How to connect PolyBase to Microsoft Planner

PolyBase for SQL Server allows you to query external data by using the same Transact-SQL syntax used to query a database table. When paired with the CData ODBC Driver for Microsoft Planner, you get access to your Microsoft Planner data directly alongside your SQL Server data. This article describes creating an external data source and external tables to grant access to live Microsoft Planner data using T-SQL queries.

NOTE: PolyBase is only available on SQL Server 19 and above, and only for Standard SQL Server.

The CData ODBC drivers offer unmatched performance for interacting with live Microsoft Planner data using PolyBase due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from SQL Server to Microsoft Planner, the driver pushes down supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Microsoft Planner and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations (often SQL functions and JOIN operations) client-side. And with PolyBase, you can also join SQL Server data with Microsoft Planner data, using a single query to pull data from distributed sources.

Connect to Microsoft Planner

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. To create an external data source in SQL Server using PolyBase, configure a System DSN (CData Microsoft Planner Sys is created automatically).

You can connect without setting any connection properties for your user credentials. Below are the minimum connection properties required to connect.

• InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to avoid repeating the OAuth exchange and manually setting the OAuthAccessToken.
• Tenant (optional): Set this if you wish to authenticate to a different tenant than your default. This is required to work with an organization not on your default Tenant.

When you connect the Driver opens the MS Planner OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the Driver. The Driver then completes the OAuth process.

1. Extracts the access token from the callback URL and authenticates requests.
2. Obtains a new access token when the old one expires.
3. Saves OAuth values in OAuthSettingsLocation to be persisted across connections.

Click "Test Connection" to ensure that the DSN is connected to Microsoft Planner properly. Navigate to the Tables tab to review the table definitions for Microsoft Planner.

Create an External Data Source for Microsoft Planner Data

After configuring the connection, you need to create a master encryption key and a credential database for the external data source.

Creating a Master Encryption Key

Execute the following SQL command to create a new master key, 'ENCRYPTION,' to encrypt the credentials for the external data source.

CREATE MASTER KEY ENCRYPTION BY PASSWORD = 'password';

Creating a Credential Database

Execute the following SQL command to create credentials for the external data source connected to Microsoft Planner data.

NOTE: Since Microsoft Planner does not require a User or Password to authenticate, you may use whatever values you wish for IDENTITY and SECRET.

CREATE DATABASE SCOPED CREDENTIAL microsoftplanner_creds
WITH IDENTITY = 'username', SECRET = 'password';

Create an External Data Source for Microsoft Planner

Execute a CREATE EXTERNAL DATA SOURCE SQL command to create an external data source for Microsoft Planner with PolyBase:

• Set the LOCATION parameter , using the DSN and credentials configured earlier.

For Microsoft Planner, set SERVERNAME to the URL or address for your server (e.g. 'localhost' or '127.0.0.1' for local servers; the remote URL for remote servers). Leave PORT empty. PUSHDOWN is set to ON by default, meaning the ODBC Driver can leverage server-side processing for complex queries.

CREATE EXTERNAL DATA SOURCE cdata_microsoftplanner_source
WITH ( 
  LOCATION = 'odbc://SERVER_URL',
  CONNECTION_OPTIONS = 'DSN=CData Microsoft Planner Sys',
  -- PUSHDOWN = ON | OFF,
  CREDENTIAL = microsoftplanner_creds
);

Create External Tables for Microsoft Planner

After creating the external data source, use CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE statements to link to Microsoft Planner data from your SQL Server instance. The table column definitions must match those exposed by the CData ODBC Driver for Microsoft Planner. You can refer to the Tables tab of the DSN Configuration Wizard to see the table definition.

Sample CREATE TABLE Statement

The statement to create an external table based on a Microsoft Planner Tasks would look similar to the following:

CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE Tasks(
  TaskId [nvarchar](255) NULL,
  startDateTime [nvarchar](255) NULL,
  ...
) WITH ( 
  LOCATION='Tasks',
  DATA_SOURCE=cdata_microsoftplanner_source
);

Having created external tables for Microsoft Planner in your SQL Server instance, you are now able to query local and remote data simultaneously. Thanks to built-in query processing in the CData ODBC Driver, you know that as much query processing as possible is being pushed to Microsoft Planner, freeing up local resources and computing power. Download a free, 30-day trial of the ODBC Driver for Microsoft Planner and start working with live Microsoft Planner data alongside your SQL Server data today.