Access Live Okta Data in AWS Lambda

AWS Lambda is a compute service that lets you build applications that respond quickly to new information and events. AWS Lambda functions can work with live Okta data when paired with the CData JDBC Driver for Okta. This article describes how to connect to and query Okta data from an AWS Lambda function built in Eclipse.

At the time this article was written (June 2022), Eclipse version 2019-12 and Java 8 were the highest versions supported by the AWS Toolkit for Eclipse.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData JDBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Okta data. When you issue complex SQL queries to Okta, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Okta and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations). In addition, its built-in dynamic metadata querying allows you to work with and analyze Okta data using native data types.

Gather Connection Properties and Build a Connection String

To connect to Okta, set the Domain connection string property to your Okta domain.

You will use OAuth to authenticate with Okta, so you need to create a custom OAuth application.

Creating a Custom OAuth Application

From your Okta account:

1. Sign in to your Okta developer edition organization with your administrator account.
2. In the Admin Console, go to Applications > Applications.
3. Click Create App Integration.
4. For the Sign-in method, select OIDC - OpenID Connect.
5. For Application type, choose Web Application.
6. Enter a name for your custom application.
7. Set the Grant Type to Authorization Code. If you want the token to be automatically refreshed, also check Refresh Token.
8. Set the callback URL:
   • For desktop applications and headless machines, use http://localhost:33333 or another port number of your choice. The URI you set here becomes the CallbackURL property.
   • For web applications, set the callback URL to a trusted redirect URL. This URL is the web location the user returns to with the token that verifies that your application has been granted access.
9. In the Assignments section, either select Limit access to selected groups and add a group, or skip group assignment for now.
10. Save the OAuth application.
11. The application's Client Id and Client Secret are displayed on the application's General tab. Record these for future use. You will use the Client Id to set the OAuthClientId and the Client Secret to set the OAuthClientSecret.
12. Check the Assignments tab to confirm that all users who must access the application are assigned to the application.
13. On the Okta API Scopes tab, select the scopes you wish to grant to the OAuth application. These scopes determine the data that the app has permission to read, so a scope for a particular view must be granted for the driver to have permission to query that view. To confirm the scopes required for each view, see the view-specific pages in Data Model < Views in the Help documentation.

NOTE: To use the JDBC driver in an AWS Lambda function, you will need a license (full or trial) and a Runtime Key (RTK). For more information on obtaining this license (or a trial), contact our sales team.

Built-in Connection String Designer

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

Fill in the connection properties (including the RTK) and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

Create an AWS Lambda Function

1. Download the CData JDBC Driver for Okta installer, unzip the package, and run the JAR file to install the driver.

2. Create a new AWS Lambda Java Project in Eclipse using the AWS Toolkit for Eclipse. You can follow the tutorial from AWS (amazon.com).

   For this article, set the Input Type for the project to "Custom" so we can enter a table name as the input.

3. Add the CData JDBC Driver for Okta JAR file (cdata.jdbc.okta.jar) to the build path. The file is found in INSTALL_PATH\lib\.
4. Add the following import statements to the Java class: import java.sql.Connection; import java.sql.DriverManager; import java.sql.ResultSet; import java.sql.ResultSetMetaData; import java.sql.SQLException; import java.sql.Statement;

5. Replace the body of the handleRequest method with the code below. Be sure to fill in the connection string in the DriverManager.getConnection method call.

   String query = "SELECT * FROM " + input; try { Class.forName("cdata.jdbc.okta.OktaDriver"); } catch (ClassNotFoundException ex) { context.getLogger().log("Error: class not found"); } Connection connection = null; try { connection = DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:cdata:okta:RTK=52465...;Domain=dev-44876464.okta.com;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH"); } catch (SQLException ex) { context.getLogger().log("Error getting connection: " + ex.getMessage()); } catch (Exception ex) { context.getLogger().log("Error: " + ex.getMessage()); } if(connection != null) { context.getLogger().log("Connected Successfully!\n"); } ResultSet resultSet = null; try { //executing query Statement stmt = connection.createStatement(); resultSet = stmt.executeQuery(query); ResultSetMetaData metaData = resultSet.getMetaData(); int numCols = metaData.getColumnCount(); //printing the results while(resultSet.next()) { for(int i = 1; i <= numCols; i++) { System.out.printf("%-25s", (resultSet.getObject(i) != null) ? resultSet.getObject(i).toString().replaceAll("\n", "") : null ); } System.out.print("\n"); } } catch (SQLException ex) { System.out.println("SQL Exception: " + ex.getMessage()); } catch (Exception ex) { System.out.println("General exception: " + ex.getMessage()); } String output = "query: " + query + " complete"; return output;

Deploy and Run the Lambda Function

Once you build the function in Eclipse, you are ready to upload and run the function. In this article, the output is written to the AWS logs, but you can use this is a template to implement you own custom business logic to work with Okta data in AWS Lambda functions.

1. Right-click the Package and select Amazon Web Services -> Upload function to AWS Lamba.
2. Name the function, select an IAM role, and set the timeout value to a high enough value to ensure the function completes (depending on the result size of your query).
3. Right-click the Package and select Amazon Web Services -> Run function on AWS Lambda and set the input to the name of the Okta object you wish to query (i.e. "Users").
4. After the job runs, you can view the output in the CloudWatch logs.

Free Trial & More Information

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData JDBC Driver for Okta and start working with your live Okta data in AWS Lambda. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.