How to connect PolyBase to SAP Fieldglass



Use CData drivers and PolyBase to create an external data source in SQL Server 2019 with access to live SAP Fieldglass data.

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 SAP Fieldglass, you get access to your SAP Fieldglass data directly alongside your SQL Server data. This article describes creating an external data source and external tables to grant access to live SAP Fieldglass 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 SAP Fieldglass data using PolyBase due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from SQL Server to SAP Fieldglass, the driver pushes down supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to SAP Fieldglass 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 SAP Fieldglass data, using a single query to pull data from distributed sources.

Connect to SAP Fieldglass

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 SAP Fieldglass Sys is created automatically).

To authenticate, you will need to specify the Username, Password, APIKey, and EnvironmentURL connection properties.

To obtain an APIKey, log in to the SAP API Business Hub and click on Get API Key.

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

Create an External Data Source for SAP Fieldglass 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 SAP Fieldglass data.

NOTE: IDENTITY and SECRET correspond with the User and Password properties for SAP Fieldglass.


CREATE DATABASE SCOPED CREDENTIAL sapfieldglass_creds
WITH IDENTITY = 'sapfieldglass_username', SECRET = 'sapfieldglass_password';

Create an External Data Source for SAP Fieldglass

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

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

For SAP Fieldglass, 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_sapfieldglass_source
WITH ( 
  LOCATION = 'odbc://SERVER_URL',
  CONNECTION_OPTIONS = 'DSN=CData SAP Fieldglass Sys',
  -- PUSHDOWN = ON | OFF,
  CREDENTIAL = sapfieldglass_creds
);

Create External Tables for SAP Fieldglass

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

CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE AuditTrails(
  Id [nvarchar](255) NULL,
  Category [nvarchar](255) NULL,
  ...
) WITH ( 
  LOCATION='AuditTrails',
  DATA_SOURCE=cdata_sapfieldglass_source
);

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

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the SAP Fieldglass ODBC Driver to get started:

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Learn more:

SAP Fieldglass Icon SAP Fieldglass ODBC Driver

The SAP Fieldglass ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live data from SAP Fieldglass, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access SAP Fieldglass data like you would a database - read, write, and update SAP Fieldglass Approvals, Audit Trails, Analytics, etc. through a standard ODBC Driver interface.