A PostgreSQL Interface for OData Services



Use the Remoting features of the OData ODBC Driver to create a PostgreSQL entry-point for data access.

There are a vast number of PostgreSQL clients available on the Internet. From standard Drivers to BI and Analytics tools, PostgreSQL is a popular interface for data access. Using the remoting features of our JDBC Drivers, you can now create PostgreSQL entry-points that you can connect to from any standard client.

To access OData services as a PostgreSQL database, use the Remoting feature of the CData JDBC Driver for OData and the MySQL foreign data wrapper (FDW) from EnterpriseDB. In this article, we install the FDW and query OData services from PostgreSQL Server.

About OData Data Integration

CData simplifies access and integration of live OData services data. Our customers leverage CData connectivity to:

  • Access OData versions 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0, working with legacy services and the latest features and capabilities.
  • Leverage advanced query options, including $filter, $select, and $expand, enhancing data retrieval from 3rd party tools.
  • Use Server-side execution of aggregation and grouping to minimize data transfer and boost performance.
  • Authenticate securely using a variety of schemes, including Azure AD, digest, negotiate, NTLM, OAuth, and more means secure authentication with every connection.
  • Use SQL stored procedures to manage OData service entities - listing, creating, and removing associations between entities.

Customers use CData's solutions to regularly integrate their OData services with preferred tools, such as Power BI, MicroStrategy, or Tableau, and to replicate data from OData services to their databases or data warehouses.


Getting Started


Configure the Connection to OData

Follow the steps below to configure the driver's MySQL daemon to use the credentials and other connection properties needed to connect to OData. The MySQL daemon exposes OData services as a MySQL database named CDataOData. Add connection properties to the databases section of the configuration file for the daemon. The configuration file for the daemon is located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory for the driver.

Below is a typical connection string:

[databases] odata = "URL=http://services.odata.org/V4/Northwind/Northwind.svc;UseIdUrl=True;OData Version=4.0;Data Format=ATOM;"

Additionally, create a user in the users section.

You can find all of the configuration options for the MySQL daemon in the help documentation.

Start the Remoting Service

Follow the steps below to enable the MySQL Remoting feature of the CData JDBC Driver for OData.

  1. The driver creates a default configuration suitable for testing: Simply start the service to connect to OData services.

  2. Start the MySQL Remoting Service with the following command: java -jar cdata.jdbc.odata.jar -f cdata.jdbc.odata.remoting.ini

Build and Install the MySQL Foreign Data Wrapper

The Foreign Data Wrapper can be installed as an extension to PostgreSQL, without recompiling PostgreSQL.

If pgxn is available for your operating system, you can install with the following:

pgxn install mysql_fdw USE_PGXS=1

Otherwise, follow the steps below to build it yourself:

  1. Install the MySQL C client library and obtain the source for the EnterpriseDB FDW for MySQL; from GitHub, for example.
  2. Build the FDW. Add the pg_config and mysql_config executables to your PATH: env PATH=/usr/local/pgsql/bin:/usr/local/mysql/bin:$PATH make USE_PGXS=1
  3. Install the FDW: make USE_PGXS=1 install

To complete the installation, you will need to load the libmysqlclient library into the environment; for example by adding it to the path.

Query OData Services as a PostgreSQL Database

After you have installed the extension, follow the steps below to start executing queries to OData services:

  1. Log into your database.
  2. Load the extension for the database: postgres=#CREATE EXTENSION mysql_fdw;
  3. Create a server object for OData services: postgres=# CREATE SERVER OData FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER mysql_fdw OPTIONS (host '127.0.0.1', port '3309');
  4. Create a user mapping for the username and password of a user known to the MySQL daemon. postgres=# CREATE USER MAPPING for postgres SERVER OData OPTIONS (username 'admin', password 'test');
  5. Create the local schema: postgres=# CREATE SCHEMA OData_db;
  6. Import all the tables in the OData database you defined in the daemon configuration file: postgres=# IMPORT FOREIGN SCHEMA "OData" FROM SERVER OData INTO OData_db;

You can now execute read/write commands to OData:

postgres=# SELECT * FROM OData_db."orders";

Ready to get started?

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Easy-to-use OData client (consumer) enables developers to build Java applications that easily communicate with OData services.