Microsoft Azure Table Storage Connection Details¶

Introduction¶

Connector Version

This documentation is based on version 21.0.8662 of the connector.

Get Started¶

Azure Table Storage Version Support

Establish a Connection¶

Connect to Azure Table Storage APIs¶

The driver will connect to the Azure Table Storage account specified by Account. By default, connections to the Azure Table Storage are secured via SSL, though this can be controlled through UseSSL. The authentication method to the Azure Table Storage is determined by the AuthScheme property.

Authenticate to Azure Table Storage¶

The following mechanisms may be used to authenticate.

Authentication with Access Key¶

Set Account to the storage account name and set the AccessKey of the storage account to connect. Follow the steps below to obtain these values:

If using Storage as the Backend (default):

1. Log into the Azure portal and select Storage Accounts in the services menu on the left.
2. If you currently do not have any storage accounts, create one by clicking the Add button.
3. Click the link for the storage account you want to use and select Access Keys under Settings. The Access Keys window contains the storage account name and key (you can use either key1 or key2 to connect) that you will need to use in the connector. These properties map to the Account and AccessKey connector connection properties respectively.

If using CosmosDB as the Backend:

1. Log into the Azure portal and select Cosmos DB in the services menu on the left.
2. Click the link for the Cosmos DB account you want to use and select Connection String under Settings. The Connection String window contains the Cosmos DB account name and primary key that you will need to use in the connector. These properties map to the Account and AccessKey connector connection properties respectively.

Authenticate with Shared Access Signature¶

Set Account to the storage account name and set the SharedAccessSignature to a valid signature of a resource to connect to. The SharedAccessSignature may be generated with a tool such as Azure Storage Explorer.

Typically when SharedAccessSignature is used, the specific table to work with must also be specified via the Tables connection property. If no table is specified, a table listing will be attemped, but may fail due to a lack of permissions.

Important Notes¶

Configuration Files and Their Paths¶

• All references to adding configuration files and their paths refer to files and locations on the Harmony 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 Azure Table Storage 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.

User Defined Views¶

The Jitterbit Connector for Azure Table Storage 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 NorthwindProducts 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"

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¶

The connector allows you to access data in Azure Table storage through a standard database-like interface. Azure tables are highly scalable NoSQL cloud databases that are very different from a regular database. In this section we describe how we model schemaless Azure tables as regular tables. See Tables, Table Columns, and Stored Procedures.

Tables¶

The list of tables is dynamically retrieved from your Azure account, so that any additions or deletions are immediately reflected when you connect with the connector. You can use the CreateTable stored procedure to create a new table.

Azure tables require both a Partition Key and a Row Key. Both will need to be set for all queries besides SELECT queries.

Table Columns¶

Since Azure Table Storage tables are schemaless, the connector offers the following two mechanisms to uncover the schema.

Dynamic Schemas¶

The columns of a table are dynamically determined by scanning data in the first few rows. You can adjust the number of rows that are used by modifying the RowScanDepth property. When TypeDetectionScheme is set to "RowScan", the row scan also determines the data type. The following table shows how the different data types supported by Azure Table Storage are modeled in the connector.

Static Schemas¶

Instead of using dynamically discovered schemas, you can define your own schemas. This will give you more control over the projected columns and also enable you to manually define data types. Refer to the sample schema included with the connector to define your own schema. You can simply change the name of the sample schema file, which must match with the name of the Azure Table Storage table, and edit the column listing to use it for your own table.

Schemaless Operations¶

The schema of the table is necessary to retrieve data, whether you define it manually or obtain it dynamically. However, data may be inserted, updated, or deleted from columns that do not exist in the schema. Columns that do not already exist in the table schema will have their data types set to String.

Stored Procedures¶

Stored procedures are available to complement the data available from the Data Model. It may be necessary to update data available from a view using a stored procedure because the data does not provide for direct, table-like, two-way updates. In these situations, the retrieval of the data is done using the appropriate view or table, while the update is done by calling a stored procedure. Stored procedures take a list of parameters and return back a dataset that contains the collection of tuples that constitute the response.

Jitterbit Connector for Azure Table Storage Stored Procedures¶

CreateEntityWithTypes¶

Creates a new record with the given data types. If a column is not found on an existing entity, you will need to use this procedure to set the type of the property to something other than string.

Indexed parameters facilitate providing multiple instances a single parameter as inputs for the procedure.

Suppose there is an input parameter named Param#. Input multiple instances of an indexed parameter like this:

EXEC ProcedureName Param#1 = "value1", Param#2 = "value2", Param#3 = "value3"

Input¶

Result Set Columns¶

CreateSchema¶

Creates a schema file for the specified table or view.

Input¶

Result Set Columns¶

CreateTable¶

Creates a new table in the Azure system.

Input¶

Result Set Columns¶

DropTable¶

Drops an existing table in the Azure system.

Input¶

Result Set Columns¶

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 Azure Table Storage:

• sys_catalogs: Lists the available databases.
• sys_schemas: Lists the available schemas.
• sys_tables: Lists the available tables and views.
• sys_tablecolumns: Describes the columns of the available tables and views.
• sys_procedures: Describes the available stored procedures.
• sys_procedureparameters: Describes stored procedure parameters.
• sys_keycolumns: Describes the primary and foreign keys.
• sys_indexes: Describes the available indexes.

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¶

sys_schemas¶

Lists the available schemas.

The following query retrieves all available schemas:

SELECT * FROM sys_schemas

Columns¶

sys_tables¶

Lists the available tables.

The following query retrieves the available tables and views:

SELECT * FROM sys_tables

Columns¶

sys_tablecolumns¶

Describes the columns of the available tables and views.

The following query returns the columns and data types for the NorthwindProducts table:

SELECT ColumnName, DataTypeName FROM sys_tablecolumns WHERE TableName='NorthwindProducts'

Columns¶

sys_procedures¶

Lists the available stored procedures.

The following query retrieves the available stored procedures:

SELECT * FROM sys_procedures

Columns¶

sys_procedureparameters¶

Describes stored procedure parameters.

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

SELECT * FROM sys_procedureparameters WHERE ProcedureName='CreateTable' AND Direction=1 OR Direction=2

Columns¶

sys_keycolumns¶

Describes the primary and foreign keys.

The following query retrieves the primary key for the NorthwindProducts table:

SELECT * FROM sys_keycolumns WHERE IsKey='True' AND TableName='NorthwindProducts'

Columns¶

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¶

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¶

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:azuretables: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¶

sys_sqlinfo¶

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

Collaborative Query Processing¶

When working with data sources that do not support SQL-92, you can query the sys_sqlinfo view to determine the query capabilities of the underlying APIs, expressed in SQL syntax. The connector offloads as much of the SELECT statement processing as possible to the server and then processes the rest of the query in memory.

Discovering the Data Source's SELECT Capabilities¶

Below is an example data set of SQL capabilities. The following result set indicates the SELECT functionality that the connector can offload to the data source or process client side. Your data source may support additional SQL syntax. Some aspects of SELECT functionality are returned in a comma-separated list if supported; otherwise, the column contains NO.

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¶

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¶

Data Type Mapping¶

Data Type Mappings¶

The connector maps types from the data source to the corresponding data type available in the schema. The table below documents these mappings.

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

SSL

Schema

Miscellaneous

Authentication¶

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

Account¶

The Windows Azure Storage account name.

Data Type¶

string

Default Value¶

""

Remarks¶

The Windows Azure storage account name. To access your Azure storage accounts or create one, log into the Azure portal Click Storage Accounts in the services menu on the left.

If Backend is set to AzureStack, set the Account as the complete host for your data. For example: <account>.nm.azs.sandia.gov.

If Backend is set to Emulator, set the Account as the complete host. For example: http://127.0.0.1:10002/devstoreaccount1.

UseSSL¶

This field sets whether SSL is enabled. The default is true.

Data Type¶

bool

Default Value¶

true

Remarks¶

This field sets whether SSL is enabled. The default is true.

AccessKey¶

The key for the storage account.

Data Type¶

string

Default Value¶

""

Remarks¶

To obtain the Access Key, log into the Azure portal and click Storage Accounts in the services menu on the left to list the storage accounts. Select a storage account and click Access Keys in the Settings section. Either key1 or key2 can be used.

If using CosmosDB as the Backend, instead navigate to Cosmos DB service and select your Azure Cosmos DB Account. From the resource menu, go to the Connection String page. Find the PRIMARY KEY value and set AccessKey to this value.

AuthScheme¶

The scheme used for authentication. Accepted entries are AccessToken and SharedAccessSignature.

Possible Values¶

AccessToken, SharedAccessSignature

Data Type¶

string

Default Value¶

SharedAccessSignature

Remarks¶

Together with Account, this field is used to authenticate against the service. The default is AccessToken:

• AccessToken: Indicates authentication will be done via AccessKey and Account.
• SharedAccessSignature: Indicates authentication will be done via SharedAccessSignature and Account. Generally Tables must also be set.

Backend¶

The backend where data is stored.

Possible Values¶

AzureStack, CosmosDB, Storage, Emulator

Data Type¶

string

Default Value¶

Storage

Remarks¶

Data may retrieved from either the classic Azure Table Storage repository, Azure Storage Emulator, or it may be retrieved from CosmosDB. Alternatively, you may specify AzureStack if you are using Azure Stack Hub. If you choose to do so, specify the Account as the complete host for your data. For example: <account>.nm.azs.sandia.gov.

If you choose Emulator, specify the Account and SharedAccessSignature connection property.

SharedAccessSignature¶

A shared access key signature that may be used for authentication.

Data Type¶

string

Default Value¶

""

Remarks¶

A shared access signature. May be used instead of a AccessKey to access resources.

SSL¶

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

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:

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.

Location¶

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

Data Type¶

string

Default Value¶

%APPDATA%\AzureTables 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%\AzureTables Data Provider\Schema" with %APPDATA% being set to the user's configuration directory:

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.

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.

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¶

When using SharedAccessSignature, in general the Tables should be set to specify which resource the signature is for.

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`.

Miscellaneous¶

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

GenerateSchemaFiles¶

Indicates the user preference as to when schemas should be generated and saved.

Possible Values¶

Never, OnUse, OnStart, OnCreate

Data Type¶

string

Default Value¶

Never

Remarks¶

This property outputs schemas to .rsd files in the path specified by Location.

Available settings are the following:

• Never: A schema file will never be generated.
• OnUse: A schema file will be generated the first time a table is referenced, provided the schema file for the table does not already exist.
• OnStart: A schema file will be generated at connection time for any tables that do not currently have a schema file.
• OnCreate: A schema file will be generated by when running a CREATE TABLE SQL query.

Note that if you want to regenerate a file, you will first need to delete it.

Generate Schemas with SQL¶

When you set GenerateSchemaFiles to OnUse, the connector generates schemas as you execute SELECT queries. Schemas are generated for each table referenced in the query.

When you set GenerateSchemaFiles to OnCreate, schemas are only generated when a CREATE TABLE query is executed.

Generate Schemas on Connection¶

Another way to use this property is to obtain schemas for every table in your database when you connect. To do so, set GenerateSchemaFiles to OnStart and connect.

MaxRows¶

Limits the number of rows returned rows when no aggregation or group by is used in the query. This helps avoid performance issues at design time.

Data Type¶

int

Default Value¶

-1

Remarks¶

Limits the number of rows returned rows when no aggregation or group by is used in the query. This helps avoid performance issues at design time.

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¶

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, "*=*".

RowScanDepth¶

The maximum number of rows to scan to look for the columns available in a table.

Data Type¶

int

Default Value¶

50

Remarks¶

The columns in a table must be determined by scanning table rows. This value determines the maximum number of rows that will be scanned.

Setting a high value may decrease performance. Setting a low value may prevent the data type from being determined properly, especially when there is null data.

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.

TypeDetectionScheme¶

Determines how to determine the data type of columns.

Possible Values¶

None, RowScan

Data Type¶

string

Default Value¶

RowScan

Remarks¶