Migrating data from FTP to Databricks using CData SSIS Components.

Easily push FTP data to Databricks using the CData SSIS Tasks for FTP and Databricks.

Databricks is a unified data analytics platform that allows organizations to easily process, analyze, and visualize large amounts of data. It combines data engineering, data science, and machine learning capabilities in a single platform, making it easier for teams to collaborate and derive insights from their data.

The CData SSIS Components enhance SQL Server Integration Services by enabling users to easily import and export data from various sources and destinations.

In this article, we explore the data type mapping considerations when exporting to Databricks and walk through how to migrate FTP data to Databricks using the CData SSIS Components for FTP and Databricks.

Data Type Mapping

Databricks Schema	CData Schema
int, integer, int32	int
smallint, short, int16	smallint
double, float, real	float
date	date
datetime, timestamp	datetime
time, timespan	time
string, varchar	If length > 4000: nvarchar(max), Otherwise: nvarchar(length)
long, int64, bigint	bigint
boolean, bool	tinyint
decimal, numeric	decimal
uuid	nvarchar(length)
binary, varbinary, longvarbinary	binary(1000) or varbinary(max) after SQL Server 2000

Special Considerations

String/VARCHAR: String columns from Databricks can map to different data types depending on the length of the column. If the column length exceeds 4000, then the column is mapped to nvarchar (max). Otherwise, the column is mapped to nvarchar (length).
DECIMAL Databricks supports DECIMAL types up to 38 digits of precision, but any source column beyond that can cause load errors.

Prerequisites

Visual Studio 2022
SQL Server Integration Services Projects extension for Visual Studio 2022
CData SSIS Components for Databricks
CData SSIS Components for FTP

Create the project and add components

Open Visual Studio and create a new Integration Services Project.
Add a new Data Flow Task to the Control Flow screen and open the Data Flow Task.
Add a CData FTP Source control and a CData Databricks Destination control to the data flow task.

Configure the FTP source

Follow the steps below to specify properties required to connect to FTP.

Double-click the CData FTP Source to open the source component editor and add a new connection.
In the CData FTP Connection Manager, configure the connection properties, then test and save the connection.
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.
After saving the connection, select "Table or view" and select the table or view to export into Databricks, then close the CData FTP Source Editor.

Configure the Databricks destination

With the FTP Source configured, we can configure the Databricks connection and map the columns.

Double-click the CData Databricks Destination to open the destination component editor and add a new connection.
In the CData Databricks Connection Manager, configure the connection properties, then test and save the connection. To connect to a Databricks cluster, set the properties as described below.
Note: The needed values can be found in your Databricks instance by navigating to Clusters, selecting the desired cluster, and selecting the JDBC/ODBC tab under Advanced Options.
- Server: Set to the Server Hostname of your Databricks cluster.
- HTTPPath: Set to the HTTP Path of your Databricks cluster.
- Token: Set to your personal access token (this value can be obtained by navigating to the User Settings page of your Databricks instance and selecting the Access Tokens tab).
Other helpful connection properties
- QueryPassthrough: When this is set to True, queries are passed through directly to Databricks.
- ConvertDateTimetoGMT: When this is set to True, the components will convert date-time values to GMT, instead of the local time of the machine.
- UseUploadApi: Setting this property to true will improve performance if there is a large amount of data in a Bulk INSERT operation.
- UseCloudFetch: This option specifies whether to use CloudFetch to improve query efficiency when the table contains over one million entries.
After saving the connection, select a table in the Use a Table menu and in the Action menu, select Insert.
On the Column Mappings tab, configure the mappings from the input columns to the destination columns.