Create a Microsoft SQL Server base connection using the Flow Service API

A base connection represents the authenticated connection between a source and Adobe Experience Platform.

This tutorial walks you through the steps to create a base connection for Microsoft SQL Server using the Flow Service API.

Getting started

This guide requires a working understanding of the following components of Adobe Experience Platform:

  • Sources: Experience Platform allows data to be ingested from various sources while providing you with the ability to structure, label, and enhance incoming data using Platform services.
  • Sandboxes: Experience Platform provides virtual sandboxes which partition a single Platform instance into separate virtual environments to help develop and evolve digital experience applications.

The following sections provide additional information that you will need to know in order to successfully connect to Microsoft SQL Server using the Flow Service API.

Gather required credentials

In order to connect to Microsoft SQL Server, you must provide the following connection property:

Credential
Description
connectionString
The connection string associated with your Microsoft SQL Server account. The Microsoft SQL Server connection string pattern is: Data Source={SERVER_NAME}\\<{INSTANCE_NAME} if using named instance>;Initial Catalog={DATABASE};Integrated Security=False;User ID={USERNAME};Password={PASSWORD};.
connectionSpec.id
The connection specification returns a source’s connector properties, including authentication specifications related to creating the base and source connections. The connection specification ID for Microsoft SQL Server is 1f372ff9-38a4-4492-96f5-b9a4e4bd00ec.

For more information about obtaining a connection string, refer to this Microsoft SQL Server document.

Using Platform APIs

For information on how to successfully make calls to Platform APIs, see the guide on getting started with Platform APIs.

Create a base connection

A base connection retains information between your source and Platform, including your source’s authentication credentials, the current state of the connection, and your unique base connection ID. The base connection ID allows you to explore and navigate files from within your source and identify the specific items that you want to ingest, including information regarding their data types and formats.

To create a base connection ID, make a POST request to the /connections endpoint while providing your Microsoft SQL Server authentication credentials as part of the request parameters.

API format

POST /connections

Request

The following request creates a base connection for Microsoft SQL Server:

curl -X POST \
    'https://platform.adobe.io/data/foundation/flowservice/connections' \
    -H 'Authorization: Bearer {ACCESS_TOKEN}' \
    -H 'x-api-key: {API_KEY}' \
    -H 'x-gw-ims-org-id: {ORG_ID}' \
    -H 'x-sandbox-name: {SANDBOX_NAME}' \
    -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    -d '{
        "name": "Base connection for sql-server",
        "description": "Base connection for sql-server",
        "auth": {
            "specName": "Connection String Based Authentication",
            "params": {
                "connectionString": "Data Source={SERVER_NAME}\\<{INSTANCE_NAME} if using named instance>;Initial Catalog={DATABASE};Integrated Security=False;User ID={USERNAME};Password={PASSWORD};"
            }
        },
        "connectionSpec": {
            "id": "1f372ff9-38a4-4492-96f5-b9a4e4bd00ec",
            "version": "1.0"
    }'
Property
Description
auth.params.connectionString
The connection string associated with your Microsoft SQL Server account. The Microsoft SQL Server connection string pattern is: Data Source={SERVER_NAME}\\<{INSTANCE_NAME} if using named instance>;Initial Catalog={DATABASE};Integrated Security=False;User ID={USERNAME};Password={PASSWORD};.
connectionSpec.id
The Microsoft SQL Server connection specification ID is: 1f372ff9-38a4-4492-96f5-b9a4e4bd00ec.

Response

A successful response returns details of the newly created connection, including its unique identifier (id). This ID is required to explore your database in the next tutorial.

{
    "id": "0b8224e4-0de8-4293-8224-e40de80293c6",
    "etag": "\"5802c519-0000-0200-0000-5e4d89520000\""
}

Next steps

By following this tutorial, you have created an Microsoft SQL Server base connection using the Flow Service API. You can use this base connection ID in the following tutorials:

recommendation-more-help
337b99bb-92fb-42ae-b6b7-c7042161d089