SQL Server source Connector, version v1.9.6.Final

SQL Server

If you already have a publicly accessible deployment of SQL Server, you can already Configure and install a connector using the Axual Self-Service UI. Use the configuration instructions below.
If you don’t have one available, follow the next section to deploy a publicly available instance of SQL Server.

Deploying a SQL Server instance

We’ll deploy a SQL Server instance using Google Cloud Services.
If you have a Google account, you can sign up for a free trial of Google cloud.

You can read more about SQL Server on Google cloud here.

Let’s get started.

  1. Create a new SQL Server instance.

    • instance ID: my-axual-sqlserver-connector-test
      The instance ID is irrelevant for our example: It will only be displayed in your Google overview.

    • Password: You can set the password for the sqlserver user of the database. We’ll use this password as the database.password property when configuring the Connector-Application later.
      You can reset this password later.

    • Database: Select "SQL Server 2019 Standard" (likely the default option).

    • Choose a configuration to start with: Development

    • Region: europe-west1
      The region isn’t very irrelevant for our example, but usually you would select a region geographically closest to the Connect-Cluster.

    • Zonal availability: Single zone

    • Customize your instance: Click "Show configuration options"

      • Machine type: Click the dropdown menu and select Lightweight. 1vCPU is enough.

      • Storage: go for the least amount of storage.

        • If available, Use HDDs.

        • If given the option, do not enable automatic storage increases.

      • Connections: Leave only "Public IP" selected.

        • Authorized networks. Click "Add network". Use any name and 0.0.0.0/0 as the CIDR notation (and click "Done").
          This will open the database to the entire internet. That’s ok, we’ll delete it shortly anyway.

      • Authentication: Skip this config if it’s present

      • Data protection:

        • Enable backups. Under "Advanced options", select (single) Region (europe-west1)

        • If available, enable point-in-time recovery

        • Disable deletion protection

      • Maintenance: Skip this config

      • Flags and parameters: Skip this config

      • Labels: Skip this config

    • Click "Create instance".

  2. While the database server is getting deployed, let’s create a bucket.

    • Name your bucket: sqlserver-init-axual-connect.
      Skip labels.
      Click "Continue".
      The bucket name is irrelevant for our example: It will only be displayed in your Google overview.

    • Choose where to store your data:

      • Region: europe-west1
        The region isn’t very irrelevant for our example, but usually you would select a region geographically closest to the Connect-Cluster.

    • Choose a default storage class for your data: Standard.
      Click "Continue".

    • Choose how to control access to objects: Uniform.
      Click "Continue".

    • Choose how to protect object data: None

      • Data encryption: Skip this config

  3. Click "Create" to crete the bucket.
    If you get a pop-up with "Public access will be prevented", click "Confirm".

  4. The bucket page will open. Click "Upload files"

  5. Save the following text to a file on your system, and then click "Upload files" to upload it into the bucket:

    CREATE SCHEMA demo;
go

CREATE TABLE demo.categories (
	category_id   INT             IDENTITY (1, 1)   PRIMARY KEY,
	category_name VARCHAR (255)                     NOT NULL
);

SET IDENTITY_INSERT demo.categories ON;
INSERT INTO demo.categories(category_id,category_name) VALUES(1,'Archers');
INSERT INTO demo.categories(category_id,category_name) VALUES(2,'Warriors');
INSERT INTO demo.categories(category_id,category_name) VALUES(3,'Medics');

EXEC msdb.dbo.gcloudsql_cdc_enable_db 'database_name';

    The last line in the snippet above enables "Change Data Capture" on the database. You can read more about it here.

  6. You can close the buckets page. Let’s go back to our SQL instance.
    Select your instance to open it. Note down the public IP address.
    We’ll use this as the database.hostname property when configuring the Connector-Application later.

  7. [Optional] Change the sqlserver user’s password:

    • On the left-side menu, click "Users".

    • Click the dots next to the sqlserver user.

    • Click "Change password".

    • Type a new password and click "OK".

  8. On the left-side menu, click "Databases".

    • Click "Create Database".
      Use database_name as the name, as this is the name used in this example instance-setup (we referenced it in the SQL snippet above, and we’ll do it again in the connector configuration).

      • Click "Create".

  9. On the left-side menu, click "Overview". Click the "Import" tab.

    • Source: click "Browse".

      • Double-click your bucket and select the SQL file we saved earlier.

      • Click "SELECT" at the bottom of the page.

    • File format: SQL

    • Destination: database_name

    • Click "Import"

Configuring a new source Connector

Determine name-resolving properties

Some properties require you to be aware of Axual’s custom name-resolving mechanism.
Consult an axual-platform operator to acquire the following information:

Tenant shortName

Example value:
axual

Instance shortName

Example value:
local

Environment shortName

Example value:
default

Connect-Application shortName

This value is already provided. We’ll use:
my_categories_app

Resolving pattern for topic-names

Example pattern:
${tenant-shortName}-${instance-shortName}-${environment-shortName}-${topic-name}
Example resolved topic name:
axual-local-default-transactions

Resolving pattern for consumer-groups

Example pattern:
${tenant-shortName}-${instance-shortName}-${environment-shortName}-${consumerGroup-name}
Example resolved consumer group:
axual-local-default-com.axual.transactionProcessor

Create the associated streams in the UI

  1. Follow the Creating streams documentation in order to create 3 (or more) streams, and deploy them onto an environment.

    • All streams will have a Key/Value of type String/String (configured at stream creation time).

    • All streams will be deployed onto the same environment. This is the only environment we’ll use throughout the entire process.

    • When you’ll deploy the streams onto the environment, you will use the following stream-deployment configuration:

      • Partition count: 1

      • Retention Time: 157680000000 (5 years)

      • (Optional advanced property) segment.ms of at least 157680000000 (5 years).

  2. Create and deploy the following streams:

    1. my_sqlserver_name
      This stream contains schema-change-events that describe schema-changes that are applied to captured tables in the database.
      This stream is a (<nickname>) for the database.
      You can choose any value for this stream-name: it’s for internal use only, but it has to be unique within the Connect-Cluster.

    2. my_sqlserver_name._schema-changes
      This stream stores the database schema history.
      _This stream name is also completely flexible and independent of the other stream-names, but we chose to call it <nickname>._schema-changes for consistency._

    3. my_sqlserver_name.demo.categories
      This stream will contain DB events that happen for the categories table, including (but not limited to) insertions, updates, deletions.
      This stream name is the composition of <nickname>.<schema name>.<table name>. This naming pattern is enforced by the Connect-Plugin.
      You would need to create one such stream for every DB table you intend to watch. In our example, we’ll only watch a single table, so we created a single stream.

Create the Connect-Application, configure the Connector-Application

  1. Follow the Configure and install a connector documentation to set up a new Connector-Application.
    Let’s call it my_categories_app.
    The plugin name is io.debezium.connector.sqlserver.SqlServerConnector.

    Use the following application ID: my_sqlserver_name-dbhistory.
    This value isn’t enforced. We chose to use <nickname>-dbhistory for consistency with other naming schemes.

    For advanced configuration, see the official source connector documentation.

  2. Provide the following configuration to set up connectivity to the previously configured SQL Server instance.

    database.hostname
    You noted down this IP address after creating the SQL Server instance.

    Example value:
    123.123.123.123

    database.port

    1433

    database.user

    sqlserver

    database.password
    You noted down this password while creating the SQL Server instance

    Example value:
    1234abcdEFG

    database.server.name
    This is the <nickname> we used as a prefix for all the streams we created.

    my_sqlserver_name

    database.dbname

    database_name

    table.include.list The name of the table we created, prefixed by the schema name

    Example value:
    demo.categories

    database.history.kafka.bootstrap.servers

    Example values:
    - For local development (helm platform deployment):
    platform.local:31757 - For Axual-Cloud, rokin cluster:
    bootstrap-c1-ams01-azure.axual.cloud:9094 - For SAAS trial:
    oberon-kafka-bootstrap.axual.cloud:9094

    database.history.kafka.topic This is the topic we created using the following naming convention:
    <nickname>._schema-changes
    This topic name has to be resolved! Information required for this step was acquired at "Determine name-resolving properties"

    Example resolved value:
    axual-local-default-my_sqlserver_name._schema-changes

Provide advanced(custom) configuration to the connector

Edit the Connector-Application configuration (my_categories_app). We need to supply additional (custom) properties, with keys which are not automatically available in the self-service UI.

Many configuration values are of the form:
keyvault:connectors/${tenant}/${instance-shortName}/${environment-shortName}/${application-shortName}:${property.name}

Resolved example:
keyvault:connectors/axual/local/default/my_categories_app:property.name

Please update the values which are of this form, in the right column of the table, using the values you previously determined. The dollar sign and the curly brackets are part of the value, do not remove them!

auto.create.topics.enable

false

database.history.consumer.group.id This is the application ID used for the my_categories_app Connect-Application
ATTENTION! This consumer-group name has to be resolved! Information required for this step was previously determined

Example resolved value:
axual-local-default-my_sqlserver_name-dbhistory

database.history.consumer.security.protocol

SSL

database.history.consumer.ssl.key.password

${keyvault:connectors/axual/local/default/my_categories_app:ssl.key.password}

database.history.consumer.ssl.keystore.location

${keyvault:connectors/axual/local/default/my_categories_app:ssl.keystore.location}

database.history.consumer.ssl.keystore.password

${keyvault:connectors/axual/local/default/my_categories_app:ssl.keystore.password}

database.history.consumer.ssl.truststore.location

${keyvault:connectors/axual/local/default/my_categories_app:ssl.truststore.location}

database.history.consumer.ssl.truststore.password

${keyvault:connectors/axual/local/default/my_categories_app:ssl.truststore.password}

database.history.producer.security.protocol

SSL

database.history.producer.ssl.key.password

${keyvault:connectors/axual/local/default/my_categories_app:ssl.key.password}

database.history.producer.ssl.keystore.location

${keyvault:connectors/axual/local/default/my_categories_app:ssl.keystore.location}

database.history.producer.ssl.keystore.password

${keyvault:connectors/axual/local/default/my_categories_app:ssl.keystore.password}

database.history.producer.ssl.truststore.location

${keyvault:connectors/axual/local/default/my_categories_app:ssl.truststore.location}

database.history.producer.ssl.truststore.password

${keyvault:connectors/axual/local/default/my_categories_app:ssl.truststore.password}

Authorize the Connector-Application and start producing

  1. Authorize the my_categories_app source Connector-Application to produce to and consume from all 3 streams we just created:

    • my_sqlserver_name

    • my_sqlserver_name._schema-changes

    • my_sqlserver_name.demo.categories

  2. You can now start the Connector-Application.

Cleanup

Once you are done, stop the Connector-Application and cleanup the unused axual resources.
In case you deployed your resources via Google Cloud, don’t forget to delete your bucket and your SQL instance once you are done.

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