How to connect PolyBase to Talkdesk

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

Connect to Talkdesk

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 Talkdesk Sys is created automatically).

Talkdesk uses the OAuth 2.0 Client Credentials grant. There is no browser-based authorization step and no callback URL.

Set the following connection properties:

• AccountName: The name of your Talkdesk account.
• Region: The region where your Talkdesk instance is deployed. Supported values are US (default), EU, CA, AU, UK, and FedRamp.
• OAuthClientId: The Client Id assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
• OAuthClientSecret: The Client Secret assigned to your custom OAuth application.

Creating a Custom OAuth Application

1. Log in to your Talkdesk account and select OAuth Clients from the navigation menu.
2. Click Create OAuth Client and give the client a descriptive name.
3. Set Grant Type to Client Credentials.
4. Click Add scopes and select the scopes for the data you want to access.
5. Click Create and copy the Client Id and Client Secret.

When you connect, the driver automatically requests an access token from Talkdesk, caches it, and refreshes it when it expires. Make sure the scopes selected for the application match the views you plan to query, or the token request can fail.

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

Create an External Data Source for Talkdesk 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 Talkdesk data.

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

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

Create an External Data Source for Talkdesk

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

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

For Talkdesk, 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_talkdesk_source
WITH ( 
  LOCATION = 'odbc://SERVER_URL',
  CONNECTION_OPTIONS = 'DSN=CData Talkdesk Sys',
  -- PUSHDOWN = ON | OFF,
  CREDENTIAL = talkdesk_creds
);

Create External Tables for Talkdesk

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

CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE Users(
  Id [nvarchar](255) NULL,
  Name [nvarchar](255) NULL,
  ...
) WITH ( 
  LOCATION='Users',
  DATA_SOURCE=cdata_talkdesk_source
);

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