Connect to Sage X3 Cloud Data as an External Data Source using PolyBase

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 Sage X3 Cloud, you get access to your Sage X3 Cloud data directly alongside your SQL Server data. This article describes creating an external data source and external tables to grant access to live Sage X3 Cloud data using T-SQL queries.

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

CData Connect AI provides a pure SQL Server interface for Sage X3 Cloud, allowing you to query data from Sage X3 Cloud without replicating the data to a natively supported database. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect AI pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc.) directly to Sage X3 Cloud, leveraging server-side processing to return the requested Sage X3 Cloud data quickly.

Configure Sage X3 Cloud Connectivity for PolyBase

Connectivity to Sage X3 Cloud from PolyBase is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Sage X3 Cloud data from PolyBase, we start by creating and configuring a Sage X3 Cloud connection.

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection

2. Select "Sage X3 Cloud" from the Add Connection panel

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Sage X3 Cloud.

   Sage X3 Cloud uses the OAuth 2.0 Client Credentials flow, and an X-API-Key is also required for API access. Set AuthScheme to OAuth and specify the following connection properties:

   • URL: The base URL of your Sage X3 Cloud instance.
   • OAuthAccessTokenUrl: The OAuth token endpoint (e.g., https://your-auth-domain/oauth/token).
   • OAuthClientId: Your OAuth application client ID.
   • OAuthClientSecret: Your OAuth application client secret.
   • Audience: The API audience value for the token request.
   • XAPIKey: The X-API-Key provided by your Sage X3 Cloud administrator.
   • Folder: The Sage X3 folder name (e.g., SEED). This folder is used as the default schema.
   • Folders (optional): A comma-separated list of Sage X3 folders (e.g., SEED,PERF). Each folder is exposed as a separate schema, so you can query across folders with the Schema.Table syntax.

   The driver obtains an access token with the Client Credentials flow and sends it with the X-API-Key on every API request. With InitiateOAuth set to GETANDREFRESH (the default), the driver acquires and refreshes the token automatically.

   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Sage X3 Cloud Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add a Personal Access Token

When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give the PAT a name and click Create.
4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

With the connection configured and a PAT generated, you are ready to connect to Sage X3 Cloud data from Polybase.

Create an External Data Source for Sage X3 Cloud Data

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

Creating a Credential Database

Execute the following SQL command to create credentials for the external data source connected to Sage X3 Cloud data.

NOTE: Set IDENTITY to your Connect AI username and set SECRET to your Personal Access Token.

CREATE DATABASE SCOPED CREDENTIAL ConnectAICredentials
WITH IDENTITY = 'yourusername', SECRET = 'yourPAT';

Create an External Data Source for Sage X3 Cloud

Execute a CREATE EXTERNAL DATA SOURCE SQL command to create an external data source for Sage X3 Cloud with PolyBase:

CREATE EXTERNAL DATA SOURCE ConnectAIInstance
WITH ( 
  LOCATION = 'sqlserver://tds.cdata.com:14333',
  PUSHDOWN = ON,
  CREDENTIAL = ConnectAICredentials
);

Create External Tables for Sage X3 Cloud

After creating the external data source, use CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE statements to link to Sage X3 Cloud data from your SQL Server instance. The table column definitions must match those exposed by CData Connect AI. You can use the Data Explorer in Connect AI to see the table definition.

Sample CREATE TABLE Statement

Execute a CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE SQL command to create the external table(s), using the collation and setting the LOCATION to three-part notation for the connection, catalog, and table. The statement to create an external table based on a Sage X3 Cloud BPCUSTOMER would look similar to the following.

CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE BPCUSTOMER(
  BPCNUM COLLATE [nvarchar](255) NULL,
  BPCNAM COLLATE [nvarchar](255) NULL,
  ...
) WITH ( 
  LOCATION='SageX3Cloud1.SageX3Cloud.BPCUSTOMER',
  DATA_SOURCE=ConnectAIInstance
);

Having created external tables for Sage X3 Cloud in your SQL Server instance, you are now able to query local and remote data simultaneously. To get live data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your SQL Server database, try CData Connect AI today!