Copy data from MariaDB using Azure Data Factory or Synapse Analytics

APPLIES TO: Azure Data Factory Azure Synapse Analytics

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This article outlines how to use the Copy Activity in an Azure Data Factory or Synapse Analytics pipeline to copy data from MariaDB. It builds on the copy activity overview article that presents a general overview of copy activity.

Important

MariaDB connector using the recommended driver version provides improved native MariaDB support. If you are using it with the legacy driver version, please upgrade your driver version before October 31, 2024. Refer to this section for details on the difference between the legacy and recommended version.

Supported capabilities

This MariaDB connector is supported for the following capabilities:

Supported capabilities IR
Copy activity (source/-) ① ②
Lookup activity ① ②

① Azure integration runtime ② Self-hosted integration runtime

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

The service provides a built-in driver to enable connectivity, therefore you don't need to manually install any driver using this connector.

This connector currently supports MariaDB of version 10.x, 11.x under the recommended new driver version v2 and 10.0 to 10.5 for the legacy driver version.

Prerequisites

If your data store is located inside an on-premises network, an Azure virtual network, or Amazon Virtual Private Cloud, you need to configure a self-hosted integration runtime to connect to it.

If your data store is a managed cloud data service, you can use the Azure Integration Runtime. If the access is restricted to IPs that are approved in the firewall rules, you can add Azure Integration Runtime IPs to the allow list.

You can also use the managed virtual network integration runtime feature in Azure Data Factory to access the on-premises network without installing and configuring a self-hosted integration runtime.

For more information about the network security mechanisms and options supported by Data Factory, see Data access strategies.

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 MariaDB using UI

Use the following steps to create a linked service to MariaDB 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 Maria and select the MariaDB connector.

    Screenshot of the MariaDB connector.

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

    Screenshot of linked service configuration for MariaDB.

Connector configuration details

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

Linked service properties

If you use the recommended driver version, the following properties are supported for MariaDB linked service:

Property Description Required
type The type property must be set to: MariaDB Yes
driverVersion The driver version when you select the recommended driver version. The value is v2. Yes
server The name of your MariaDB Server. Yes
port The port number to connect to the MariaDB server. No
database Your MariaDB database name. Yes
username Your user name. Yes
password The password for the user name. Mark this field as SecureString to store it securely. Or, you can reference a secret stored in Azure Key Vault. Yes
connectVia The Integration Runtime to be used to connect to the data store. Learn more from Prerequisites section. If not specified, it uses the default Azure Integration Runtime. No

Example:

{
    "name": "MariaDBLinkedService",
    "properties": {
        "type": "MariaDB",
        "typeProperties": {
            "server": "<server>",
            "port": "<port>",
            "database": "<database>",
            "username": "<username>",
            "password": {
                "type": "SecureString",
                "value": "<password>"
            },
            "driverVersion": "v2"
        },
        "connectVia": {
            "referenceName": "<name of Integration Runtime>",
            "type": "IntegrationRuntimeReference"
        }
    }
}

Example: store password in Azure Key Vault

{
    "name": "MariaDBLinkedService",
    "properties": {
        "type": "MariaDB",
        "typeProperties": {
            "server": "<server>",
            "port": "<port>",
            "database": "<database>",
            "username": "<username>",
            "password": {
                "type": "AzureKeyVaultSecret",
                "store": {
                    "referenceName": "<Azure Key Vault linked service name>",
                    "type": "LinkedServiceReference"
                },
                "secretName": "<secretName>"
            },
            "driverVersion": "v2"
        },
        "connectVia": {
            "referenceName": "<name of Integration Runtime>",
            "type": "IntegrationRuntimeReference"
        }
    }
}

If you use the legacy driver version, the following properties are supported:

Property Description Required
type The type property must be set to: MariaDB Yes
connectionString An ODBC connection string to connect to MariaDB.
You can also put password in Azure Key Vault and pull the pwd configuration out of the connection string. Refer to the following samples and Store credentials in Azure Key Vault article with more details.
Yes
connectVia The Integration Runtime to be used to connect to the data store. Learn more from Prerequisites section. If not specified, it uses the default Azure Integration Runtime. No

Example:

{
    "name": "MariaDBLinkedService",
    "properties": {
        "type": "MariaDB",
        "typeProperties": {
            "connectionString": "Server=<host>;Port=<port>;Database=<database>;UID=<user name>;PWD=<password>"
        },
        "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 MariaDB dataset.

To copy data from MariaDB, set the type property of the dataset to MariaDBTable. There is no additional type-specific property in this type of dataset.

Example

{
    "name": "MariaDBDataset",
    "properties": {
        "type": "MariaDBTable",
        "typeProperties": {},
        "schema": [],
        "linkedServiceName": {
            "referenceName": "<MariaDB linked service name>",
            "type": "LinkedServiceReference"
        }
    }
}

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 MariaDB source.

MariaDB as source

To copy data from MariaDB, set the source type in the copy activity to MariaDBSource. 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: MariaDBSource 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": "CopyFromMariaDB",
        "type": "Copy",
        "inputs": [
            {
                "referenceName": "<MariaDB input dataset name>",
                "type": "DatasetReference"
            }
        ],
        "outputs": [
            {
                "referenceName": "<output dataset name>",
                "type": "DatasetReference"
            }
        ],
        "typeProperties": {
            "source": {
                "type": "MariaDBSource",
                "query": "SELECT * FROM MyTable"
            },
            "sink": {
                "type": "<sink type>"
            }
        }
    }
]

Data type mapping for MariaDB

When copying data from MariaDB, the following mappings are used from MariaDB data types to interim data types used by the service internally. See Schema and data type mappings to learn about how copy activity maps the source schema and data type to the sink.

MariaDB data type Interim service data type Interim service data type (for the legacy driver version)
bigint Int64 Int64
bigint unsigned Decimal Decimal
bit(1) UInt64 Boolean
bit(M), M>1 UInt64 Byte[]
blob Byte[] Byte[]
bool Boolean
(If TreatTinyAsBoolean=false, it is mapped as SByte. TreatTinyAsBoolean is true by default )
Int16
char String String
date Datetime Datetime
datetime Datetime Datetime
decimal Decimal Decimal, String
double Double Double
double precision Double Double
enum String String
float Single Single
int Int32 Int32
int unsigned Int64 Int64
integer Int32 Int32
integer unsigned Int64 Int64
JSON String -
long varbinary Byte[] Byte[]
long varchar String String
longblob Byte[] Byte[]
longtext String String
mediumblob Byte[] Byte[]
mediumint Int32 Int32
mediumint unsigned Int64 Int64
mediumtext String String
numeric Decimal Decimal
real Double Double
set String String
smallint Int16 Int16
smallint unsigned Int32 Int32
text String String
time TimeSpan TimeSpan
timestamp Datetime Datetime
tinyblob Byte[] Byte[]
tinyint SByte Int16
tinyint unsigned Int16 Int16
tinytext String String
varchar String String
year Int Int

Lookup activity properties

To learn details about the properties, check Lookup activity.

Upgrade the MariaDB driver version

Here are steps that help you upgrade your MariaDB driver version:

  1. In Edit linked service page, select Recommended under Driver version and configure the linked service by referring to Linked service properties.

  2. The data type mapping for the latest MariaDB linked service is different from that for the legacy version. To learn the latest data type mapping, see Data type mapping for MariaDB.

  3. The latest driver version v2 supports more MariaDB versions. For more information, see Supported capabilities.

The table below shows the data type mapping differences between MariaDB using the recommended and the legacy driver version.

MariaDB data type Interim service data type (using the recommended driver version) Interim service data type (using the legacy driver version)
bit(1) UInt64 Boolean
bit(M), M>1 UInt64 Byte[]
bool Boolean Int16
JSON String Byte[]

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