Connect to Oracle Eloqua Reporting Data as a Linked Server via SQL Gateway

Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Senior Technology Evangelist
Use the SQL Gateway and the ODBC Driver to set up a linked server for Oracle Eloqua Reporting data.

You can use the SQL Gateway to configure a TDS (SQL Server) remoting service and set up a linked server for Oracle Eloqua Reporting data. After you have started the service, you can use the UI in SQL Server Management Studio or call stored procedures to create the linked server. You can then work with Oracle Eloqua Reporting data just as you would a linked SQL Server instance.

Connect to Oracle Eloqua Reporting as an ODBC Data Source

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

Oracle Eloqua Reporting supports the following authentication methods:

  • Basic authentication (User and Password)
  • OAuth 2.0 code grant flow
  • OAuth 2.0 password grant flow

Basic Authentication (User and Password)

To perform authentication with a user and password, specify these properties:

  • AuthScheme: Basic.
  • Company: The company name associated with your Oracle Eloqua Reporting account.
  • User: Your login account name.
  • Password: Your login password.

OAuth Authentication (Code Grant Flow)

To authenticate with the OAuth code grant flow, you must set AuthScheme to OAuth and create a custom OAuth application. For information about how to create a custom OAuth application, see the Help documentation.

Then set the following properties:

  • InitiateOAuth: GETANDREFRESH. Used to automatically get and refresh the OAuthAccessToken.
  • OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your application.
  • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret that was assigned when you registered your application.
  • CallbackURL: The redirect URI that was defined when you registered your application.

When you connect, the driver opens Oracle Eloqua Reporting's OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the application. When the access token expires, the driver refreshes it automatically.

OAuth Authentication (Password Grant Flow)

With the OAuth password grant flow, you can use your OAuth application's credentials alongside your user credentials to authenticate without the need to grant permission manually via a browser prompt. You must create an OAuth app (see the Help documentation) to use this authentication method.

Set the following properties:

  • AuthScheme: OAuthPassword
  • Company: The company's unique identifier.
  • User: Your login account name.
  • Password: Your login password.
  • OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
  • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.

Configure the TDS Remoting Service

See the SQL Gateway Overview for a guide to configure a TDS remoting service in the SQL Gateway UI. The TDS remoting service is a daemon process that listens for TDS requests from clients.

Create a Linked Server for Oracle Eloqua Reporting Data

After you have configured and started the daemon, create the linked server and connect. You can use the UI in SQL Server Management Studio or call stored procedures.

Create a Linked Server from the UI

Follow the steps below to create a linked server from the Object Explorer.

  1. Open SQL Server Management Studio and connect to an instance of SQL Server.
  2. In the Object Explorer, expand the node for the SQL Server database. In the Server Objects node, right-click Linked Servers and click New Linked Server. The New Linked Server dialog is displayed.
  3. In the General section, click the Other Data Source option and enter the following information after naming the linked server:
    • Provider: Select "Microsoft ODBC Driver for SQL Server" or "Microsoft OLE DB Driver for SQL Server"
    • Data Source: Enter the host and port the TDS remoting service is running on, separated by a comma.

      Note that a value of "localhost" in this input refers to the machine where SQL Server is running so be careful when creating a linked server in Management Studio when not running on the same machine as SQL Server.

    • Catalog:
      • Option 1: If you enabled the "Support multiple catalogs and schemas" option while creating and configuring the TDS Remoting Service in previous steps, enter CData as the catalog.
      • Option 2: For single schema support, enter the name of the data source's system DSN as CData OracleEloquaReporting Sys.
    • In the Security section, select the option to have the connection "made using this security context" and enter the username and password of a user you created in the Users tab of the SQL Gateway.

Create a Linked Server Programmatically

In addition to using the SQL Server Management Studio UI to create a linked server, you can use stored procedures. The following inputs are required:

  • server: The linked server name.
  • provider: Enter "MSOLEDBSQL", for the Microsoft OLE DB Driver for SQL Server.
  • datasrc: The host and port the service is running on, separated by a comma.

    Note that a value of "localhost" in the datasrc input refers to the machine where SQL Server is running, so be careful when creating a linked server in Management Studio when not running on the same machine as SQL Server.

  • catalog: Enter the system DSN configured for the service.
  • srvproduct: Enter the product name of the data source; this can be an arbitrary value, such as "CData SQL Gateway" or an empty string.
Follow the steps below to create the linked server and configure authentication to the SQL Gateway:
  1. Call sp_addlinkedserver to create the linked server:

    EXEC sp_addlinkedserver @server='OracleEloquaReporting',
      @provider='MSOLEDBSQL',
      @datasrc='< MachineIPAddress >,1434',
      @catalog='CData OracleEloquaReporting Sys',
      @srvproduct='';
    GO
    
  2. Call the sp_addlinkedsrvlogin stored procedure to allow SQL Server users to connect with the credentials of an authorized user of the service. Note that the credentials you use to connect to the service must specify a user you configured on the Users tab of the SQL Gateway.

    EXEC sp_addlinkedsrvlogin @rmtsrvname='OracleEloquaReporting',
      @rmtuser='admin',
      @rmtpassword='test',
      @useself='FALSE',
      @locallogin=NULL;
    GO
    

Connect from SQL Server Management Studio

SQL Server Management Studio uses the SQL Server Client OLE DB provider, which requires the ODBC driver to be used inprocess. You must enable the "Allow inprocess" option for the SQL Server Native Client Provider in Management Studio to query the linked server from SQL Server Management Studio. To do this, open the properties for the provider you are using under Server Objects -> Linked Servers -> Providers. Check the "Allow inprocess" option and save the changes.

Execute Queries

You can now execute queries to the Oracle Eloqua Reporting linked server from any tool that can connect to SQL Server. Set the table name accordingly:

SELECT * FROM [linked server name].[CData OracleEloquaReporting Sys].[OracleEloquaReporting].[]

Ready to get started?

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Oracle Eloqua Reporting Icon Oracle Eloqua Reporting ODBC Driver

The Oracle Eloqua Reporting ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live data from Oracle Eloqua Reporting, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access Oracle Eloqua Reporting data like you would a database - read, write, and update Oracle Eloqua Reporting 0, etc. through a standard ODBC Driver interface.