Connecting GenSpark with SAS xpt Data via CData Connect AI MCP Server

GenSpark is built for developers and enterprise teams who want to create intelligent, conversational AI experiences powered by real-time data. It's flexible tooling and agentic capabilities make it easy to integrate LLMs, automate complex workflows, and build interactive applications that adapt to user intent. However, when these AI interactions require data beyond local context or predefined APIs, many implementations fall back on custom middleware, manual integrations, or scheduled ETL pipelines to sync information into local stores. This introduces unnecessary complexity, increases maintenance overhead, slows response times, and limits the real-time intelligence your GenSpark agents can provide.

CData Connect AI eliminates these barriers by delivering live, secure connectivity to more than 300 enterprise applications, databases, ERPs, and analytics platforms. Through CData Connect AI remote Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server, GenSpark agents can query, read, and act on real-time enterprise data without replication or custom integration code. The result is grounded, accurate responses, faster reasoning, and automated, cross-system decision-making all with stronger governance and fewer moving parts.

This guide outlines the steps required to configure CData Connect AI MCP connectivity, register the MCP Server in GenSpark, and enable your GenSpark agents to work seamlessly with live enterprise data in real time.

Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have:

1. A CData Connect AI account
2. Access to GenSpark
3. Access to SAS xpt

Credentials checklist

Ensure you have these credentials ready for the connection:

1. USERNAME: Your CData email login
2. PAT: Connect AI, go to Settings and click on Access Tokens (copy once)
3. MCP_BASE_URL: https://mcp.cloud.cdata.com/mcp

Step 1: Configure SAS xpt connectivity for GenSpark

Connectivity to SAS xpt from GenSpark is made possible through CData Connect AI Remote MCP. To interact with SAS xpt data from GenSpark, we start by creating and configuring a SAS xpt connection in CData Connect AI.

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

2. Select "SAS xpt" from the Add Connection panel

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to SAS xpt.

   Connecting to Local SASXpt Files

   You can connect to local SASXpt file by setting the URI to a folder containing SASXpt files.

   Connecting to S3 data source

   You can connect to Amazon S3 source to read SASXpt files. Set the following properties to connect:

   • URI: Set this to the folder within your bucket that you would like to connect to.
   • AWSAccessKey: Set this to your AWS account access key.
   • AWSSecretKey: Set this to your AWS account secret key.
   • TemporaryLocalFolder: Set this to the path, or URI, to the folder that is used to temporarily download SASXpt file(s).

   Connecting to Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2

   You can connect to ADLS Gen2 to read SASXpt files. Set the following properties to connect:

   • URI: Set this to the name of the file system and the name of the folder which contacts your SASXpt files.
   • AzureAccount: Set this to the name of the Azure Data Lake storage account.
   • AzureAccessKey: Set this to our Azure DataLakeStore Gen 2 storage account access key.
   • TemporaryLocalFolder: Set this to the path, or URI, to the folder that is used to temporarily download SASXpt file(s).
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add SAS xpt Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add a Personal Access Token

A Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI from GenSpark. 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, we are ready to connect to SAS xpt data from GenSpark.

Step 2: Configure MCP Server in GenSpark

1. Log in to GenSpark
2. Below the chat interface, click the Tools icon

3. Select Add new MCP server


4. Fill in the server configuration:

   NOTE: Use Basic authentication, where you combine your Connect AI email address (e.g. [email protected]) with the PAT you generated earlier (e.g. AbC123...xYz890) with a colon (:) in the Authorization header.

   
   

   Field	Value
   Name	CData MCP Server (or any name you prefer)
   Server Type	SteamableHttp
   Server URL	https://mcp.cloud.cdata.com/mcp
   Request Header	{"Authorization": "Basic [email protected]:AbC123...xYz890"}

5. Click Add Server

Once added, GenSpark will automatically load all MCP tools exposed through your Connect AI workspace.

Step 3: Query data in GenSpark

In GenSpark chat interface enter any sample prompt:

List the tools present in CData Connect AI MCP Server.

Build real-time, data-aware agents with GenSpark and CData

GenSpark and CData Connect AI together enable intelligent, AI-driven workflows where agents can securely access live enterprise data and operate with real-time awareness without ETL pipelines, data sync jobs, or custom integration logic. This streamlined approach delivers stronger governance, lower operational overhead, and faster, more grounded responses from your AI tools.

Start your free trial today to see how CData can empower GenSpark with live, secure access to hundreds of external systems.