PowerShell Scripting to Replicate FTP Data to MySQL

The CData Cmdlets for FTP offer live access to FTP data from within PowerShell. Using PowerShell scripts, you can easily automate regular tasks like data replication. This article will walk through using the CData Cmdlets for FTP and the CData Cmdlets for MySQL in PowerShell to replicate FTP data to a MySQL database.

After obtaining the needed connection properties, accessing FTP data in PowerShell and preparing for replication consists of four basic steps.

To connect to FTP or SFTP servers, specify at least RemoteHost and FileProtocol. Specify the port with RemotePort.

Set User and Password to perform Basic authentication. Set SSHAuthMode to use SSH authentication. See the Getting Started section of the data provider help documentation for more information on authenticating via SSH.

Set SSLMode and SSLServerCert to secure connections with SSL.

The data provider lists the tables based on the available folders in your FTP server. Set the following connection properties to control the relational view of the file system:

• RemotePath: Set this to the current working directory.
• TableDepth: Set this to control the depth of folders to list as views.
• FileRetrievalDepth: Set this to retrieve and list files recursively from the root table.

Stored Procedures are available to download files, upload files, and send protocol commands. See the Data Model chapter of the FTP data provider documentation for more information.

Collecting FTP Data

1. Install the module:

   Install-Module FTPCmdlets

2. Connect to FTP:

   $ftp = Connect-FTP -RemoteHost $RemoteHost

3. Retrieve the data from a specific resource:

   $data = Select-FTP -Connection $ftp -Table "MyDirectory"

   You can also use the Invoke-FTP cmdlet to execute pure SQL-92 statements:

   $data = Invoke-FTP -Connection $ftp -Query 'SELECT * FROM MyDirectory WHERE FilePath = @FilePath' -Params @{'@FilePath'='/documents/doc.txt'}

4. Save a list of the column names from the returned data.

   $columns = ($data | Get-Member -MemberType NoteProperty | Select-Object -Property Name).Name

Inserting FTP Data into the MySQL Database

With the data and column names collected, you are ready to replicate the data into a MySQL database.

1. Install the module:

   Install-Module MySQLCmdlets

2. Connect to MySQL, using the server address and port of the MySQL server, valid user credentials, and a specific database with the table in which the data will be replicated:

   $mysql = Connect-MySQL -User $User -Password $Password -Database $Database -Server $Server -Port $Port

3. Loop through the FTP data, store the values, and use the Add-MySQL cmdlet to insert the data into the MySQL database, one row at a time. In this example, the table will need to have the same name as the FTP resource (MyDirectory) and to exist in the database.

   $data | % { $row = $_ $values = @() $columns | % { $col = $_ $values += $row.$($col) } Add-MySQL -Connection $mysql -Table "MyDirectory" -Columns $columns -Values $values }

You have now replicated your FTP data to a MySQL database. This gives you freedom to work with FTP data in the same way that you work with other MySQL tables, whether that is performing analytics, building reports, or other business functions.

Notes

• Once you have connected to FTP and MySQL in PowerShell, you can pipe command results to perform the replication in a single line:

  Select-FTP -Connection $ftp -Table "MyDirectory" | % { $row = $_ $values = @() $columns | % { $col = $_ $values += $row.$($col) } Add-MySQL -Connection $mysql -Table "MyDirectory" -Columns $columns -Values $values }

• If you wish to replicate the FTP data to another database using another PowerShell module, you will want to exclude the Columns, Connection, and Table columns from the data returned by the Select-FTP cmdlet since those columns are used to help pipe data from one CData cmdlet to another:

  $columns = ($data | Get-Member -MemberType NoteProperty | Select-Object -Property Name).Name | ? {$_ -NotIn @('Columns','Connection','Table')}