How to connect PolyBase to Microsoft Dataverse

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

Connect to Microsoft Dataverse

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 Microsoft Dataverse Sys is created automatically).

You can connect without setting any connection properties for your user credentials. Below are the minimum connection properties required to connect.

• InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to avoid repeating the OAuth exchange and manually setting the OAuthAccessToken.
• OrganizationUrl: Set this to the organization URL you are connecting to, such as https://myorganization.crm.dynamics.com.
• Tenant (optional): Set this if you wish to authenticate to a different tenant than your default. This is required to work with an organization not on your default Tenant.

When you connect the Common Data Service OAuth endpoint opens in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions. The OAuth process completes automatically.

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

Create an External Data Source for Microsoft Dataverse 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 Microsoft Dataverse data.

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

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

Create an External Data Source for Microsoft Dataverse

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

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

For Microsoft Dataverse, 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_cds_source
WITH ( 
  LOCATION = 'odbc://SERVER_URL',
  CONNECTION_OPTIONS = 'DSN=CData Microsoft Dataverse Sys',
  -- PUSHDOWN = ON | OFF,
  CREDENTIAL = cds_creds
);

Create External Tables for Microsoft Dataverse

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

CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE Accounts(
  AccountId [nvarchar](255) NULL,
  Name [nvarchar](255) NULL,
  ...
) WITH ( 
  LOCATION='Accounts',
  DATA_SOURCE=cdata_cds_source
);

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