Stream Sugar CRM Data into Apache Kafka Topics

Apache Kafka is an open-source stream processing platform that is primarily used for building real-time data pipelines and event-driven applications. When paired with the CData JDBC Driver for Sugar, Kafka can work with live Sugar CRM data. This article describes how to connect, access and stream Sugar CRM data into Apache Kafka Topics and to start Confluent Control Center to help users secure, manage, and monitor the Sugar CRM data received using Kafka infrastructure in the Confluent Platform.

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

Prerequisites

Before connecting the CData JDBC Driver for streaming Sugar CRM data in Apache Kafka Topics, install and configure the following in the client Linux-based system.

1. Confluent Platform for Apache Kafka
2. Confluent Hub CLI Installation
3. Self-Managed Kafka JDBC Source Connector for Confluent Platform

Define a New JDBC Connection to Sugar CRM data

1. Download CData JDBC Driver for Sugar on a Linux-based system
2. Follow the given instructions to create a new directory extract all the driver contents into it:
   1. Create a new directory named Sugar CRM mkdir SugarCRM
   2. Move the downloaded driver file (.zip) into this new directory mv SugarCRMJDBCDriver.zip SugarCRM/
   3. Unzip the CData SugarCRMJDBCDriver contents into this new directory unzip SugarCRMJDBCDriver.zip
3. Open the Sugar CRM directory and navigate to the lib folder ls cd lib/
4. Copy the contents of the lib folder of Sugar CRM into the lib folder of Kafka Connect JDBC. Check the Kafka Connect JDBC folder contents to confirm that the cdata.jdbc.sugarcrm.jar file is successfully copied into the lib folder cp * ../../confluent-7.5.0/share/confluent-hub-components/confluentinc-kafka-connect-jdbc/lib/ cd ../../confluent-7.5.0/share/confluent-hub-components/confluentinc-kafka-connect-jdbc/lib/
5. Install the CData Sugar CRM JDBC driver license using the given command, followed by your Name and Email ID java -jar cdata.jdbc.sugarcrm.jar -l
6. Enter the product key or "TRIAL" (In the scenarios of license expiry, please contact our CData Support team)
7. Start the Confluent local services using the command: confluent local services start

   This starts all the Confluent Services like Zookeeper, Kafka, Schema Registry, Kafka REST, Kafka CONNECT, ksqlDB and Control Center. You are now ready to use the CData JDBC driver for Sugar CRM to stream messages using Kafka Connect Driver into Kafka Topics on ksqlDB.

8. Create the Kafka topics manually using a POST HTTP API Request: curl --location 'server_address:8083/connectors' --header 'Content-Type: application/json' --data '{ "name": "jdbc_source_cdata_sugarcrm_01", "config": { "connector.class": "io.confluent.connect.jdbc.JdbcSourceConnector", "connection.url": "jdbc:sugarcrm:User=MyUser;Password=MyPassword;URL=MySugarCRMAccountURL;CacheMetadata=True;", "topic.prefix": "sugarcrm-01-", "mode": "bulk" } }'

   Let us understand the fields used in the HTTP POST body (shown above):

   • connector.class: Specifies the Java class of the Kafka Connect connector to be used.
   • connection.url: The JDBC connection URL to connect with Sugar CRM data.

     Built-in Connection String Designer

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

     java -jar cdata.jdbc.sugarcrm.jar

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

     The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid SugarCRM user credentials. This will use the default OAuth token created to allow client logins. OAuthClientId and OAuthClientSecret are required if you do not wish to use the default OAuth token.

     You can generate a new OAuth consumer key and consumer secret in Admin -> OAuth Keys. Set the OAuthClientId to the OAuth consumer key. Set the OAuthClientSecret to the consumer secret.

     Additionally, specify the URL to the SugarCRM account.

     Note that retrieving SugarCRM metadata can be expensive. It is advised that you store the metadata locally as described in the "Caching Metadata" chapter of the help documentation.

   • topic.prefix: A prefix that will be added to the Kafka topics created by the connector. It's set to "sugarcrm-01-".
   • mode: Specifies the mode in which the connector operates. In this case, it's set to "bulk", which suggests that the connector is configured to perform bulk data transfer.

   This request adds all the tables/contents from Sugar CRM as Kafka Topics.

   Note: The IP Address (server) to POST the request (shown above) is the Linux Network IP Address.

9. Run ksqlDB and list the topics. Use the commands: ksql list topics;
10. To view the data inside the topics, type the SQL Statement: PRINT topic FROM BEGINNING;

Connecting with the Confluent Control Center

To access the Confluent Control Center user interface, ensure to run the "confluent local services" as described in the above section and type http://<server address>:9021/clusters/ on your local browser.

Get Started Today

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData JDBC Driver for Sugar and start streaming Sugar CRM data into Apache Kafka. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.