Connectors → AlloyDB

About AlloyDB

AlloyDB is a fully-managed, distributed, PostgreSQL-compatible database powered by Google for demanding transactional and analytical workloads. It provides enterprise-grade performance and availability while maintaining 100% compatibility with open-source PostgreSQL. AlloyDB uses and extends the PostgreSQL language, while also combining performance, safety, availability, and scalability features.

Important

Currently, Google is availing AlloyDB for preview only. For more information, refer to Google Product Launch Stages.

AlloyDB Connector

Incorta loads data from an AlloyDB database using the AlloyDB connector. The AlloyDB connector uses the 42.2.1 PostgreSQL driver.

Note

The Incorta AlloyDB connector is available for preview only.

The AlloyDB connector supports the following Incorta-specific functionality:

Feature	Supported
Chunking
Data Agent	✔
Encryption at Ingest
Incremental Load	✔
Multi-Source	✔
OAuth
Performance Optimized	✔
Remote
Single-Source	✔
Spark Extraction
Webhook Callbacks	✔

Steps to connect AlloyDB and Incorta

To connect AlloyDB and Incorta, here are the high-level steps, tools, and procedures:

Create an external data source
Create a schema with the Schema Wizard
or, Create a schema with the Schema Designer
Load the schema
Explore the schema

Create an external data source

Here are the steps to create an external data source with the AlloyDB connector:

Sign in to the Incorta Direct Data Platform.
In the Navigation bar, select Data.
In the Action bar, select + New → Add Data Source.
In the Choose a Data Source dialog, in Database, select AlloyDB.
In the New Data Source dialog, specify the applicable connector properties
To test, select Test Connection.
Select Ok to save your changes.

AlloyDB connector properties

Here are the properties for the AlloyDB connector:

Property	Control	Description
Data Source Name	text box	Enter the name of the data source
Username	text box	Enter the database username
Password	text box	Enter the database password
Connection Pool	text box	Enter the connection pool. The default is 30.
Connection String	text box	Enter the connection string for the PostgreSQL JDBC driver. The format is: `jdbc:postgresql://<HOST>:<PORT>/<DATABASE_NAME>` The default JDBC port for a PostgreSQL Database is: `5432`. Verify port numbers with your datasource configurations.
Connection Properties	text box	Customized string input of key/value pair properties. See below for details on connection properties.
Extra Options	text box	Enter supported extra options in the form of `key=value`.
Use Data Agent	toggle	Enable using a data agent to securely ingest data from an external data source that is behind a firewall. For more information, please review Tools → Data Agent and Tools → Data Manager.
Data Agent	drop down list	Enable Use Data Agent to configure this property. Select from the data agents created in the tenant, if any.

Important: Data Agent

A data agent is a service that runs on a remote host. It is also a data agent object in the Data Manager for a given tenant. An authentication file shared between the data agent object and the data agent service enables an authorized connection without using a VPN or SSH tunnel. With a data agent, you can securely extract data from one or more databases behind a firewall to an Incorta cluster. Your Incorta cluster can reside on-premises or in the cloud.

You must have the Incorta cluster enabled and configured to support the use of Data Agents. To learn more, see Concepts → Data Agent and Tools → Data Agent.

Connection Properties

The connection properties allow for customized connection to your AlloyDB database. The properties are accepted in a key/value format(example: key=value). The 42.2.1 PostgreSQL driver determines the available connection properties. For a list of connection properties available with Incorta and an AlloyDB database refer to Configure connectivity to AlloyDB.

Create a schema with the Schema Wizard

Here are the steps to create an AlloyDB schema with the Schema Wizard:

Sign in to the Incorta Direct Data Platform.
In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
In the Action bar, select + New → Schema Wizard.
In (1) Choose a Source, specify the following:
- For Enter a name, enter the schema name.
- For Select a Datasource, select the AlloyDB external data source.
- Optionally create a description.
In the Schema Wizard footer, select Next.
In (2) Manage Tables, in the Data Panel, first select the name of the Data Source, and then check the Select All checkbox.
In the Schema Wizard footer, select Next.
In (3) Finalize, in the Schema Wizard footer, select Create Schema.

Create a schema with the Schema Designer

Here are the steps to create an AlloyDB schema using the Schema Designer:

Sign in to the Incorta Direct Data Platform.
In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
In the Action bar, select + New → Create Schema.
In Name, specify the schema name and select Save.
In Start adding tables to your schema, select SQL Database.
In the Data Source dialog, specify the AlloyDB table data source properties.
Select Add.
In the Table Editor, in the Table Summary section, enter the table name.
To save your changes, select Done in the Action bar.

AlloyDB table data source properties

For a schema table in Incorta, you can define the following AlloyDB-specific data source properties as follows:

Property	Control	Description
Type	drop down list	Default is SQL Database
Data Source	drop down list	Select the AlloyDB external data source
Incremental	toggle	Enable the incremental load configuration for the schema table. See incremental load.
Fetch Size	text box	Used for performance improvement, fetch size defines the number of records that will be retrieved from the database in each batch until all records are retrieved. The default is 5000.
Query	text box	Enter the SQL query to retrieve data from the AlloyDB database
Update Query	text box	Define the SQL update query to use during an incremental load. (Visible when Incremental is enabled)
Incremental Field Type	drop down list	Select what the format of the incremental field type is: Timestamp, Unix Epoch (seconds), or Unix Epoch (milliseconds). (Visible when Incremental is enabled)
Callback	toggle	Turn this option on to enable the Callback URL field
Callback URL	text box	This property appears when the Callback toggle is turned on. Specify the URL. (Visible when Callback is enabled)

View the schema diagram with the Schema Diagram Viewer

Here are the steps to view the schema diagram using the Schema Diagram Viewer:

Sign in to the Incorta Direct Data Platform.
In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
In the list of schemas, select the AlloyDB schema.
In the Schema Designer, in the Action bar, select Diagram.

Load the schema

Here are the steps to perform a Full Load of the AlloyDB schema using the Schema Designer:

Sign in to the Incorta Direct Data Platform.
In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
In the list of schemas, select the AlloyDB schema.
In the Schema Designer, in the Action bar, select Load → Full Load.
To review the load status, in Last Load Status, select the date.

Explore the schema

With the full load of the AlloyDB schema complete, you can use the Analyzer to explore the schema, create your first insight, and save the insight to a new dashboard.

To open the Analyzer from the schema, follow these steps:

In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
In the Schema Manager, in the List view, select the AlloyDB schema.
In the Schema Designer, in the Action bar, select Explore Data.

Additional Considerations

Incremental Load

You can enable one type of incremental load for an AlloyDB table data source.

Last Successful Extract Time: Fetch updates since the last time the tables were loaded. Determined by the difference between the current time and the database timestamp.

Note

Changing to or from the incremental load strategy requires a full load to ensure data integrity.

Incremental Load Example

In this example, the invoices table must contain a column of the type Date or Timestamp in order to load the table incrementally with a last successful extract time strategy. In this case, the name of the date column is ModifiedDate and the format of the column is Timestamp.

Here are the data source property values for this scenario: