Access AlloyDB Data in Mule Applications Using the CData JDBC Driver

The CData JDBC Driver for AlloyDB connects AlloyDB data to Mule applications enabling read , write, update, and delete functionality with familiar SQL queries. The JDBC Driver allows users to easily create Mule applications to backup, transform, report, and analyze AlloyDB data.

This article demonstrates how to use the CData JDBC Driver for AlloyDB inside of a Mule project to create a Web interface for AlloyDB data. The application created allows you to request AlloyDB data using an HTTP request and have the results returned as JSON. The exact same procedure outlined below can be used with any CData JDBC Driver to create a Web interface for the 200+ available data sources.

1. Create a new Mule Project in Anypoint Studio.
2. Add an HTTP Connector to the Message Flow.
3. Configure the address for the HTTP Connector.
4. Add a Database Select Connector to the same flow, after the HTTP Connector.
5. Create a new Connection (or edit an existing one) and configure the properties.
   • Set Connection to "Generic Connection"
   • Select the CData JDBC Driver JAR file in the Required Libraries section (e.g. cdata.jdbc.alloydb.jar).
   • Set the URL to the connection string for AlloyDB

     The following connection properties are usually required in order to connect to AlloyDB.

     • Server: The host name or IP of the server hosting the AlloyDB database.
     • User: The user which will be used to authenticate with the AlloyDB server.
     • Password: The password which will be used to authenticate with the AlloyDB server.

     You can also optionally set the following:

     • Database: The database to connect to when connecting to the AlloyDB Server. If this is not set, the user's default database will be used.
     • Port: The port of the server hosting the AlloyDB database. This property is set to 5432 by default.

     Authenticating with Standard Authentication

     Standard authentication (using the user/password combination supplied earlier) is the default form of authentication.

     No further action is required to leverage Standard Authentication to connect.

     Authenticating with pg_hba.conf Auth Schemes

     There are additional methods of authentication available which must be enabled in the pg_hba.conf file on the AlloyDB server.

     Find instructions about authentication setup on the AlloyDB Server here.

     Authenticating with MD5 Authentication

     This authentication method must be enabled by setting the auth-method in the pg_hba.conf file to md5.

     Authenticating with SASL Authentication

     This authentication method must be enabled by setting the auth-method in the pg_hba.conf file to scram-sha-256.

     Authenticating with Kerberos

     The authentication with Kerberos is initiated by AlloyDB Server when the ∏ is trying to connect to it. You should set up Kerberos on the AlloyDB Server to activate this authentication method. Once you have Kerberos authentication set up on the AlloyDB Server, see the Kerberos section of the help documentation for details on how to authenticate with Kerberos.

     Built-in Connection String Designer

     For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the AlloyDB JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

     java -jar cdata.jdbc.alloydb.jar

     Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

   • Set the Driver class name to cdata.jdbc.alloydb.AlloyDBDriver.
   • Click Test Connection.
6. Set the SQL Query Text to a SQL query to request AlloyDB data. For example: SELECT ShipName, ShipCity FROM Orders WHERE ShipCountry = 'USA'
7. Add a Transform Message Component to the flow.
8. Set the Output script to the following to convert the payload to JSON:

   %dw 2.0
   output application/json
   ---
   payload
           

9. To view your AlloyDB data, navigate to the address you configured for the HTTP Connector (localhost:8081 by default): http://localhost:8081. The AlloyDB data is available as JSON in your Web browser and any other tools capable of consuming JSON endpoints.

At this point, you have a simple Web interface for working with AlloyDB data (as JSON data) in custom apps and a wide variety of BI, reporting, and ETL tools. Download a free, 30 day trial of the JDBC Driver for AlloyDB and see the CData difference in your Mule Applications today.