Connect and Visualize Live Zuora Data in Databricks Lakehouse Federation with CData Connect Cloud

Databricks Lakehouse Federation enables organizations to query and integrate data from multiple sources without requiring data movement. It allows federated queries across databases, data warehouses, and lakehouses, providing a unified interface for data analysis and management within Databricks. When combined with CData Connect Cloud, it enables seamless access to Zuora data for data virtualization, while also supporting data lineage and fine-grained access control.

This article explains how to use CData Connect Cloud to establish a live connection to Zuora and how to access live Zuora data from the Databricks platform.

CData Connect Cloud offers a seamless SQL Server, cloud-to-cloud interface for Zuora, enabling you to effortlessly create dashboards and visualizations using live Zuora data in Databricks. While building visualizations, Databricks requires SQL queries to retrieve the necessary data. With built-in optimized data processing, CData Connect Cloud pushes all supported SQL operations (such as filters and JOINs) directly to Zuora, utilizing server-side processing for fast and efficient data retrieval of Zuora data.

Configure Zuora connectivity for Databricks in CData Connect Cloud

To work with Zuora data in Databricks - Lakehouse Federation, you need to connect to Zuora from Connect Cloud and provide user access to the connection.

1. Log into Connect Cloud, click Sources, and then click Add Connection

2. Select "Zuora" from the Add Connection panel

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Zuora.

   Zuora uses the OAuth standard to authenticate users. See the online Help documentation for a full OAuth authentication guide.

   Configuring Tenant property

   In order to create a valid connection with the provider you need to choose one of the Tenant values (USProduction by default) which matches your account configuration. The following is a list with the available options:

   • USProduction: Requests sent to https://rest.zuora.com.
   • USAPISandbox: Requests sent to https://rest.apisandbox.zuora.com"
   • USPerformanceTest: Requests sent to https://rest.pt1.zuora.com"
   • EUProduction: Requests sent to https://rest.eu.zuora.com"
   • EUSandbox: Requests sent to https://rest.sandbox.eu.zuora.com"

   Selecting a Zuora Service

   Two Zuora services are available: Data Query and AQuA API. By default ZuoraService is set to AQuADataExport.

   DataQuery

   The Data Query feature enables you to export data from your Zuora tenant by performing asynchronous, read-only SQL queries. We recommend to use this service for quick lightweight SQL queries.

   Limitations
   • The maximum number of input records per table after filters have been applied: 1,000,000
   • The maximum number of output records: 100,000
   • The maximum number of simultaneous queries submitted for execution per tenant: 5
   • The maximum number of queued queries submitted for execution after reaching the limitation of simultaneous queries per tenant: 10
   • The maximum processing time for each query in hours: 1
   • The maximum size of memory allocated to each query in GB: 2
   • The maximum number of indices when using Index Join, in other words, the maximum number of records being returned by the left table based on the unique value used in the WHERE clause when using Index Join: 20,000

   AQuADataExport

   AQuA API export is designed to export all the records for all the objects ( tables ). AQuA query jobs have the following limitations:

   Limitations
   • If a query in an AQuA job is executed longer than 8 hours, this job will be killed automatically.
   • The killed AQuA job can be retried three times before returned as failed.
   
4. Click Create & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Zuora Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add a Personal Access Token

When connecting to Connect Cloud through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect Cloud. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect Cloud app to open the settings page.
2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give the PAT a name and click Create.
4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

With the connection configured and a PAT generated, you are ready to connect to Zuora data from Databricks.

Connecting live Zuora data in Databricks

Follow these steps to establish a connection from Databricks to the CData Connect Cloud Virtual SQL Server API.

1. Log into Databricks.
2. Navigate to SQL Warehouses and start any warehouse of your choice.
3. In the navigation pane, select Catalog. Click and select Create a connection.
4. In the Connection basics section (or Step 1 of Set up connection page), enter the following connection details and click Next:
   • Connection name: a user-defined connection name.
   • Connection type: select SQL Server from the drop-down list.
   • Auth type: select Username and password.
   
5. In the Authentication section (or Step 2), enter the required authentication details, and click Next:
   • Host: tds.cdata.com
   • Port: 14333
   • User: enter your CData Connect Cloud username, displayed in the top-right corner of the CData Connect Cloud interface. For example, [email protected]
   • Password: enter the PAT generated and copied in the previous section.
   
6. In the Connection details section (or Step 3), enable the Trust server certificate checkbox and select the appropriate Application intent. Click Create Connection.
7. In the Catalog basics section (or Step 4), enter the required details and click Create catalog:
   • Catalog name: enter a name of your choice
   • Connection: this will be the Databricks connection you defined earlier
   • Database: enter your Zuora connection name (for example, Zuora1)
   
8. In the Access section (or Step 5), assign the Workspace, User access rights, and Grant read or edit privileges to the catalog.
9. Click Next > Save to save all the details for the catalog.

Access the catalog and visualize live Zuora data in Databricks

To access the newly created catalog and create a dashboard to visualize live Zuora data in Databricks, follow these steps:

1. Select the catalog and expand it. A list of tables from Zuora will appear on the screen.
2. Choose the desired table and click the Overview tab to view the table metadata.
3. Click the Sample Data tab to view real-time data in the table.
4. Now, click Create at the top right corner and select Dashboard.
5. Manually create a visualization by selecting at least one field in the visualization editor from the widget, or choose one of the visualization options suggested by Databricks AI.
6. Once the visualization is created, edit the details in the widget settings of the dashboard.
7. Click Publish to publish the dashboard report.

Live access to Zuora data from cloud applications

At this stage, you have established a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live Zuora data in Databricks. This enables you to create dashboards to monitor and visualize your data seamlessly.

For more details on accessing live data from over 100 SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources through cloud applications like Databricks, visit our Connect Cloud page. As always, let us know if you have any questions during your evaluation. Our world-class CData Support Team is always available to help!