connection string options meet the authentication and connection requirements of different Dynamics CRM instances. To connect to your instance, set the User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, to valid Dynamics CRM user credentials and set the Url to a valid Dynamics CRM server organization root. Additionally, set the CRMVersion property to 'CRM2011+' or 'CRMOnline'. IFD configurations are supported as well; set InternetFacingDeployment to true.
Additionally, you can provide the security token service (STS) or AD FS endpoint in the STSURL property. This value can be retrieved with the GetSTSUrl stored procedure. Office 365 users can connect to the default STS URL by simply setting CRMVersion.
- Click Create & Test
- Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Dynamics CRM 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.
- Click on your username at the top right of the Connect Cloud app and click User Profile.
- On the User Profile page, scroll down to the Personal Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
- Give your PAT a name and click Create.
- 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 CRM data from SAS Viya.
Connecting to CData Connect Cloud from SAS Viya
The following steps detail the process of loading data from Dynamics CRM into SAS Viya using the established connection in CData Connect Cloud.
- Download and install the CData Connect Cloud JDBC driver from the Client Tools section.
- Now, log in to SAS Viya and navigate to the Applications Menu at the top-left corner.
- Select Develop Code and Flows from the Analytics Life Cycle topic.
- Navigate to the Explorer tab and click on SAS Server on the left panel.
- Follow the steps to upload the JAR file of the CData Connect JDBC driver:
- Right-click on the "Home" directory.
- Click on Upload files.
- Place the JAR file in the specified location and note its file path.
- Once done, navigate to the Libraries tab and click on Create a new library connection (on the top left corner as shown below) for the CData Connect JDBC.
- Enter the library connection settings:
- Connection name: enter a name for your connection
- Library name (libref): enter a reference for your library
- Library type: choose "SAS/ACCESS to JDBC"
- Click on the Properties tab and set Library attributes to READONLY.
- Click the Connection Options tab and enter the following details:
- Hive JDBC driver's class name: cdata.jdbc.connect.ConnectDriver
- Java CLASSPATH: enter the file path to the JAR driver file (Refer to Step 5)
- Click on Test connection. If it succeeds, click on Save and connect.
- Click on to add a new tab and select SAS program.
- Fill in the code block below with your setup parameters:
- Libref: enter the library reference you defined in Step 9.
- ClassPath: enter the file path to the JAR driver file.
- Username: enter your CData Connect username. This is displayed in the top-right corner of the CData Connect interface. For example, [email protected].
- DefaultCatalog: enter the connection configured in CData Connect Cloud that you want to query.
- Password: enter the PAT you generated in the "Add a Personal Access Token" section.
libname [Libref] JDBC classpath=[ClassPath] class="cdata.jdbc.connect.ConnectDriver" URL="jdbc:Connect:AuthScheme=Basic;User=[Username];DefaultCatalog=[DefaultCatalog];DefaultSchema=dbo;Password=[Password]"; proc sql; SELECT * FROM [Libref].MyTable; quit;
- Click on Run. You can see the data load from CData Connect Cloud into SAS Viya.
Live Access to Dynamics CRM Data from Cloud Applications
At this point, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to Dynamics CRM data from SAS Viya. You can build predictive models, craft insights to make data-driven decisions, and more — all without replicating Dynamics CRM data.
Try Connect Cloud and get real-time data access to 100+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications.