How to connect PolyBase to Strava

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

Connect to Strava

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 Strava Sys is created automatically).

To authenticate to Strava, and connect to your own data or to allow other users to connect to their data, you can use the OAuth standard.

Using OAuth Authentication

You must create a custom OAuth application to connect to Strava. To create a custom OAuth application:

1. Log into the Strava API Settings page
2. Create a new application or select an existing application
3. Set the "Authorization Callback Domain" to your callback URL domain (e.g. localhost)
4. Note down the Client ID and Client Secret

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

• AuthScheme: Set this to OAuth.
• InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to manage the process to obtain the OAuthAccessToken.
• OAuthClientId: Set this to the Client ID from your Strava API application.
• OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the Client Secret from your Strava API application.
• CallbackURL: Set this to the redirect URI matching your application's callback domain.

Example connection string:

Profile=C:\profiles\Strava.apip;AuthScheme=OAuth;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;CallbackURL=http://localhost:33333;

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

Create an External Data Source for Strava 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 Strava data.

NOTE: Since Strava does not require a User or Password to authenticate, you may use whatever values you wish for IDENTITY and SECRET.

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

Create an External Data Source for Strava

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

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

For Strava, 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_api_source
WITH ( 
  LOCATION = 'odbc://SERVER_URL',
  CONNECTION_OPTIONS = 'DSN=CData Strava Sys',
  -- PUSHDOWN = ON | OFF,
  CREDENTIAL = api_creds
);

Create External Tables for Strava

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

CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE Athlete(
   [nvarchar](255) NULL,
   [nvarchar](255) NULL,
  ...
) WITH ( 
  LOCATION='Athlete',
  DATA_SOURCE=cdata_api_source
);

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