How to connect PolyBase to Basecamp

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 Basecamp, you get access to your Basecamp data directly alongside your SQL Server data. This article describes creating an external data source and external tables to grant access to live Basecamp data using T-SQL queries.

NOTE: PolyBase is only available on SQL Server 19 and above, and only for Standard SQL Server.

The CData ODBC drivers offer unmatched performance for interacting with live Basecamp data using PolyBase due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from SQL Server to Basecamp, the driver pushes down supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Basecamp 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 Basecamp data, using a single query to pull data from distributed sources.

Connect to Basecamp

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 Basecamp Sys is created automatically).

Basecamp uses basic or OAuth 2.0 authentication. To use basic authentication you will need the user and password that you use for logging in to Basecamp. To authenticate to Basecamp via OAuth 2.0, you will need to obtain the OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL connection properties by registering an app with Basecamp.

See the Getting Started section in the help documentation for a connection guide.

Additionally, you will need to specify the AccountId connection property. This can be copied from the URL after you log in.

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

Create an External Data Source for Basecamp 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 Basecamp data.

NOTE: IDENTITY and SECRET correspond with the User and Password properties for Basecamp.

CREATE DATABASE SCOPED CREDENTIAL basecamp_creds
WITH IDENTITY = 'basecamp_username', SECRET = 'basecamp_password';

Create an External Data Source for Basecamp

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

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

For Basecamp, 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_basecamp_source
WITH ( 
  LOCATION = 'odbc://SERVER_URL',
  CONNECTION_OPTIONS = 'DSN=CData Basecamp Sys',
  -- PUSHDOWN = ON | OFF,
  CREDENTIAL = basecamp_creds
);

Create External Tables for Basecamp

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

CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE Projects(
  Name [nvarchar](255) NULL,
  DocumentsCount [nvarchar](255) NULL,
  ...
) WITH ( 
  LOCATION='Projects',
  DATA_SOURCE=cdata_basecamp_source
);

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