How to connect PolyBase to SAP SuccessFactors LMS

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

Connect to SAP SuccessFactors LMS

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 SuccessFactors LMS Sys is created automatically).

SAP SuccessFactors LMS uses OAuth authentication. Before connecting, you must configure an OAuth application tied to your SAP SuccessFactors LMS account.

To establish a connection, set the following properties:

• User: Your SAP SuccessFactors LMS username.
• CompanyId: Your SAP SuccessFactors company identifier.
• Url: The SAP SuccessFactors API URL (e.g., https://api4.successfactors.com).
• OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
• OAuthClientSecret: The client secret assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.

See the Getting Started chapter of the help documentation for a guide to creating a custom OAuth app and using OAuth.

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

Create an External Data Source for SAP SuccessFactors LMS 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 SuccessFactors LMS data.

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

Create an External Data Source for SAP SuccessFactors LMS

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

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

For SAP SuccessFactors LMS, 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_sapsuccessfactorslms_source
WITH ( 
  LOCATION = 'odbc://SERVER_URL',
  CONNECTION_OPTIONS = 'DSN=CData SAP SuccessFactors LMS Sys',
  -- PUSHDOWN = ON | OFF,
  CREDENTIAL = sapsuccessfactorslms_creds
);

Create External Tables for SAP SuccessFactors LMS

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

CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE Items(
  ItemID [nvarchar](255) NULL,
  ItemTitle [nvarchar](255) NULL,
  ...
) WITH ( 
  LOCATION='Items',
  DATA_SOURCE=cdata_sapsuccessfactorslms_source
);

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