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IBM Cloud Data Engine Connection Details

Introduction

Connector Version

This documentation is based on version 23.0.8895 of the connector.

Get Started

IBM Cloud Data Engine Version Support

The connector leverages the IBM Cloud Data Engine API to enable bidirectional access to IBM Cloud.

Establish a Connection

Authenticate to IBM Cloud Data Engine (OAuth)

OAuth authentication does not require any interaction with the browser to use the IBM Cloud Data Engine. The connector facilitates this process as described in Connecting to IBM Cloud

Connect to IBM Cloud

To connect with IBM Cloud, you will need the ApiKey. You may also optionally set the Region if all your buckets belong to the same region. After setting InitiateOAuth to GETANDREFRESH (default), you are ready to connect.

When you connect, the connector completes the OAuth process.

  1. Extracts the access token and authenticates requests.
  2. Saves OAuth values in OAuthSettingsLocation to be persisted across connections.

After you have created an account in IBM Cloud you should follow the procedure below to retrieve the connection properties:

API Key

To obtain the ApiKey, take the following steps:

  1. Log in to your IBM Cloud account.
  2. Navigate to Platform API Keys page.
  3. On the middle right corner click "Create an IBM Cloud API Key" in order to create a new API Key.
  4. In the pop-up window, specify the API Key name and click "Create". Save the ApiKey somewhere as you can never access it again from the dashboard.

Cloud Object Storage CRN and SQL Query CRN

In order to connect, an CloudObjectStorageCRN and a SqlQueryCRN are required. These values will attempt to be determined automatically. If this fails or you have multiple SQL Query services, available, it is recommended to set these connection properties. To find the appropriate values, you can:

  • Use the Services view. This will list your IBM Cloud services along with the CRN for each.
  • Locate the CRN directly in IBM Cloud. To do so, navigate to your IBM Cloud Dashboard. In the Resource List, under Services, find your SQL Query service and select it. The CRN will be displayed. Under Storage, select your Cloud Object Storage resource to get its CRN.
  • Navigate to SQL Query page, choose a name for your instance and click Create. You will be redirected to the instance of SQL Query you just created.

Register a New Instance of Cloud Object Storage

If you do not already have Cloud Object Storage in your IBM Cloud account, you can follow the procedure below to install an instance of SQL Query in your account:

  1. Log in to your IBM Cloud account.
  2. Navigate to the Cloud Object Storage page, choose a name for your instance and click Create. You will be redirected to the instance of Cloud Object Storage you just created.

Register a New Instance of SQL Query

If you do not already have SQL Query in your IBM Cloud account, you can follow the procedure below to install an instance of SQL Query in your account:

  1. Log in to your IBM Cloud account.
  2. Navigate to SQL Query page, choose a name for your instance and click Create. You will be redirected to the instance of SQL Query you just created.

Generate Schema Files

The IBM Cloud Data Engine connector enables you to persist schema definitions to configuration files. Schema files make it easy to customize and save the dynamically detected schemas, or to define your own view of the data.

You can invoke the CreateSchema stored procedure to manually generate a schema file based on the provided input parameters. This is particularly useful in situations where the name of the file in CloudStorageObject does not have (the correct) file extension.

After creating a schema, you may use the name of the generated file to query from that view.

Customize Default Behavior

Customize IBM Cloud Data Engine Behavior

Follow the steps below to configure the connector defaults for querying IBM Cloud Data Engine.

Check the Job Status

Once a job is initiated server-side, IBM Cloud Data Engine automatically checks for this job to finish processing. You can use PollingInterval to configure the wait time of the requests that the provider is doing towards the job status.

Note that some queries may be complex and it will take longer for the result to be retrieved, that is why the PollingInterval might be configured to be longer in order not to make so many unnecessary requests. A job is initiated server-side only when the SELECT query is not a simple "Select * FROM Table" query but it has at least a criteria or projection in it. The outcome of each job is considered a view as it supports only "Select" operation.

Clean Query Results

IBM Cloud Data Engine stores the results of every query you execute in CSV or JSON files in ResultLocationURI. You can use CleanQueryResults, to automatically clean these files for every query executed.

Note that this behavior will add a minor performance hit when you disconnect the last connection in a process.

Use IBM Cloud's Query Caching

You configure QueryCachingLevel to modify the usage of the query results stored in ResultLocationURI. This is especially helpful when executing a certain query multiple times. This means IBM Cloud Data Engine will not scan the same data again and simply use the results from the previous execution. These results are not used if the job was started earlier than the amount of seconds specified in QueryTolerance.

Default Bucket

A default bucket may be specified by setting the Bucket and connection property. This is optional and will be used if you do not specify a bucket when issuing a query. If no Bucket is set, then the bucket name must be used as the schema in the query in the format [Schema].[Table].

Store Results

Results may be stored in different data types. By default, the IBM Cloud Data Engine connector will use CSV. This may be altered by modifying StoreResultsAs.

Important Notes

Configuration Files and Their Paths

  • All references to adding configuration files and their paths refer to files and locations on the Jitterbit agent where the connector is installed. These paths are to be adjusted as appropriate depending on the agent and the operating system. If multiple agents are used in an agent group, identical files will be required on each agent.

Advanced Features

This section details a selection of advanced features of the IBM Cloud Data Engine connector.

User Defined Views

The connector allows you to define virtual tables, called user defined views, whose contents are decided by a pre-configured query. These views are useful when you cannot directly control queries being issued to the drivers. See User Defined Views for an overview of creating and configuring custom views.

SSL Configuration

Use SSL Configuration to adjust how connector handles TLS/SSL certificate negotiations. You can choose from various certificate formats; see the SSLServerCert property under "Connection String Options" for more information.

Proxy

To configure the connector using private agent proxy settings, select the Use Proxy Settings checkbox on the connection configuration screen.

Query Processing

The connector offloads as much of the SELECT statement processing as possible to IBM Cloud Data Engine and then processes the rest of the query in memory (client-side).

See Query Processing for more information.

User Defined Views

The IBM Cloud Data Engine connector allows you to define a virtual table whose contents are decided by a pre-configured query. These are called User Defined Views, which are useful in situations where you cannot directly control the query being issued to the driver, e.g. when using the driver from Jitterbit. The User Defined Views can be used to define predicates that are always applied. If you specify additional predicates in the query to the view, they are combined with the query already defined as part of the view.

There are two ways to create user defined views:

  • Create a JSON-formatted configuration file defining the views you want.
  • DDL statements.

Define Views Using a Configuration File

User Defined Views are defined in a JSON-formatted configuration file called UserDefinedViews.json. The connector automatically detects the views specified in this file.

You can also have multiple view definitions and control them using the UserDefinedViews connection property. When you use this property, only the specified views are seen by the connector.

This User Defined View configuration file is formatted as follows:

  • Each root element defines the name of a view.
  • Each root element contains a child element, called query, which contains the custom SQL query for the view.

For example:

{
    "MyView": {
        "query": "SELECT * FROM [CloudObjectStorage_1].[SampleBucket_1].Jobs WHERE MyColumn = 'value'"
    },
    "MyView2": {
        "query": "SELECT * FROM MyTable WHERE Id IN (1,2,3)"
    }
}

Use the UserDefinedViews connection property to specify the location of your JSON configuration file. For example:

"UserDefinedViews", "C:\Users\yourusername\Desktop\tmp\UserDefinedViews.json"

Define Views Using DDL Statements

The connector is also capable of creating and altering the schema via DDL Statements such as CREATE LOCAL VIEW, ALTER LOCAL VIEW, and DROP LOCAL VIEW.

Create a View

To create a new view using DDL statements, provide the view name and query as follows:

CREATE LOCAL VIEW [MyViewName] AS SELECT * FROM Customers LIMIT 20;

If no JSON file exists, the above code creates one. The view is then created in the JSON configuration file and is now discoverable. The JSON file location is specified by the UserDefinedViews connection property.

Alter a View

To alter an existing view, provide the name of an existing view alongside the new query you would like to use instead:

ALTER LOCAL VIEW [MyViewName] AS SELECT * FROM Customers WHERE TimeModified > '3/1/2020';

The view is then updated in the JSON configuration file.

Drop a View

To drop an existing view, provide the name of an existing schema alongside the new query you would like to use instead.

DROP LOCAL VIEW [MyViewName]

This removes the view from the JSON configuration file. It can no longer be queried.

Schema for User Defined Views

User Defined Views are exposed in the UserViews schema by default. This is done to avoid the view's name clashing with an actual entity in the data model. You can change the name of the schema used for UserViews by setting the UserViewsSchemaName property.

Work with User Defined Views

For example, a SQL statement with a User Defined View called UserViews.RCustomers only lists customers in Raleigh:

SELECT * FROM Customers WHERE City = 'Raleigh';

An example of a query to the driver:

SELECT * FROM UserViews.RCustomers WHERE Status = 'Active';

Resulting in the effective query to the source:

SELECT * FROM Customers WHERE City = 'Raleigh' AND Status = 'Active';

That is a very simple example of a query to a User Defined View that is effectively a combination of the view query and the view definition. It is possible to compose these queries in much more complex patterns. All SQL operations are allowed in both queries and are combined when appropriate.

SSL Configuration

Customize the SSL Configuration

By default, the connector attempts to negotiate SSL/TLS by checking the server's certificate against the system's trusted certificate store.

To specify another certificate, see the SSLServerCert property for the available formats to do so.

Data Model

Discovering Schemas

The IBM Cloud Data Engine connector dynamically obtains the IBM Cloud Data Engine schemas. Reconnect to load any changes in the metadata, such as added or removed columns or changes in data type. Each SELECT statement which includes criteria is executed in the IBM Cloud SQL Query instance and retrieves a new view for the specified schema.

Views

Views are similar to tables in the way that data is represented; however, views are read-only.

Queries can be executed against a view as if it were a normal table.

IBM Cloud Data Engine Connector Views

Name Description
RecentJobs Query information regarding recent executed jobs. At most, information about the 30 latest jobs will be returned.
Services Query resource instances belonging to the current authenticated user.

RecentJobs

Query information regarding recent executed jobs. At most, information about the 30 latest jobs will be returned.

Table Specific Information
Select

The driver uses the IBM Cloud Data Engine API to process search criteria that refer to JobId columns.

  • JobId supports the = operator.

For example, the following queries are processed server side:

SELECT * FROM RecentJobs WHERE JobId = '86402b0c-4665-4936-b0ff-e5051f5f5a49'
Columns
Name Type Description
JobId String The ID of the job.
Statement String The statement sent to the API for the job.
Status String The status of the job.

Services

Query resource instances belonging to the current authenticated user.

Columns
Name Type Description
Name String The name of the service.
CRN String The CRN (Cloud resource name) of the service.

Stored Procedures

Stored procedures are function-like interfaces that extend the functionality of the connector beyond simple SELECT/INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE operations with IBM Cloud Data Engine.

Stored procedures accept a list of parameters, perform their intended function, and then return any relevant response data from IBM Cloud Data Engine, along with an indication of whether the procedure succeeded or failed.

IBM Cloud Data Engine Connector Stored Procedures

Name Description
CreateSchema Creates a schema file for the resource.
GetOAuthAccessToken Gets an authentication token from IBM Cloud. The connection property ApiKey must be specified when calling this stored procedure.
RefreshOAuthAccessToken Refreshes the OAuth access token used for authentication with IBM Cloud. The connection property ApiKey must be specified when calling this stored procedure.

CreateSchema

Creates a schema file for the resource.

CreateSchema

Creates a local schema file (.rsd) from an existing table or view in the data model.

The schema file is created in the directory set in the Location connection property when this procedure is executed. You can edit the file to include or exclude columns, rename columns, or adjust column datatypes.

The connector checks the Location to determine if the names of any .rsd files match a table or view in the data model. If there is a duplicate, the schema file will take precedence over the default instance of this table in the data model. If a schema file is present in Location that does not match an existing table or view, a new table or view entry is added to the data model of the connector.

Input
Name Type Description
TableName String The name of the file in CloudObjectStorage and also the name of the schema (.rsd) file stripped of the rest of the dots.
FileName String The file name of the generated schema file (.rsd file).
FileType String The file type of the object with the name specified in 'TableName' found in CloudObjectStorage. The allowed values are csv, json, avro, orc, parquet.
Result Set Columns
Name Type Description
FileData String If the FileName input is empty.
Result String Returns Success or Failure.

GetOAuthAccessToken

Gets an authentication token from IBM Cloud. The connection property ApiKey must be specified when calling this stored procedure.

Result Set Columns
Name Type Description
OAuthAccessToken String The access token used for communication with IBM Cloud.
OAuthRefreshToken String The OAuth refresh token. This is the same as the access token in the case of IBM Cloud.
ExpiresIn String The remaining lifetime on the access token. A -1 denotes that it will not expire.

RefreshOAuthAccessToken

Refreshes the OAuth access token used for authentication with IBM Cloud. The connection property ApiKey must be specified when calling this stored procedure.

Input
Name Type Description
OAuthRefreshToken String The refresh token returned from the original authorization code exchange.
Result Set Columns
Name Type Description
OAuthAccessToken String The authentication token returned from IBM CLoud. This can be used in subsequent calls to other operations for this particular service.
OAuthRefreshToken String A token that may be used to obtain a new access token.
ExpiresIn String The remaining lifetime on the access token.

System Tables

You can query the system tables described in this section to access schema information, information on data source functionality, and batch operation statistics.

Schema Tables

The following tables return database metadata for IBM Cloud Data Engine:

Data Source Tables

The following tables return information about how to connect to and query the data source:

  • sys_connection_props: Returns information on the available connection properties.
  • sys_sqlinfo: Describes the SELECT queries that the connector can offload to the data source.

Query Information Tables

The following table returns query statistics for data modification queries:

  • sys_identity: Returns information about batch operations or single updates.

sys_catalogs

Lists the available databases.

The following query retrieves all databases determined by the connection string:

SELECT * FROM sys_catalogs
Columns
Name Type Description
CatalogName String The database name.

sys_schemas

Lists the available schemas.

The following query retrieves all available schemas:

SELECT * FROM sys_schemas
Columns
Name Type Description
CatalogName String The database name.
SchemaName String The schema name.

sys_tables

Lists the available tables.

The following query retrieves the available tables and views:

SELECT * FROM sys_tables
Columns
Name Type Description
CatalogName String The database containing the table or view.
SchemaName String The schema containing the table or view.
TableName String The name of the table or view.
TableType String The table type (table or view).
Description String A description of the table or view.
IsUpdateable Boolean Whether the table can be updated.

sys_tablecolumns

Describes the columns of the available tables and views.

The following query returns the columns and data types for the [CloudObjectStorage_1].[SampleBucket_1].Jobs table:

SELECT ColumnName, DataTypeName FROM sys_tablecolumns WHERE TableName='Jobs' AND CatalogName='CloudObjectStorage_1' AND SchemaName='SampleBucket_1'
Columns
Name Type Description
CatalogName String The name of the database containing the table or view.
SchemaName String The schema containing the table or view.
TableName String The name of the table or view containing the column.
ColumnName String The column name.
DataTypeName String The data type name.
DataType Int32 An integer indicating the data type. This value is determined at run time based on the environment.
Length Int32 The storage size of the column.
DisplaySize Int32 The designated column's normal maximum width in characters.
NumericPrecision Int32 The maximum number of digits in numeric data. The column length in characters for character and date-time data.
NumericScale Int32 The column scale or number of digits to the right of the decimal point.
IsNullable Boolean Whether the column can contain null.
Description String A brief description of the column.
Ordinal Int32 The sequence number of the column.
IsAutoIncrement String Whether the column value is assigned in fixed increments.
IsGeneratedColumn String Whether the column is generated.
IsHidden Boolean Whether the column is hidden.
IsArray Boolean Whether the column is an array.
IsReadOnly Boolean Whether the column is read-only.
IsKey Boolean Indicates whether a field returned from sys_tablecolumns is the primary key of the table.

sys_procedures

Lists the available stored procedures.

The following query retrieves the available stored procedures:

SELECT * FROM sys_procedures
Columns
Name Type Description
CatalogName String The database containing the stored procedure.
SchemaName String The schema containing the stored procedure.
ProcedureName String The name of the stored procedure.
Description String A description of the stored procedure.
ProcedureType String The type of the procedure, such as PROCEDURE or FUNCTION.

sys_procedureparameters

Describes stored procedure parameters.

The following query returns information about all of the input parameters for the SelectEntries stored procedure:

SELECT * FROM sys_procedureparameters WHERE ProcedureName='SelectEntries' AND Direction=1 OR Direction=2
Columns
Name Type Description
CatalogName String The name of the database containing the stored procedure.
SchemaName String The name of the schema containing the stored procedure.
ProcedureName String The name of the stored procedure containing the parameter.
ColumnName String The name of the stored procedure parameter.
Direction Int32 An integer corresponding to the type of the parameter: input (1), input/output (2), or output(4). input/output type parameters can be both input and output parameters.
DataTypeName String The name of the data type.
DataType Int32 An integer indicating the data type. This value is determined at run time based on the environment.
Length Int32 The number of characters allowed for character data. The number of digits allowed for numeric data.
NumericPrecision Int32 The maximum precision for numeric data. The column length in characters for character and date-time data.
NumericScale Int32 The number of digits to the right of the decimal point in numeric data.
IsNullable Boolean Whether the parameter can contain null.
IsRequired Boolean Whether the parameter is required for execution of the procedure.
IsArray Boolean Whether the parameter is an array.
Description String The description of the parameter.
Ordinal Int32 The index of the parameter.

sys_keycolumns

Describes the primary and foreign keys.

The following query retrieves the primary key for the [CloudObjectStorage_1].[SampleBucket_1].Jobs table:

SELECT * FROM sys_keycolumns WHERE IsKey='True' AND TableName='Jobs' AND CatalogName='CloudObjectStorage_1' AND SchemaName='SampleBucket_1'
Columns
Name Type Description
CatalogName String The name of the database containing the key.
SchemaName String The name of the schema containing the key.
TableName String The name of the table containing the key.
ColumnName String The name of the key column.
IsKey Boolean Whether the column is a primary key in the table referenced in the TableName field.
IsForeignKey Boolean Whether the column is a foreign key referenced in the TableName field.
PrimaryKeyName String The name of the primary key.
ForeignKeyName String The name of the foreign key.
ReferencedCatalogName String The database containing the primary key.
ReferencedSchemaName String The schema containing the primary key.
ReferencedTableName String The table containing the primary key.
ReferencedColumnName String The column name of the primary key.

sys_foreignkeys

Describes the foreign keys.

The following query retrieves all foreign keys which refer to other tables:

SELECT * FROM sys_foreignkeys WHERE ForeignKeyType = 'FOREIGNKEY_TYPE_IMPORT'
Columns
Name Type Description
CatalogName String The name of the database containing the key.
SchemaName String The name of the schema containing the key.
TableName String The name of the table containing the key.
ColumnName String The name of the key column.
PrimaryKeyName String The name of the primary key.
ForeignKeyName String The name of the foreign key.
ReferencedCatalogName String The database containing the primary key.
ReferencedSchemaName String The schema containing the primary key.
ReferencedTableName String The table containing the primary key.
ReferencedColumnName String The column name of the primary key.
ForeignKeyType String Designates whether the foreign key is an import (points to other tables) or export (referenced from other tables) key.

sys_primarykeys

Describes the primary keys.

The following query retrieves the primary keys from all tables and views:

SELECT * FROM sys_primarykeys
Columns
Name Type Description
CatalogName String The name of the database containing the key.
SchemaName String The name of the schema containing the key.
TableName String The name of the table containing the key.
ColumnName String The name of the key column.
KeySeq String The sequence number of the primary key.
KeyName String The name of the primary key.

sys_indexes

Describes the available indexes. By filtering on indexes, you can write more selective queries with faster query response times.

The following query retrieves all indexes that are not primary keys:

SELECT * FROM sys_indexes WHERE IsPrimary='false'
Columns
Name Type Description
CatalogName String The name of the database containing the index.
SchemaName String The name of the schema containing the index.
TableName String The name of the table containing the index.
IndexName String The index name.
ColumnName String The name of the column associated with the index.
IsUnique Boolean True if the index is unique. False otherwise.
IsPrimary Boolean True if the index is a primary key. False otherwise.
Type Int16 An integer value corresponding to the index type: statistic (0), clustered (1), hashed (2), or other (3).
SortOrder String The sort order: A for ascending or D for descending.
OrdinalPosition Int16 The sequence number of the column in the index.

sys_connection_props

Returns information on the available connection properties and those set in the connection string.

When querying this table, the config connection string should be used:

jdbc:cdata:ibmcloudsqlquery:config:

This connection string enables you to query this table without a valid connection.

The following query retrieves all connection properties that have been set in the connection string or set through a default value:

SELECT * FROM sys_connection_props WHERE Value <> ''
Columns
Name Type Description
Name String The name of the connection property.
ShortDescription String A brief description.
Type String The data type of the connection property.
Default String The default value if one is not explicitly set.
Values String A comma-separated list of possible values. A validation error is thrown if another value is specified.
Value String The value you set or a preconfigured default.
Required Boolean Whether the property is required to connect.
Category String The category of the connection property.
IsSessionProperty String Whether the property is a session property, used to save information about the current connection.
Sensitivity String The sensitivity level of the property. This informs whether the property is obfuscated in logging and authentication forms.
PropertyName String A camel-cased truncated form of the connection property name.
Ordinal Int32 The index of the parameter.
CatOrdinal Int32 The index of the parameter category.
Hierarchy String Shows dependent properties associated that need to be set alongside this one.
Visible Boolean Informs whether the property is visible in the connection UI.
ETC String Various miscellaneous information about the property.

sys_sqlinfo

Describes the SELECT query processing that the connector can offload to the data source.

Discovering the Data Source's SELECT Capabilities

Below is an example data set of SQL capabilities. Some aspects of SELECT functionality are returned in a comma-separated list if supported; otherwise, the column contains NO.

Name Description Possible Values
AGGREGATE_FUNCTIONS Supported aggregation functions. AVG, COUNT, MAX, MIN, SUM, DISTINCT
COUNT Whether COUNT function is supported. YES, NO
IDENTIFIER_QUOTE_OPEN_CHAR The opening character used to escape an identifier. [
IDENTIFIER_QUOTE_CLOSE_CHAR The closing character used to escape an identifier. ]
SUPPORTED_OPERATORS A list of supported SQL operators. =, >, <, >=, <=, <>, !=, LIKE, NOT LIKE, IN, NOT IN, IS NULL, IS NOT NULL, AND, OR
GROUP_BY Whether GROUP BY is supported, and, if so, the degree of support. NO, NO_RELATION, EQUALS_SELECT, SQL_GB_COLLATE
STRING_FUNCTIONS Supported string functions. LENGTH, CHAR, LOCATE, REPLACE, SUBSTRING, RTRIM, LTRIM, RIGHT, LEFT, UCASE, SPACE, SOUNDEX, LCASE, CONCAT, ASCII, REPEAT, OCTET, BIT, POSITION, INSERT, TRIM, UPPER, REGEXP, LOWER, DIFFERENCE, CHARACTER, SUBSTR, STR, REVERSE, PLAN, UUIDTOSTR, TRANSLATE, TRAILING, TO, STUFF, STRTOUUID, STRING, SPLIT, SORTKEY, SIMILAR, REPLICATE, PATINDEX, LPAD, LEN, LEADING, KEY, INSTR, INSERTSTR, HTML, GRAPHICAL, CONVERT, COLLATION, CHARINDEX, BYTE
NUMERIC_FUNCTIONS Supported numeric functions. ABS, ACOS, ASIN, ATAN, ATAN2, CEILING, COS, COT, EXP, FLOOR, LOG, MOD, SIGN, SIN, SQRT, TAN, PI, RAND, DEGREES, LOG10, POWER, RADIANS, ROUND, TRUNCATE
TIMEDATE_FUNCTIONS Supported date/time functions. NOW, CURDATE, DAYOFMONTH, DAYOFWEEK, DAYOFYEAR, MONTH, QUARTER, WEEK, YEAR, CURTIME, HOUR, MINUTE, SECOND, TIMESTAMPADD, TIMESTAMPDIFF, DAYNAME, MONTHNAME, CURRENT_DATE, CURRENT_TIME, CURRENT_TIMESTAMP, EXTRACT
REPLICATION_SKIP_TABLES Indicates tables skipped during replication.
REPLICATION_TIMECHECK_COLUMNS A string array containing a list of columns which will be used to check for (in the given order) to use as a modified column during replication.
IDENTIFIER_PATTERN String value indicating what string is valid for an identifier.
SUPPORT_TRANSACTION Indicates if the provider supports transactions such as commit and rollback. YES, NO
DIALECT Indicates the SQL dialect to use.
KEY_PROPERTIES Indicates the properties which identify the uniform database.
SUPPORTS_MULTIPLE_SCHEMAS Indicates if multiple schemas may exist for the provider. YES, NO
SUPPORTS_MULTIPLE_CATALOGS Indicates if multiple catalogs may exist for the provider. YES, NO
DATASYNCVERSION The Data Sync version needed to access this driver. Standard, Starter, Professional, Enterprise
DATASYNCCATEGORY The Data Sync category of this driver. Source, Destination, Cloud Destination
SUPPORTSENHANCEDSQL Whether enhanced SQL functionality beyond what is offered by the API is supported. TRUE, FALSE
SUPPORTS_BATCH_OPERATIONS Whether batch operations are supported. YES, NO
SQL_CAP All supported SQL capabilities for this driver. SELECT, INSERT, DELETE, UPDATE, TRANSACTIONS, ORDERBY, OAUTH, ASSIGNEDID, LIMIT, LIKE, BULKINSERT, COUNT, BULKDELETE, BULKUPDATE, GROUPBY, HAVING, AGGS, OFFSET, REPLICATE, COUNTDISTINCT, JOINS, DROP, CREATE, DISTINCT, INNERJOINS, SUBQUERIES, ALTER, MULTIPLESCHEMAS, GROUPBYNORELATION, OUTERJOINS, UNIONALL, UNION, UPSERT, GETDELETED, CROSSJOINS, GROUPBYCOLLATE, MULTIPLECATS, FULLOUTERJOIN, MERGE, JSONEXTRACT, BULKUPSERT, SUM, SUBQUERIESFULL, MIN, MAX, JOINSFULL, XMLEXTRACT, AVG, MULTISTATEMENTS, FOREIGNKEYS, CASE, LEFTJOINS, COMMAJOINS, WITH, LITERALS, RENAME, NESTEDTABLES, EXECUTE, BATCH, BASIC, INDEX
PREFERRED_CACHE_OPTIONS A string value specifies the preferred cacheOptions.
ENABLE_EF_ADVANCED_QUERY Indicates if the driver directly supports advanced queries coming from Entity Framework. If not, queries will be handled client side. YES, NO
PSEUDO_COLUMNS A string array indicating the available pseudo columns.
MERGE_ALWAYS If the value is true, The Merge Mode is forcibly executed in Data Sync. TRUE, FALSE
REPLICATION_MIN_DATE_QUERY A select query to return the replicate start datetime.
REPLICATION_MIN_FUNCTION Allows a provider to specify the formula name to use for executing a server side min.
REPLICATION_START_DATE Allows a provider to specify a replicate startdate.
REPLICATION_MAX_DATE_QUERY A select query to return the replicate end datetime.
REPLICATION_MAX_FUNCTION Allows a provider to specify the formula name to use for executing a server side max.
IGNORE_INTERVALS_ON_INITIAL_REPLICATE A list of tables which will skip dividing the replicate into chunks on the initial replicate.
CHECKCACHE_USE_PARENTID Indicates whether the CheckCache statement should be done against the parent key column. TRUE, FALSE
CREATE_SCHEMA_PROCEDURES Indicates stored procedures that can be used for generating schema files.

The following query retrieves the operators that can be used in the WHERE clause:

SELECT * FROM sys_sqlinfo WHERE Name = 'SUPPORTED_OPERATORS'

Note that individual tables may have different limitations or requirements on the WHERE clause; refer to the Data Model section for more information.

Columns
Name Type Description
NAME String A component of SQL syntax, or a capability that can be processed on the server.
VALUE String Detail on the supported SQL or SQL syntax.

sys_identity

Returns information about attempted modifications.

The following query retrieves the Ids of the modified rows in a batch operation:

SELECT * FROM sys_identity
Columns
Name Type Description
Id String The database-generated ID returned from a data modification operation.
Batch String An identifier for the batch. 1 for a single operation.
Operation String The result of the operation in the batch: INSERTED, UPDATED, or DELETED.
Message String SUCCESS or an error message if the update in the batch failed.

sys_information

Describes the available system information.

The following query retrieves all columns:

SELECT * FROM sys_information
Columns
Name Type Description
Product String The name of the product.
Version String The version number of the product.
Datasource String The name of the datasource the product connects to.
NodeId String The unique identifier of the machine where the product is installed.
HelpURL String The URL to the product's help documentation.
License String The license information for the product. (If this information is not available, the field may be left blank or marked as 'N/A'.)
Location String The file path location where the product's library is stored.
Environment String The version of the environment or rumtine the product is currently running under.
DataSyncVersion String The tier of Sync required to use this connector.
DataSyncCategory String The category of Sync functionality (e.g., Source, Destination).

Advanced Configurations Properties

The advanced configurations properties are the various options that can be used to establish a connection. This section provides a complete list of the options you can configure. Click the links for further details.

Authentication

Property Description
ApiKey The API Key used to identify the user to IBM Cloud.
CloudObjectStorageCRN The CRN which uniquely identifies your Cloud Object Storage instance in IBM Cloud.
SqlQueryCRN The CRN which uniquely identifies your SQL Query instance in IBM Cloud.

Connection

Property Description
Bucket The name of the bucket in IBM Cloud that you will be connecting to.
ResultLocationURI A COSURI (e.g. cos://region/bucket) where job files will be stored.
Region The geographic location of the bucket you're connecting to.

OAuth

Property Description
InitiateOAuth Set this property to initiate the process to obtain or refresh the OAuth access token when you connect.
OAuthAccessToken The access token for connecting using OAuth.
OAuthSettingsLocation The location of the settings file where OAuth values are saved when InitiateOAuth is set to GETANDREFRESH or REFRESH . Alternatively, you can hold this location in memory by specifying a value starting with 'memory://'.
OAuthRefreshToken The OAuth refresh token for the corresponding OAuth access token.

SSL

Property Description
SSLServerCert The certificate to be accepted from the server when connecting using TLS/SSL.

Schema

Property Description
Location A path to the directory that contains the schema files defining tables, views, and stored procedures.
BrowsableSchemas This property restricts the schemas reported to a subset of the available schemas. For example, BrowsableSchemas=SchemaA, SchemaB, SchemaC.
Tables This property restricts the tables reported to a subset of the available tables. For example, Tables=TableA, TableB, TableC.
Views Restricts the views reported to a subset of the available tables. For example, Views=ViewA, ViewB, ViewC.

Miscellaneous

Property Description
CleanQueryResults CleanQueryResults specifies whether query cache files should be deleted once the connection is closed.
MaxRows Limits the number of rows returned when no aggregation or GROUP BY is used in the query. This takes precedence over LIMIT clauses.
Other These hidden properties are used only in specific use cases.
PollingInterval Specifies the amount of time in seconds that the provider should wait between the job status requests.
PseudoColumns This property indicates whether or not to include pseudo columns as columns to the table.
QueryCachingLevel Sets the level of caching for executed queries.
QueryTolerance Specifies the amount of time in seconds queries cache for if QueryCachingLevel is set to local or cloud.
StoreResultsAs Specifies the data type of the generated results file after a job has been completed.
Timeout The value in seconds until the timeout error is thrown, canceling the operation.
UserDefinedViews A filepath pointing to the JSON configuration file containing your custom views.

Authentication

This section provides a complete list of authentication properties you can configure.

Property Description
ApiKey The API Key used to identify the user to IBM Cloud.
CloudObjectStorageCRN The CRN which uniquely identifies your Cloud Object Storage instance in IBM Cloud.
SqlQueryCRN The CRN which uniquely identifies your SQL Query instance in IBM Cloud.

ApiKey

The API Key used to identify the user to IBM Cloud.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

Access to resources in the IBM Cloud Data Engine REST API is governed by an API key in order to retrieve token. An API Key is created by navigating to Manage --> Access (IAM) --> Users and clicking 'Create'.

CloudObjectStorageCRN

The CRN which uniquely identifies your Cloud Object Storage instance in IBM Cloud.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

Access to resources, such as data, in the IBM Cloud Data Engine REST API is governed by an Instance Cloud Resource Name. To retrieve your CloudObjectStorage CRN, select your Cloud Object Storage instance from the Dashboard, then click the 'Service credentials' tab on the right hand side and create or select one of the existing credentials by clicking on view credentials. Among the information displayed, you will find the CloudObjectStorageCRN (resource_instance_id). Use that value for this property. If not specified, the IBM Cloud Data Engine will automatically retrieve the CloudObjectStorageCRN. If more than one CloudObjectStorage service is available, then the first one in the list will be picked.

SqlQueryCRN

The CRN which uniquely identifies your SQL Query instance in IBM Cloud.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

Access to resources, such as jobs, in the IBM Cloud Data Engine REST API is governed by an Instance Cloud Resource Name. To retrieve your SqlQuery CRN, select your SQL Query instance from the Dashboard. On the left hand side, the manage tab should be automatically selected. On that page, you may find the SqlQuery CRN of that instance under the 'Deployment details' pane. If not specified, the IBM Cloud Data Engine will automatically retrieve the SqlQueryCRN. If more than one SqlQuery service is available, then the first one in the list will be picked.

Connection

This section provides a complete list of connection properties you can configure.

Property Description
Bucket The name of the bucket in IBM Cloud that you will be connecting to.
ResultLocationURI A COSURI (e.g. cos://region/bucket) where job files will be stored.
Region The geographic location of the bucket you're connecting to.

Bucket

The name of the bucket in IBM Cloud that you will be connecting to.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

In order to access resources in the IBM Cloud Data Engine REST API, a Bucket can be used. All bucket names are listed on the IBM Cloud Dashboard. This is value is optional and can be left blank , which will allow the IBM Cloud Data Engine connector to automatically determine the Bucket.

ResultLocationURI

A COSURI (e.g. cos://region/bucket) where job files will be stored.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

A COSURI (e.g. cos://region/bucket) where job files will be stored.

Region

The geographic location of the bucket you're connecting to.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

The geographic location of the bucket you're connecting to. If specified the connector won't attempt to resolve the location of the Bucket. Only specify this value if Bucket is also set.

OAuth

This section provides a complete list of OAuth properties you can configure.

Property Description
InitiateOAuth Set this property to initiate the process to obtain or refresh the OAuth access token when you connect.
OAuthAccessToken The access token for connecting using OAuth.
OAuthSettingsLocation The location of the settings file where OAuth values are saved when InitiateOAuth is set to GETANDREFRESH or REFRESH . Alternatively, you can hold this location in memory by specifying a value starting with 'memory://'.
OAuthRefreshToken The OAuth refresh token for the corresponding OAuth access token.

InitiateOAuth

Set this property to initiate the process to obtain or refresh the OAuth access token when you connect.

Possible Values

OFF, GETANDREFRESH, REFRESH

Data Type

string

Default Value

GETANDREFRESH

Remarks

The following options are available:

  1. OFF: Indicates that the OAuth flow will be handled entirely by the user. An OAuthAccessToken will be required to authenticate.
  2. GETANDREFRESH: Indicates that the entire OAuth Flow will be handled by the connector. If no token currently exists, it will be obtained by prompting the user via the browser. If a token exists, it will be refreshed when applicable.
  3. REFRESH: Indicates that the connector will only handle refreshing the OAuthAccessToken. The user will never be prompted by the connector to authenticate via the browser. The user must handle obtaining the OAuthAccessToken and OAuthRefreshToken initially.

OAuthAccessToken

The access token for connecting using OAuth.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

The OAuthAccessToken property is used to connect using OAuth. The OAuthAccessToken is retrieved from the OAuth server as part of the authentication process. It has a server-dependent timeout and can be reused between requests.

The access token is used in place of your user name and password. The access token protects your credentials by keeping them on the server.

OAuthSettingsLocation

The location of the settings file where OAuth values are saved when InitiateOAuth is set to GETANDREFRESH or REFRESH . Alternatively, you can hold this location in memory by specifying a value starting with 'memory://'.

Data Type

string

Default Value

%APPDATA%\IBMCloudSQLQuery Data Provider\OAuthSettings.txt

Remarks

When InitiateOAuth is set to GETANDREFRESH or REFRESH, the connector saves OAuth values to avoid requiring the user to manually enter OAuth connection properties and to allow the credentials to be shared across connections or processes.

Instead of specifying a file path, you can use memory storage. Memory locations are specified by using a value starting with 'memory://' followed by a unique identifier for that set of credentials (for example, memory://user1). The identifier can be anything you choose but should be unique to the user. Unlike file-based storage, where credentials persist across connections, memory storage loads the credentials into static memory, and the credentials are shared between connections using the same identifier for the life of the process. To persist credentials outside the current process, you must manually store the credentials prior to closing the connection. This enables you to set them in the connection when the process is started again. You can retrieve OAuth property values with a query to the sys_connection_props system table. If there are multiple connections using the same credentials, the properties are read from the previously closed connection.

The default location is "%APPDATA%\IBMCloudSQLQuery Data Provider\OAuthSettings.txt" with %APPDATA% set to the user's configuration directory. The default values are

  • Windows: "register://%DSN"
  • Unix: "%AppData%..."
  • Mac: "%AppData%..."

where DSN is the name of the current DSN used in the open connection.

The following table lists the value of %APPDATA% by OS:

Platform %APPDATA%
Windows The value of the APPDATA environment variable
Mac ~/Library/Application Support
Linux ~/.config

OAuthRefreshToken

The OAuth refresh token for the corresponding OAuth access token.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

The OAuthRefreshToken property is used to refresh the OAuthAccessToken when using OAuth authentication.

SSL

This section provides a complete list of SSL properties you can configure.

Property Description
SSLServerCert The certificate to be accepted from the server when connecting using TLS/SSL.

SSLServerCert

The certificate to be accepted from the server when connecting using TLS/SSL.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

If using a TLS/SSL connection, this property can be used to specify the TLS/SSL certificate to be accepted from the server. Any other certificate that is not trusted by the machine is rejected.

This property can take the following forms:

Description Example
A full PEM Certificate (example shortened for brevity) -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- MIIChTCCAe4CAQAwDQYJKoZIhv......Qw== -----END CERTIFICATE-----
A path to a local file containing the certificate C:\\cert.cer
The public key (example shortened for brevity) -----BEGIN RSA PUBLIC KEY----- MIGfMA0GCSq......AQAB -----END RSA PUBLIC KEY-----
The MD5 Thumbprint (hex values can also be either space or colon separated) ecadbdda5a1529c58a1e9e09828d70e4
The SHA1 Thumbprint (hex values can also be either space or colon separated) 34a929226ae0819f2ec14b4a3d904f801cbb150d

If not specified, any certificate trusted by the machine is accepted.

Certificates are validated as trusted by the machine based on the System's trust store. The trust store used is the 'javax.net.ssl.trustStore' value specified for the system. If no value is specified for this property, Java's default trust store is used (for example, JAVA_HOME\lib\security\cacerts).

Use '*' to signify to accept all certificates. Note that this is not recommended due to security concerns.

Schema

This section provides a complete list of schema properties you can configure.

Property Description
Location A path to the directory that contains the schema files defining tables, views, and stored procedures.
BrowsableSchemas This property restricts the schemas reported to a subset of the available schemas. For example, BrowsableSchemas=SchemaA, SchemaB, SchemaC.
Tables This property restricts the tables reported to a subset of the available tables. For example, Tables=TableA, TableB, TableC.
Views Restricts the views reported to a subset of the available tables. For example, Views=ViewA, ViewB, ViewC.

Location

A path to the directory that contains the schema files defining tables, views, and stored procedures.

Data Type

string

Default Value

%APPDATA%\IBMCloudSQLQuery Data Provider\Schema

Remarks

The path to a directory which contains the schema files for the connector (.rsd files for tables and views, .rsb files for stored procedures). The folder location can be a relative path from the location of the executable. The Location property is only needed if you want to customize definitions (for example, change a column name, ignore a column, and so on) or extend the data model with new tables, views, or stored procedures.

If left unspecified, the default location is "%APPDATA%\IBMCloudSQLQuery Data Provider\Schema" with %APPDATA% being set to the user's configuration directory:

Platform %APPDATA%
Windows The value of the APPDATA environment variable
Mac ~/Library/Application Support
Linux ~/.config

BrowsableSchemas

This property restricts the schemas reported to a subset of the available schemas. For example, BrowsableSchemas=SchemaA,SchemaB,SchemaC.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

Listing the schemas from databases can be expensive. Providing a list of schemas in the connection string improves the performance.

Tables

This property restricts the tables reported to a subset of the available tables. For example, Tables=TableA,TableB,TableC.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

Listing the tables from some databases can be expensive. Providing a list of tables in the connection string improves the performance of the connector.

This property can also be used as an alternative to automatically listing views if you already know which ones you want to work with and there would otherwise be too many to work with.

Specify the tables you want in a comma-separated list. Each table should be a valid SQL identifier with any special characters escaped using square brackets, double-quotes or backticks. For example, Tables=TableA,[TableB/WithSlash],WithCatalog.WithSchema.`TableC With Space`.

Note that when connecting to a data source with multiple schemas or catalogs, you will need to provide the fully qualified name of the table in this property, as in the last example here, to avoid ambiguity between tables that exist in multiple catalogs or schemas.

Views

Restricts the views reported to a subset of the available tables. For example, Views=ViewA,ViewB,ViewC.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

Listing the views from some databases can be expensive. Providing a list of views in the connection string improves the performance of the connector.

This property can also be used as an alternative to automatically listing views if you already know which ones you want to work with and there would otherwise be too many to work with.

Specify the views you want in a comma-separated list. Each view should be a valid SQL identifier with any special characters escaped using square brackets, double-quotes or backticks. For example, Views=ViewA,[ViewB/WithSlash],WithCatalog.WithSchema.`ViewC With Space`.

Note that when connecting to a data source with multiple schemas or catalogs, you will need to provide the fully qualified name of the table in this property, as in the last example here, to avoid ambiguity between tables that exist in multiple catalogs or schemas.

Miscellaneous

This section provides a complete list of miscellaneous properties you can configure.

Property Description
CleanQueryResults CleanQueryResults specifies whether query cache files should be deleted once the connection is closed.
MaxRows Limits the number of rows returned when no aggregation or GROUP BY is used in the query. This takes precedence over LIMIT clauses.
Other These hidden properties are used only in specific use cases.
PollingInterval Specifies the amount of time in seconds that the provider should wait between the job status requests.
PseudoColumns This property indicates whether or not to include pseudo columns as columns to the table.
QueryCachingLevel Sets the level of caching for executed queries.
QueryTolerance Specifies the amount of time in seconds queries cache for if QueryCachingLevel is set to local or cloud.
StoreResultsAs Specifies the data type of the generated results file after a job has been completed.
Timeout The value in seconds until the timeout error is thrown, canceling the operation.
UserDefinedViews A filepath pointing to the JSON configuration file containing your custom views.

CleanQueryResults

CleanQueryResults specifies whether query cache files should be deleted once the connection is closed.

Data Type

bool

Default Value

false

Remarks

IBM Cloud Data Engine stores the results of every query you execute as a CSV or JSON file in Bucket.

You can use CleanQueryResults, to clean these files for every query executed. Note that this behavior will add a minor performance hit when you disconnect the last connection in a process.

See Also

See Customizing Default Behavior for more information on configuring IBM Cloud's query caching.

MaxRows

Limits the number of rows returned when no aggregation or GROUP BY is used in the query. This takes precedence over LIMIT clauses.

Data Type

int

Default Value

-1

Remarks

Limits the number of rows returned when no aggregation or GROUP BY is used in the query. This takes precedence over LIMIT clauses.

Other

These hidden properties are used only in specific use cases.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

The properties listed below are available for specific use cases. Normal driver use cases and functionality should not require these properties.

Specify multiple properties in a semicolon-separated list.

Integration and Formatting
Property Description
DefaultColumnSize Sets the default length of string fields when the data source does not provide column length in the metadata. The default value is 2000.
ConvertDateTimeToGMT Determines whether to convert date-time values to GMT, instead of the local time of the machine.
RecordToFile=filename Records the underlying socket data transfer to the specified file.

PollingInterval

Specifies the amount of time in seconds that the provider should wait between the job status requests.

Data Type

int

Default Value

1

Remarks

Once a job is initiated server-side, IBM Cloud automatically checks for this job to finish processing. You can use PollingInterval to configure the wait time of the requests that the provider is doing towards the job status.

Note that some queries may be complex and it will take longer for the result to be retrieved, that is why the PollingInterval might be configured to be longer in order not to make so many unnecessary requests. A job is initiated server-side only when the Select query is not a simple "Select * From Table" query but it has at least a criteria or projection in it. The outcome of each job is considered a view as it supports only "Select" operation.

PseudoColumns

This property indicates whether or not to include pseudo columns as columns to the table.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

This setting is particularly helpful in Entity Framework, which does not allow you to set a value for a pseudo column unless it is a table column. The value of this connection setting is of the format "Table1=Column1, Table1=Column2, Table2=Column3". You can use the "*" character to include all tables and all columns; for example, "*=*".

QueryCachingLevel

Sets the level of caching for executed queries.

Possible Values

None, Local, Cloud

Data Type

string

Default Value

Local

Remarks

Sets the level of caching for executed queries.

Property Description
Local Setting QueryCachingLevel to Local will persist the query ID returned by IBM Cloud Data Engine after a query execution individually for every connection. Closing the connection will clean the cache, so that only a single connection can make use of the results.
Cloud Setting QueryCachingLevel to Cloud will attempt to retrieve the latest executed jobs by IBM Cloud Data Engine, and if the query being run matches with one of the recent finished jobs, a job will not be created and the result set will be retrieved directly. If CleanQueryResults is set to true (default false), then the result sets of these recent (cached) jobs will be removed.
None Setting QueryCachingLevel to None will disable the feature.

QueryTolerance

Specifies the amount of time in seconds queries cache for if QueryCachingLevel is set to local or cloud.

Data Type

string

Default Value

600

Remarks

Values lower than 1 are not accepted.

StoreResultsAs

Specifies the data type of the generated results file after a job has been completed.

Possible Values

CSV, JSON

Data Type

string

Default Value

CSV

Remarks
Property Description
CSV Setting StoreResultsAs to CSV will store the results in the CSV format.
JSON Setting StoreResultsAs to JSON will store the results in the JSON format.

Timeout

The value in seconds until the timeout error is thrown, canceling the operation.

Data Type

int

Default Value

60

Remarks

If Timeout = 0, operations do not time out. The operations run until they complete successfully or until they encounter an error condition.

If Timeout expires and the operation is not yet complete, the connector throws an exception.

UserDefinedViews

A filepath pointing to the JSON configuration file containing your custom views.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

User Defined Views are defined in a JSON-formatted configuration file called UserDefinedViews.json. The connector automatically detects the views specified in this file.

You can also have multiple view definitions and control them using the UserDefinedViews connection property. When you use this property, only the specified views are seen by the connector.

This User Defined View configuration file is formatted as follows:

  • Each root element defines the name of a view.
  • Each root element contains a child element, called query, which contains the custom SQL query for the view.

For example:

{
    "MyView": {
        "query": "SELECT * FROM [CloudObjectStorage_1].[SampleBucket_1].Jobs WHERE MyColumn = 'value'"
    },
    "MyView2": {
        "query": "SELECT * FROM MyTable WHERE Id IN (1,2,3)"
    }
}

Use the UserDefinedViews connection property to specify the location of your JSON configuration file. For example:

"UserDefinedViews", C:\Users\yourusername\Desktop\tmp\UserDefinedViews.json

Note that the specified path is not embedded in quotation marks.