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Copy data from and to ODBC data stores using Azure Data Factory or Synapse Analytics

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APPLIES TO: Azure Data Factory Azure Synapse Analytics

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This article outlines how to use the Copy Activity in Azure Data Factory to copy data from and to an ODBC data store. It builds on the copy activity overview article that presents a general overview of copy activity.

Supported capabilities

This ODBC connector is supported for the following capabilities:

Supported capabilities IR
Copy activity (source/sink) ②
Lookup activity ②

① Azure integration runtime ② Self-hosted integration runtime

For a list of data stores that are supported as sources/sinks, see the Supported data stores table.

Specifically, this ODBC connector supports copying data from/to any ODBC-compatible data stores using Basic or Anonymous authentication. A 64-bit ODBC driver is required. For ODBC sink, the service support ODBC version 2.0 standard.

Prerequisites

To use this ODBC connector, you need to:

  • Set up a Self-hosted Integration Runtime. See Self-hosted Integration Runtime article for details.
  • Install the 64-bit ODBC driver for the data store on the Integration Runtime machine.

Getting started

To perform the Copy activity with a pipeline, you can use one of the following tools or SDKs:

Create a linked service to an ODBC data store using UI

Use the following steps to create a linked service to an ODBC data store in the Azure portal UI.

  1. Browse to the Manage tab in your Azure Data Factory or Synapse workspace and select Linked Services, then click New:

  2. Search for ODBC and select the ODBC connector.

    Screenshot of the ODBC connector.

  3. Configure the service details, test the connection, and create the new linked service.

    Screenshot of linked service configuration for an ODBC data store.

Connector configuration details

The following sections provide details about properties that are used to define Data Factory entities specific to ODBC connector.

Linked service properties

The following properties are supported for ODBC linked service:

Property Description Required
type The type property must be set to: Odbc Yes
connectionString The connection string excluding the credential portion. You can specify the connection string with pattern like Driver={SQL Server};Server=Server.database.windows.net; Database=TestDatabase;, or use the system DSN (Data Source Name) you set up on the Integration Runtime machine with DSN=<name of the DSN on IR machine>; (you need still specify the credential portion in linked service accordingly).
You can also put a password in Azure Key Vault and pull the password configuration out of the connection string. Refer to Store credentials in Azure Key Vault with more details.		 Yes
authenticationType Type of authentication used to connect to the ODBC data store.
Allowed values are: Basic and Anonymous.		 Yes
userName Specify user name if you are using Basic authentication. No
password Specify password for the user account you specified for the userName. Mark this field as a SecureString to store it securely, or reference a secret stored in Azure Key Vault. No
credential The access credential portion of the connection string specified in driver-specific property-value format. Example: "RefreshToken=<secret refresh token>;". Mark this field as a SecureString. No
connectVia The Integration Runtime to be used to connect to the data store. A Self-hosted Integration Runtime is required as mentioned in Prerequisites. Yes

Example 1: using Basic authentication

{
    "name": "ODBCLinkedService",
    "properties": {
        "type": "Odbc",
        "typeProperties": {
            "connectionString": "<connection string>",
            "authenticationType": "Basic",
            "userName": "<username>",
            "password": {
                "type": "SecureString",
                "value": "<password>"
            }
        },
        "connectVia": {
            "referenceName": "<name of Integration Runtime>",
            "type": "IntegrationRuntimeReference"
        }
    }
}

Example 2: using Anonymous authentication

{
    "name": "ODBCLinkedService",
    "properties": {
        "type": "Odbc",
        "typeProperties": {
            "connectionString": "<connection string>",
            "authenticationType": "Anonymous",
            "credential": {
                "type": "SecureString",
                "value": "RefreshToken=<secret refresh token>;"
            }
        },
        "connectVia": {
            "referenceName": "<name of Integration Runtime>",
            "type": "IntegrationRuntimeReference"
        }
    }
}

Dataset properties

For a full list of sections and properties available for defining datasets, see the datasets article. This section provides a list of properties supported by ODBC dataset.

To copy data from/to ODBC-compatible data store, the following properties are supported:

Property Description Required
type The type property of the dataset must be set to: OdbcTable Yes
tableName Name of the table in the ODBC data store. No for source (if "query" in activity source is specified);
Yes for sink

Example

{
    "name": "ODBCDataset",
    "properties": {
        "type": "OdbcTable",
        "schema": [],
        "linkedServiceName": {
            "referenceName": "<ODBC linked service name>",
            "type": "LinkedServiceReference"
        },
        "typeProperties": {
            "tableName": "<table name>"
        }
    }
}

If you were using RelationalTable typed dataset, it is still supported as-is, while you are suggested to use the new one going forward.

Copy activity properties

For a full list of sections and properties available for defining activities, see the Pipelines article. This section provides a list of properties supported by ODBC source.

ODBC as source

To copy data from ODBC-compatible data store, the following properties are supported in the copy activity source section:

Property Description Required
type The type property of the copy activity source must be set to: OdbcSource Yes
query Use the custom SQL query to read data. For example: "SELECT * FROM MyTable". No (if "tableName" in dataset is specified)

Example:

"activities":[
    {
        "name": "CopyFromODBC",
        "type": "Copy",
        "inputs": [
            {
                "referenceName": "<ODBC input dataset name>",
                "type": "DatasetReference"
            }
        ],
        "outputs": [
            {
                "referenceName": "<output dataset name>",
                "type": "DatasetReference"
            }
        ],
        "typeProperties": {
            "source": {
                "type": "OdbcSource",
                "query": "SELECT * FROM MyTable"
            },
            "sink": {
                "type": "<sink type>"
            }
        }
    }
]

If you were using RelationalSource typed source, it is still supported as-is, while you are suggested to use the new one going forward.

ODBC as sink

To copy data to ODBC-compatible data store, set the sink type in the copy activity to OdbcSink. The following properties are supported in the copy activity sink section:

Property Description Required
type The type property of the copy activity sink must be set to: OdbcSink Yes
writeBatchTimeout Wait time for the batch insert operation to complete before it times out.
Allowed values are: timespan. Example: "00:30:00" (30 minutes).		 No
writeBatchSize Inserts data into the SQL table when the buffer size reaches writeBatchSize.
Allowed values are: integer (number of rows).		 No (default is 0 - auto detected)
preCopyScript Specify a SQL query for Copy Activity to execute before writing data into data store in each run. You can use this property to clean up the pre-loaded data. No

Note

For "writeBatchSize", if it's not set (auto-detected), copy activity first detects whether the driver supports batch operations, and set it to 10000 if it does, or set it to 1 if it doesn't. If you explicitly set the value other than 0, copy activity honors the value and fails at runtime if the driver doesn't support batch operations.

Example:

"activities":[
    {
        "name": "CopyToODBC",
        "type": "Copy",
        "inputs": [
            {
                "referenceName": "<input dataset name>",
                "type": "DatasetReference"
            }
        ],
        "outputs": [
            {
                "referenceName": "<ODBC output dataset name>",
                "type": "DatasetReference"
            }
        ],
        "typeProperties": {
            "source": {
                "type": "<source type>"
            },
            "sink": {
                "type": "OdbcSink",
                "writeBatchSize": 100000
            }
        }
    }
]

Lookup activity properties

To learn details about the properties, check Lookup activity.

Troubleshoot connectivity issues

To troubleshoot connection issues, use the Diagnostics tab of Integration Runtime Configuration Manager.

  1. Launch Integration Runtime Configuration Manager.
  2. Switch to the Diagnostics tab.
  3. Under the "Test Connection" section, select the type of data store (linked service).
  4. Specify the connection string that is used to connect to the data store, choose the authentication and enter user name, password, and/or credentials.
  5. Click Test connection to test the connection to the data store.

Related content

For a list of data stores supported as sources and sinks by the copy activity, see supported data stores.