Access ServiceDesk Plus Data as a Remote Oracle Database

The Oracle Database Gateway for ODBC and Heterogeneous Services technology enable you to connect to ODBC data sources as remote Oracle databases. This article shows how to use the CData ODBC Driver for ServiceDesk Plus to create a database link from ServiceDesk Plus to Oracle and to query ServiceDesk Plus data through the SQL*Plus tool. You can also create the database link and execute queries from SQL Developer.

Connect to ServiceDesk Plus as an ODBC Data Source

Information for connecting to ServiceDesk Plus follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments.

Using OAuth Authentication

ServiceDeskPlus uses Zoho OAuth 2.0 for secure authentication. To set up OAuth access:

1. Register your application in the Zoho Developer Console at https://api-console.zoho.com
2. Configure your redirect URI to match your application setup
3. Note your Client ID and Client Secret from the application settings

After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:

• AuthScheme: Set this to OAuth.
• OAuthClientId: Set this to your Zoho application Client ID.
• OAuthClientSecret: Set this to your Zoho application Client Secret.
• Scope: Set this to the required ServiceDeskPlus permissions (default includes read access to requests, problems, assets, and projects).
• Domain: Set this to your ServiceDeskPlus domain
• Portal: Set this to your ServiceDeskPlus portal

Example Connection String

Profile=C:\profiles\ServiceDeskPlus.apip;ProfileSettings="Portal=itdesk;Domain=.in;Scope=SDPOnDemand.requests.READ SDPOnDemand.problems.READ SDPOnDemand.assets.READ SDPOnDemand.projects.READ";AuthScheme=OAuth;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;

Windows

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.

Note: If you need to modify the DSN or create other ServiceDesk Plus DSNs, you must use a system DSN and the bitness of the DSN must match your Oracle system. You can access and create 32-bit DSNs on a 64-bit system by opening the 32-bit ODBC Data Source Administrator from C:\Windows\SysWOW64\odbcad32.exe.

Linux

If you are installing the CData ODBC Driver for ServiceDesk Plus in a Linux environment, the driver installation predefines a system DSN. You can modify the DSN by editing the system data sources file (/etc/odbc.ini) and defining the required connection properties.

/etc/odbc.ini

[CData API Source]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for ServiceDesk Plus
Description = My Description
Profile = C:\profiles\ServiceDeskPlus.apip
ProfileSettings = "Portal = itdesk
Domain = .in
Scope = SDPOnDemand.requests.READ SDPOnDemand.problems.READ SDPOnDemand.assets.READ SDPOnDemand.projects.READ"
AuthScheme = OAuth
OAuthClientId = your_client_id
OAuthClientSecret = your_client_secret

For specific information on using these configuration files, please refer to the help documentation (installed and found online).

Set Connection Properties for Compatibility with Oracle

The driver provides several connection properties that streamline accessing ServiceDesk Plus data just as you would an Oracle database. Set the following properties when working with ServiceDesk Plus data in SQL*Plus and SQL Developer. For compatibility with Oracle, you will need to set the following connection properties, in addition to authentication and other required connection properties.

• MapToWVarchar=False

  Set this property to map string data types to SQL_VARCHAR instead of SQL_WVARCHAR. By default, the driver uses SQL_WVARCHAR to accommodate various international character sets. You can use this property to avoid the ORA-28528 Heterogeneous Services data type conversion error when the Unicode type is returned.

• MaximumColumnSize=4000

  Set this property to restrict the maximum column size to 4000 characters.

• IncludeDualTable=True

  Set this property to mock the Oracle DUAL table. SQL Developer uses this table to test the connection.

Linux Configuration

In Linux environments, Oracle uses UTF-8 to communicate with the unixODBC Driver manager, whereas the default driver encoding is UTF-16. To resolve this, open the file /opt/cdata/cdata-driver-for-api/lib/cdata.odbc.api.ini in a text editor and set the encoding.

cdata.odbc.api.ini

[Driver]
DriverManagerEncoding = UTF-8

Configure the ODBC Gateway, Oracle Net, and Oracle Database

Follow the procedure below to set up an ODBC gateway to ServiceDesk Plus data that enables you to query live ServiceDesk Plus data as an Oracle database.

1. Create the file initmyservicedeskplusdb.ora in the folder oracle-home-directory/hs/admin and add the following setting:

   initmyservicedeskplusdb.ora

   HS_FDS_CONNECT_INFO = "CData API Sys"

2. Add an entry to the listener.ora file. This file is located in oracle-home-directory/NETWORK/admin.

   If you are using the Database Gateway for ODBC, your listener.ora needs to have a SID_LIST_LISTENER entry that resembles the following:

   listener.ora

   SID_LIST_LISTENER =
     (SID_LIST =
       (SID_DESC =
         (SID_NAME = myservicedeskplusdb)
         (ORACLE_HOME = your-oracle-home)
         (PROGRAM = dg4odbc)
       )
     )
   

   If you are using Heterogeneous Services, your listener.ora needs to have a SID_LIST_LISTENER entry that resembles the following:

   listener.ora

   SID_LIST_LISTENER =
     (SID_LIST =
       (SID_DESC =
         (SID_NAME = myservicedeskplusdb)
         (ORACLE_HOME = your-oracle-home)
         (PROGRAM = hsodbc)
       )
     )
   

3. Add the connect descriptor below in tnsnames.ora, located in oracle-home-directory/NETWORK/admin:

   tnsnames.ora

   myservicedeskplusdb  =
     (DESCRIPTION=
       (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=localhost)(PORT=1521))
       (CONNECT_DATA=(SID=myservicedeskplusdb))
       (HS=OK)
     ) 
   

4. Restart the listener.

5. Test the configuration with the following command:

   tnsping myservicedeskplusdb

6. Open SQL*Plus and create the database link with the command below:

   CREATE DATABASE LINK myservicedeskplusdb CONNECT TO "user" IDENTIFIED BY "password" USING 'myservicedeskplusdb';

You can now execute queries in SQL*Plus like the one below (note the double quotation marks around the table name):

SELECT * from "AnnouncementComments"@myservicedeskplusdb WHERE AnnouncementId = '12345';