How to connect PolyBase to Reply.io

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 API Driver for ODBC, you get access to your Reply.io data directly alongside your SQL Server data. This article describes creating an external data source and external tables to grant access to live Reply.io data using T-SQL queries.

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

The CData ODBC drivers offer unmatched performance for interacting with live Reply.io data using PolyBase due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from SQL Server to Reply.io, the driver pushes down supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Reply.io 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 Reply.io data, using a single query to pull data from distributed sources.

Connect to Reply.io

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 Reply.io Sys is created automatically).

The Reply.io API uses API Key authentication via the x-api-key request header.

Using API Key Authentication

Your Reply.io API key is required to create a connection. To obtain your API key:

1. Log into your Reply.io account.
2. Click your profile icon and select Settings.
3. Navigate to the API section.
4. Copy your API Key.

After obtaining your API key, set the following connection properties:

• AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.
• APIKey: Set this to your Reply.io API key.
• UserEmail (optional): Set this to the email address of the Reply.io user on whose behalf requests are made.

Example connection string:

Profile=C:\profiles\ReplyIO.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;ProfileSettings='APIKey=your_api_key';

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

Create an External Data Source for Reply.io 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 Reply.io data.

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

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

Create an External Data Source for Reply.io

Execute a CREATE EXTERNAL DATA SOURCE SQL command to create an external data source for Reply.io with PolyBase:

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

For Reply.io, 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_api_source
WITH ( 
  LOCATION = 'odbc://SERVER_URL',
  CONNECTION_OPTIONS = 'DSN=CData Reply.io Sys',
  -- PUSHDOWN = ON | OFF,
  CREDENTIAL = api_creds
);

Create External Tables for Reply.io

After creating the external data source, use CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE statements to link to Reply.io data from your SQL Server instance. The table column definitions must match those exposed by the CData API Driver for ODBC. 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 Reply.io BillingInfo would look similar to the following:

CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE BillingInfo(
   [nvarchar](255) NULL,
   [nvarchar](255) NULL,
  ...
) WITH ( 
  LOCATION='BillingInfo',
  DATA_SOURCE=cdata_api_source
);

Having created external tables for Reply.io 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 Reply.io, freeing up local resources and computing power. Download a free, 30-day trial of the ODBC Driver for Reply.io and start working with live Reply.io data alongside your SQL Server data today.