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Get the Report →Import SharePoint Data Using Azure Data Factory
Use CData Connect Cloud to connect to SharePoint Data from Azure Data Factory and import live SharePoint data.
Microsoft Azure Data Factory (ADF)) is a completely managed, serverless data integration service. When combined with CData Connect Cloud, ADF enables immediate cloud-to-cloud access to SharePoint data within data flows. This article outlines the process of connecting to SharePoint through Connect Cloud and accessing SharePoint data within ADF.
CData Connect Cloud offers a cloud-to-cloud interface tailored for SharePoint, granting you the ability to access live data from SharePoint data within Azure Data Factory without the need for data replication to a natively supported database. Equipped with optimized data processing capabilities by default, CData Connect Cloud seamlessly channels all supported SQL operations, including filters and JOINs, directly to SharePoint. This harnesses server-side processing to expedite the retrieval of the desired SharePoint data.
About SharePoint Data Integration
Accessing and integrating live data from SharePoint has never been easier with CData. Customers rely on CData connectivity to:
- Access data from a wide range of SharePoint versions, including Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and above, and SharePoint Online.
- Access all of SharePoint thanks to support for Hidden and Lookup columns.
- Recursively scan folders to create a relational model of all SharePoint data.
- Use SQL stored procedures to upload and download documents and attachments.
Most customers rely on CData solutions to integrate SharePoint data into their database or data warehouse, while others integrate their SharePoint data with preferred data tools, like Power BI, Tableau, or Excel.
For more information on how customers are solving problems with CData's SharePoint solutions, refer to our blog: Drivers in Focus: Collaboration Tools.
Getting Started
Configure SharePoint Connectivity for ADF
Connectivity to SharePoint from Azure Data Factory is made possible through CData Connect Cloud. To work with SharePoint data from Azure Data Factory, we start by creating and configuring a SharePoint connection.
CData Connect Cloud uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources.
- Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection
- Select "SharePoint" from the Add Connection panel
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Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to SharePoint.
Set the URL property to the base SharePoint site or to a sub-site. This allows you to query any lists and other SharePoint entities defined for the site or sub-site.
The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid SharePoint user credentials when using SharePoint On-Premise.
If you are connecting to SharePoint Online, set the SharePointEdition to SHAREPOINTONLINE along with the User and Password connection string properties. For more details on connecting to SharePoint Online, see the "Getting Started" chapter of the help documentation
- Click Create & Test
- Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add SharePoint Connection page and update the User-based permissions.
Add a Personal Access Token
If you are connecting from a service, application, platform, or framework that does not support OAuth authentication, you can create a Personal Access Token (PAT) to use for authentication. Best practices would dictate that you create a separate PAT for each service, to maintain granularity of access.
- Click on your username at the top right of the Connect Cloud app and click User Profile.
- On the User Profile page, scroll down to the Personal Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
- Give your PAT a name and click Create.
- 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, you are ready to connect to SharePoint data from Azure Data Factory.
Access Live SharePoint Data in Azure Data Factory
To establish a connection from Azure Data Factory to the CData Connect Cloud Virtual SQL Server API, follow these steps.
- Login to Azure Data Factory.
- If you have not yet created a Data Factory, Click New -> Dataset.
- In the search bar, enter SQL Server and select it when it appears. On the following screen, enter a name for the server. In the Linked service field, select New.
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Enter the connection settings.
- Name - enter a name of your choice.
- Server name - enter the Virtual SQL Server endpoint and port separated by a comma: tds.cdata.com,14333
- Database name - enter the Connection Name of the CData Connect Cloud data source you want to connect to (for example, SharePoint1).
- User Name - enter your CData Connect Cloud username. This is displayed in the top-right corner of the CData Connect Cloud interface. For example, [email protected].
- Password - select Password (not Azure Key Vault) and enter the PAT you generated on the Settings page.
- Click Create.
- In Set properties, set the Name, choose the Linked service we just created, select a Table name from those available, and Import schema from connection/store. Click OK.
- After creating the linked service, the following screen should appear:
- Click preview data to see the imported SharePoint table. You can now use this dataset when creating data flows in Azure Data Factory.
Get CData Connect Cloud
To get live data access to 100+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications, try CData Connect Cloud today!