Data Sources

A data source is reference object for a data set that is external to the database. It consists of the location & connection information to that external source, but doesn't hold the names of any specific data sets/files within that source. A data source can make use of a credential object for storing remote authentication information.

A data source name must adhere to the standard naming criteria. Each data source exists within a schema and follows the standard name resolution rules for tables.

The following data source providers are supported:

  • Azure (Microsoft blob storage)
  • HDFS (Apache Hadoop Distributed File System)
  • Kafka (Apache Kafka streaming feed)
  • S3 (Amazon S3 Bucket)

Note

The following default hosts are used for Azure & S3, but can be overridden in the location parameter:

  • Azure: <service_account_name>.blob.core.windows.net
  • S3: <region>.amazonaws.com

Data sources perform no function by themselves, but act as proxies for accessing external data when referenced in certain database operations. The following can make use of data sources:

Individual files within a data source need to be identified when the data source is referenced within these calls.

Note

The data source will be validated upon creation, by default, and will fail to be created if an authorized connection cannot be established.

Managing Data Sources

A data source can be managed using the following API endpoint calls. For managing data sources in SQL, see CREATE DATA SOURCE.

API Call Description
/create/datasource Creates a data source, given a location and connection information
/alter/datasource Modifies the properties of a data source, validating the new connection
/drop/datasource Removes the data source reference from the database; will not modify the external source data
/show/datasource Outputs the data source properties; passwords are redacted
/grant/permission/datasource Grants the permission for a user to connect to a data source
/revoke/permission/datasource Revokes the permission for a user to connect to a data source

Creating a Data Source

To create a data source, kin_ds, that connects to an Amazon S3 bucket, kinetica_ds, in the US East (N. Virginia) region, in Python:

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h_db.create_datasource(
    name = 'kin_ds',
    location = 's3',
    user_name = aws_id,
    password = aws_key,
    options = {
        's3_bucket_name': 'kinetica-ds',
        's3_region': 'us-east-1'
    }
)

Important

For Amazon S3 connections, the user_name & password parameters refer to the AWS Access ID & Key, respectively.

Provider-Specific Syntax

Several authentication schemes across multiple providers are supported.

Amazon S3

Public (No Auth) 
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h_db.create_datasource(
    name = '<data source name>',
    location = 's3[://<host>]',
    options = {
        'anonymous': 'true',
        's3_bucket_name': '<aws s3 bucket name>',
        's3_region': '<aws s3 region>'
    }
)
Access Key 
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h_db.create_datasource(
    name = '<data source name>',
    location = 's3[://<host>]',
    user_name = '<aws access key id>',
    password = '<aws secret access key>',
    options = {
        's3_bucket_name': '<aws s3 bucket name>',
        's3_region': '<aws s3 region>'
    }
)
IAM Role 
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h_db.create_datasource(
    name = '<data source name>',
    location = 's3[://<host>]',
    user_name = '<aws access key id>',
    password = '<aws secret access key>',
    options = {
        's3_bucket_name': '<aws s3 bucket name>',
        's3_region': '<aws s3 region>',
        's3_aws_role_arn': '<amazon resource name>'
    }
)

Azure BLOB

Public (No Auth) 
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h_db.create_datasource(
    name = '<data source name>',
    location = 'azure[://<host>]',
    user_name = '<azure storage account name>',
    options = {
        'anonymous': 'true',
        'azure_container_name': '<azure container name>'
    }
)
Password 
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h_db.create_datasource(
    name = '<data source name>',
    location = 'azure[://<host>]',
    user_name = '<azure storage account name>',
    password = '<azure storage account key>',
    options = {
        'azure_container_name': '<azure container name>'
    }
)
SAS Token 
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h_db.create_datasource(
    name = '<data source name>',
    location = 'azure[://<host>]',
    user_name = '<azure storage account name>',
    password = '',
    options = {
        'azure_container_name': '<azure container name>',
        'azure_sas_token': '<azure sas token>'
    }
)
OAuth Token 
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h_db.create_datasource(
    name = '<data source name>',
    location = 'azure[://<host>]',
    user_name = '<azure storage account name>',
    password = '',
    options = {
        'azure_container_name': '<azure container name>',
        'azure_oauth_token': '<azure oauth token>'
    }
)
Active Directory 
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h_db.create_datasource(
    name = '<data source name>',
    location = 'azure[://<host>]',
    user_name = '<ad client id>',
    password = '<ad client secret key>',
    options = {
        'azure_storage_account_name': '<azure storage account name>',
        'azure_container_name': '<azure container name>',
        'azure_tenant_id': '<azure tenant id>'
    }
)

HDFS

Password 
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h_db.create_datasource(
    name = '<data source name>',
    location = 'hdfs://<host>:<port>',
    user_name = '<hdfs username>',
    password = '<hdfs password>',
    options = {}
)
Kerberos Token 
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h_db.create_datasource(
    name = '<data source name>',
    location = 'hdfs://<host>:<port>',
    user_name = '<hdfs username>',
    password = '',
    options = {
        'hdfs_use_kerberos': 'true'
    }
)
Kerberos Keytab 
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h_db.create_datasource(
    name = '<data source name>',
    location = 'hdfs://<host>:<port>',
    user_name = '<hdfs username>',
    password = '',
    options = {
        'hdfs_kerberos_keytab': '<keytab file/path>'
    }
)

Apache Kafka

Anonymous 
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h_db.create_datasource(
    name = '<data source name>',
    location = 'kafka://<host>:<port>',
    options = {
        'kafka_topic_name': '<kafka topic name>'
    }
)
Authenticated 
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h_db.create_datasource(
    name = '<data source name>',
    location = 'kafka://<host>:<port>',
    options = {
        'kafka_topic_name': '<kafka topic name>',
        'credential': '<kafka credential name>'
    }
)

Limitations

  • Azure anonymous data sources are only supported when both the container and the contained objects allow anonymous access.
  • HDFS systems with wire encryption are not supported.
  • Kafka data sources require an associated credential object for authentication.