A PostgreSQL Interface for Azure Active Directory Data

There are a vast number of PostgreSQL clients available on the Internet. From standard Drivers to BI and Analytics tools, PostgreSQL is a popular interface for data access. Using our JDBC Drivers, you can now create PostgreSQL entry-points that you can connect to from any standard client.

To access Azure Active Directory data as a PostgreSQL database, use the CData JDBC Driver for Azure Active Directory and a JDBC foreign data wrapper (FDW). In this article, we compile the FDW, install it, and query Azure Active Directory data from PostgreSQL Server.

Connect to Azure Active Directory Data as a JDBC Data Source

To connect to Azure Active Directory as a JDBC data source, you will need the following:

• Driver JAR path: The JAR is located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.

• Driver class: cdata.jdbc.azuread.AzureADDriver

• JDBC URL: The URL must start with "jdbc:azuread:" and can include any of the connection properties in name-value pairs separated with semicolons.

  Azure Active Directory uses the OAuth authentication standard. To authenticate using OAuth, you will need to create an app to obtain the OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL connection properties. See the OAuth section in the Help documentation for an authentication guide.

  Built-in Connection String Designer

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

  java -jar cdata.jdbc.azuread.jar

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

  A typical JDBC URL is below:

  jdbc:azuread:OAuthClientId=MyApplicationId;OAuthClientSecret=MySecretKey;CallbackURL=http://localhost:33333;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH

Build the JDBC Foreign Data Wrapper

The Foreign Data Wrapper can be installed as an extension to PostgreSQL, without recompiling PostgreSQL. The jdbc2_fdw extension is used as an example (downloadable here).

1. Add a symlink from the shared object for your version of the JRE to /usr/lib/libjvm.so. For example: ln -s /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/lib/amd64/server/libjvm.so /usr/lib/libjvm.so
2. Start the build: make install USE_PGXS=1

Query Azure Active Directory Data as a PostgreSQL Database

After you have installed the extension, follow the steps below to start executing queries to Azure Active Directory data:

1. Log into your database.
2. Load the extension for the database: CREATE EXTENSION jdbc2_fdw;
3. Create a server object for Azure Active Directory: CREATE SERVER AzureAD FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER jdbc2_fdw OPTIONS ( drivername 'cdata.jdbc.azuread.AzureADDriver', url 'jdbc:azuread:OAuthClientId=MyApplicationId;OAuthClientSecret=MySecretKey;CallbackURL=http://localhost:33333;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH', querytimeout '15', jarfile '/home/MyUser/CData/CData\ JDBC\ Driver\ for\ Salesforce MyDriverEdition/lib/cdata.jdbc.azuread.jar');
4. Create a user mapping for the username and password of a user known to the MySQL daemon. CREATE USER MAPPING for postgres SERVER AzureAD OPTIONS ( username 'admin', password 'test');
5. Create a foreign table in your local database: postgres=# CREATE FOREIGN TABLE domains ( domains_id text, domains_id text, domains_availabilityStatus numeric) SERVER AzureAD OPTIONS ( table_name 'domains');