Access Live Azure Table Data in TIBCO Data Virtualization

TIBCO Data Virtualization (TDV) is an enterprise data virtualization solution that orchestrates access to multiple and varied data sources. When paired with the CData TIBCO DV Adapter for Azure Table, you get federated access to live Azure Table data directly within TIBCO Data Virtualization. This article walks through deploying an adapter and creating a new data source based on Azure Table.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData TIBCO DV Adapter offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Azure Table data. When you issue complex SQL queries to Azure Table, the adapter pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Azure Table. Its built-in dynamic metadata querying allows you to work with and analyze Azure Table data using native data types.

Deploy the Azure Table TIBCO DV Adapter

1. In a console, navigate to the bin folder in the TDV Server installation directory. If there is a current version of the adapter installed, you will need to undeploy it.

   .\server_util.bat -server localhost -user admin -password ******** -undeploy -version 1 -name AzureTables
   

2. Extract the CData TIBCO DV Adapter to a local folder and deploy the JAR file (tdv.azuretables.jar) to the server from the extract location.

   .\server_util.bat -server localhost -user admin -password ******** -deploy -package /PATH/TO/tdv.azuretables.jar
   

You may need to restart the server to ensure the new JAR file is loaded properly, which can be accomplished by running the composite.bat script located at: C:\Program Files\TIBCO\TDV Server <version>\bin. Note that reauthenticating to the TDV Studio is required after restarting the server.

Sample Restart Call

.\composite.bat monitor restart

Create a Azure Table Data Source in TDV Studio

With the CData TIBCO DV Adapter for Azure Table, you can easily create a data source for Azure Table and introspect the data source to add resources to TDV.

Create the Data Source

1. Right-click on the folder you wish to add the data source to and select New -> New Data Source.
2. Scroll until you find the adapter (e.g. Azure Table) and click Next.
3. Name the data source (e.g. CData Azure Table Source).

4. Fill in the required connection properties.

   Specify your AccessKey and your Account to connect. Set the Account property to the Storage Account Name and set AccessKey to one of the Access Keys. Either the Primary or Secondary Access Keys can be used. To obtain these values, navigate to the Storage Accounts blade in the Azure portal. You can obtain the access key by selecting your account and clicking Access Keys in the Settings section.

5. Click Create & Close.

Introspect the Data Source

Once the data source is created, you can introspect the data source by right-clicking and selecting Open. In the dashboard, click Add/Remove Resources and select the Tables, Views, and Stored Procedures to include as part of the data source. Click Next and Finish to add the selected Azure Table tables, views, and stored procedures as resources.

After creating and introspecting the data source, you are ready to work with Azure Table data in TIBCO Data Virtualization just like you would any other relational data source. You can create views, query using SQL, publish the data source, and more.