CData Cloud offers access to Azure Table Storage across several standard services and protocols, in a cloud-hosted solution. Any application that can connect to a MySQL or SQL Server database can connect to Azure Table Storage through CData Cloud.
CData Cloud allows you to standardize and configure connections to Azure Table Storage as though it were any other OData endpoint, or standard SQL Server/MySQL database.
This page provides a guide to Establishing a Connection to Azure Table Storage in CData Cloud, as well as information on the available resources, and a reference to the available connection properties.
Establishing a Connection shows how to authenticate to Azure Table Storage and configure any necessary connection properties to create a database in CData Cloud
Accessing data from Azure Table Storage through the available standard services and CData Cloud administration is documented in further details in the CData Cloud Documentation.
Connect to Azure Table Storage by selecting the corresponding icon in the Database tab. Required properties are listed under Settings. The Advanced tab lists connection properties that are not typically required.
The driver will connect to the Azure Table Storage account specified by Account. By default, connections to the Azure Table Storage are secured via SSL, though this can be controlled through UseSSL. The authentication method to the Azure Table Storage is determined by the AuthScheme property.
Set Account to the storage account name and set the AccessKey of the storage account to connect. Follow the steps below to obtain these values:
If using Storage as the Backend (default):
If using CosmosDB as the Backend:
Set Account to the storage account name and set the SharedAccessSignature to a valid signature of a resource to connect to. The SharedAccessSignature may be generated with a tool such as Azure Storage Explorer.
Typically when SharedAccessSignature is used, the specific table to work with must also be specified via the Tables connection property. If no table is specified, a table listing will be attemped, but may fail due to a lack of permissions.
By default, the Cloud attempts to negotiate SSL/TLS by checking the server's certificate against the system's trusted certificate store.
To specify another certificate, see the SSLServerCert property for the available formats to do so.
To connect through the Windows system proxy, you do not need to set any additional connection properties. To connect to other proxies, set ProxyAutoDetect to false.
In addition, to authenticate to an HTTP proxy, set ProxyAuthScheme, ProxyUser, and ProxyPassword, in addition to ProxyServer and ProxyPort.
Set the following properties:
The Cloud allows you to access data in Azure Table storage through a standard database-like interface. Azure tables are highly scalable NoSQL cloud databases that are very different from a regular database. In this section we describe how we model schemaless Azure tables as regular tables. See Tables, Table Columns, and Stored Procedures.
The list of tables is dynamically retrieved from your Azure account, so that any additions or deletions are immediately reflected when you connect with the Cloud. You can use the CreateTable stored procedure to create a new table.
Azure tables require both a Partition Key and a Row Key. Both will need to be set for all queries besides SELECT queries.
Since Azure Table Storage tables are schemaless, the Cloud offers the following two mechanisms to uncover the schema.
The columns of a table are dynamically determined by scanning data in the first few rows. You can adjust the number of rows that are used by modifying the RowScanDepth property. When TypeDetectionScheme is set to "RowScan", the row scan also determines the data type. The following table shows how the different data types supported by Azure Table Storage are modeled in the Cloud.
Azure Table Storage Type | Modeled Type | Sample Value |
Edm.Binary | String | 10 |
Edm.Boolean | Boolean | True |
Edm.DateTime | Datetime | 2014-09-23 08:23:45 PM |
Edm.Double | Double | 3.14159265 |
Edm.Int32 | Integer | 123 |
Edm.Int64 | Long | 25000000000 |
Edm.String | String | USA |
Instead of using dynamically discovered schemas, you can define your own schemas. This will give you more control over the projected columns and also enable you to manually define data types. Refer to the sample schema included with the Cloud to define your own schema. You can simply change the name of the sample schema file, which must match with the name of the Azure Table Storage table, and edit the column listing to use it for your own table.
The schema of the table is necessary to retrieve data, whether you define it manually or obtain it dynamically. However, data may be inserted, updated, or deleted from columns that do not exist in the schema. Columns that do not already exist in the table schema will have their data types set to String.
Stored procedures are function-like interfaces that extend the functionality of the Cloud beyond simple SELECT/INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE operations with Azure Table Storage.
Stored procedures accept a list of parameters, perform their intended function, and then return any relevant response data from Azure Table Storage, along with an indication of whether the procedure succeeded or failed.
Name | Description |
CreateEntityWithTypes | Creates a new record with the given data types. If a column is not found on an existing entity, you will need to use this procedure to set the type of the property to something other than string. |
CreateTable | Creates a new table in the Azure system. |
DropTable | Drops an existing table in the Azure system. |
Creates a new record with the given data types. If a column is not found on an existing entity, you will need to use this procedure to set the type of the property to something other than string.
Note: This procedure makes use of indexed parameters. Indexed parameters facilitate providing multiple instances a single parameter as inputs for the procedure.
Suppose there is an input parameter named Param#. To input multiple instances of an indexed parameter like this, execute:
EXEC ProcedureName Param#1 = "value1", Param#2 = "value2", Param#3 = "value3"
In the table below, indexed parameters are denoted with a '#' character at the end of their names.
Name | Type | Required | Description |
TableName | String | True | The name of the table. |
PartitionKey | String | False | The partition key for the new entity. |
RowKey | String | False | The row key for the new entity. |
PropertyName# | String | False | The name for the property. |
PropertyType# | String | False | The data type for the property.
The allowed values are string, integer, datetime, boolean, double, long, binary. |
PropertyValue# | String | False | The value for the property. |
Name | Type | Description |
Success | String | Returns true if the entity was created and False otherwise |
Creates a new table in the Azure system.
Name | Type | Required | Description |
TableName | String | True | The name of the table. |
Name | Type | Description |
Success | String | Returns true if the table was created and False otherwise |
Drops an existing table in the Azure system.
Name | Type | Required | Description |
TableName | String | True | The name of the table. |
Name | Type | Description |
Success | String | Returns true if the table was deleted and False otherwise |
You can query the system tables described in this section to access schema information, information on data source functionality, and batch operation statistics.
The following tables return database metadata for Azure Table Storage:
The following tables return information about how to connect to and query the data source:
The following table returns query statistics for data modification queries:
Lists the available databases.
The following query retrieves all databases determined by the connection string:
SELECT * FROM sys_catalogs
Name | Type | Description |
CatalogName | String | The database name. |
Lists the available schemas.
The following query retrieves all available schemas:
SELECT * FROM sys_schemas
Name | Type | Description |
CatalogName | String | The database name. |
SchemaName | String | The schema name. |
Lists the available tables.
The following query retrieves the available tables and views:
SELECT * FROM sys_tables
Name | Type | Description |
CatalogName | String | The database containing the table or view. |
SchemaName | String | The schema containing the table or view. |
TableName | String | The name of the table or view. |
TableType | String | The table type (table or view). |
Description | String | A description of the table or view. |
IsUpdateable | Boolean | Whether the table can be updated. |
Describes the columns of the available tables and views.
The following query returns the columns and data types for the NorthwindProducts table:
SELECT ColumnName, DataTypeName FROM sys_tablecolumns WHERE TableName='NorthwindProducts'
Name | Type | Description |
CatalogName | String | The name of the database containing the table or view. |
SchemaName | String | The schema containing the table or view. |
TableName | String | The name of the table or view containing the column. |
ColumnName | String | The column name. |
DataTypeName | String | The data type name. |
DataType | Int32 | An integer indicating the data type. This value is determined at run time based on the environment. |
Length | Int32 | The storage size of the column. |
DisplaySize | Int32 | The designated column's normal maximum width in characters. |
NumericPrecision | Int32 | The maximum number of digits in numeric data. The column length in characters for character and date-time data. |
NumericScale | Int32 | The column scale or number of digits to the right of the decimal point. |
IsNullable | Boolean | Whether the column can contain null. |
Description | String | A brief description of the column. |
Ordinal | Int32 | The sequence number of the column. |
IsAutoIncrement | String | Whether the column value is assigned in fixed increments. |
IsGeneratedColumn | String | Whether the column is generated. |
IsHidden | Boolean | Whether the column is hidden. |
IsArray | Boolean | Whether the column is an array. |
IsReadOnly | Boolean | Whether the column is read-only. |
IsKey | Boolean | Indicates whether a field returned from sys_tablecolumns is the primary key of the table. |
Lists the available stored procedures.
The following query retrieves the available stored procedures:
SELECT * FROM sys_procedures
Name | Type | Description |
CatalogName | String | The database containing the stored procedure. |
SchemaName | String | The schema containing the stored procedure. |
ProcedureName | String | The name of the stored procedure. |
Description | String | A description of the stored procedure. |
ProcedureType | String | The type of the procedure, such as PROCEDURE or FUNCTION. |
Describes stored procedure parameters.
The following query returns information about all of the input parameters for the CreateTable stored procedure:
SELECT * FROM sys_procedureparameters WHERE ProcedureName='CreateTable' AND Direction=1 OR Direction=2
Name | Type | Description |
CatalogName | String | The name of the database containing the stored procedure. |
SchemaName | String | The name of the schema containing the stored procedure. |
ProcedureName | String | The name of the stored procedure containing the parameter. |
ColumnName | String | The name of the stored procedure parameter. |
Direction | Int32 | An integer corresponding to the type of the parameter: input (1), input/output (2), or output(4). input/output type parameters can be both input and output parameters. |
DataTypeName | String | The name of the data type. |
DataType | Int32 | An integer indicating the data type. This value is determined at run time based on the environment. |
Length | Int32 | The number of characters allowed for character data. The number of digits allowed for numeric data. |
NumericPrecision | Int32 | The maximum precision for numeric data. The column length in characters for character and date-time data. |
NumericScale | Int32 | The number of digits to the right of the decimal point in numeric data. |
IsNullable | Boolean | Whether the parameter can contain null. |
IsRequired | Boolean | Whether the parameter is required for execution of the procedure. |
IsArray | Boolean | Whether the parameter is an array. |
Description | String | The description of the parameter. |
Ordinal | Int32 | The index of the parameter. |
Describes the primary and foreign keys.
The following query retrieves the primary key for the NorthwindProducts table:
SELECT * FROM sys_keycolumns WHERE IsKey='True' AND TableName='NorthwindProducts'
Name | Type | Description |
CatalogName | String | The name of the database containing the key. |
SchemaName | String | The name of the schema containing the key. |
TableName | String | The name of the table containing the key. |
ColumnName | String | The name of the key column. |
IsKey | Boolean | Whether the column is a primary key in the table referenced in the TableName field. |
IsForeignKey | Boolean | Whether the column is a foreign key referenced in the TableName field. |
PrimaryKeyName | String | The name of the primary key. |
ForeignKeyName | String | The name of the foreign key. |
ReferencedCatalogName | String | The database containing the primary key. |
ReferencedSchemaName | String | The schema containing the primary key. |
ReferencedTableName | String | The table containing the primary key. |
ReferencedColumnName | String | The column name of the primary key. |
Describes the foreign keys.
The following query retrieves all foreign keys which refer to other tables:
SELECT * FROM sys_foreignkeys WHERE ForeignKeyType = 'FOREIGNKEY_TYPE_IMPORT'
Name | Type | Description |
CatalogName | String | The name of the database containing the key. |
SchemaName | String | The name of the schema containing the key. |
TableName | String | The name of the table containing the key. |
ColumnName | String | The name of the key column. |
PrimaryKeyName | String | The name of the primary key. |
ForeignKeyName | String | The name of the foreign key. |
ReferencedCatalogName | String | The database containing the primary key. |
ReferencedSchemaName | String | The schema containing the primary key. |
ReferencedTableName | String | The table containing the primary key. |
ReferencedColumnName | String | The column name of the primary key. |
ForeignKeyType | String | Designates whether the foreign key is an import (points to other tables) or export (referenced from other tables) key. |
Describes the primary keys.
The following query retrieves the primary keys from all tables and views:
SELECT * FROM sys_primarykeys
Name | Type | Description |
CatalogName | String | The name of the database containing the key. |
SchemaName | String | The name of the schema containing the key. |
TableName | String | The name of the table containing the key. |
ColumnName | String | The name of the key column. |
KeySeq | String | The sequence number of the primary key. |
KeyName | String | The name of the primary key. |
Describes the available indexes. By filtering on indexes, you can write more selective queries with faster query response times.
The following query retrieves all indexes that are not primary keys:
SELECT * FROM sys_indexes WHERE IsPrimary='false'
Name | Type | Description |
CatalogName | String | The name of the database containing the index. |
SchemaName | String | The name of the schema containing the index. |
TableName | String | The name of the table containing the index. |
IndexName | String | The index name. |
ColumnName | String | The name of the column associated with the index. |
IsUnique | Boolean | True if the index is unique. False otherwise. |
IsPrimary | Boolean | True if the index is a primary key. False otherwise. |
Type | Int16 | An integer value corresponding to the index type: statistic (0), clustered (1), hashed (2), or other (3). |
SortOrder | String | The sort order: A for ascending or D for descending. |
OrdinalPosition | Int16 | The sequence number of the column in the index. |
Returns information on the available connection properties and those set in the connection string.
When querying this table, the config connection string should be used:
jdbc:cdata:azuretables:config:
This connection string enables you to query this table without a valid connection.
The following query retrieves all connection properties that have been set in the connection string or set through a default value:
SELECT * FROM sys_connection_props WHERE Value <> ''
Name | Type | Description |
Name | String | The name of the connection property. |
ShortDescription | String | A brief description. |
Type | String | The data type of the connection property. |
Default | String | The default value if one is not explicitly set. |
Values | String | A comma-separated list of possible values. A validation error is thrown if another value is specified. |
Value | String | The value you set or a preconfigured default. |
Required | Boolean | Whether the property is required to connect. |
Category | String | The category of the connection property. |
IsSessionProperty | String | Whether the property is a session property, used to save information about the current connection. |
Sensitivity | String | The sensitivity level of the property. This informs whether the property is obfuscated in logging and authentication forms. |
PropertyName | String | A camel-cased truncated form of the connection property name. |
Ordinal | Int32 | The index of the parameter. |
CatOrdinal | Int32 | The index of the parameter category. |
Hierarchy | String | Shows dependent properties associated that need to be set alongside this one. |
Visible | Boolean | Informs whether the property is visible in the connection UI. |
ETC | String | Various miscellaneous information about the property. |
Describes the SELECT query processing that the Cloud can offload to the data source.
See SQL Compliance for SQL syntax details.
Below is an example data set of SQL capabilities. Some aspects of SELECT functionality are returned in a comma-separated list if supported; otherwise, the column contains NO.
Name | Description | Possible Values |
AGGREGATE_FUNCTIONS | Supported aggregation functions. | AVG, COUNT, MAX, MIN, SUM, DISTINCT |
COUNT | Whether COUNT function is supported. | YES, NO |
IDENTIFIER_QUOTE_OPEN_CHAR | The opening character used to escape an identifier. | [ |
IDENTIFIER_QUOTE_CLOSE_CHAR | The closing character used to escape an identifier. | ] |
SUPPORTED_OPERATORS | A list of supported SQL operators. | =, >, <, >=, <=, <>, !=, LIKE, NOT LIKE, IN, NOT IN, IS NULL, IS NOT NULL, AND, OR |
GROUP_BY | Whether GROUP BY is supported, and, if so, the degree of support. | NO, NO_RELATION, EQUALS_SELECT, SQL_GB_COLLATE |
OJ_CAPABILITIES | The supported varieties of outer joins supported. | NO, LEFT, RIGHT, FULL, INNER, NOT_ORDERED, ALL_COMPARISON_OPS |
OUTER_JOINS | Whether outer joins are supported. | YES, NO |
SUBQUERIES | Whether subqueries are supported, and, if so, the degree of support. | NO, COMPARISON, EXISTS, IN, CORRELATED_SUBQUERIES, QUANTIFIED |
STRING_FUNCTIONS | Supported string functions. | LENGTH, CHAR, LOCATE, REPLACE, SUBSTRING, RTRIM, LTRIM, RIGHT, LEFT, UCASE, SPACE, SOUNDEX, LCASE, CONCAT, ASCII, REPEAT, OCTET, BIT, POSITION, INSERT, TRIM, UPPER, REGEXP, LOWER, DIFFERENCE, CHARACTER, SUBSTR, STR, REVERSE, PLAN, UUIDTOSTR, TRANSLATE, TRAILING, TO, STUFF, STRTOUUID, STRING, SPLIT, SORTKEY, SIMILAR, REPLICATE, PATINDEX, LPAD, LEN, LEADING, KEY, INSTR, INSERTSTR, HTML, GRAPHICAL, CONVERT, COLLATION, CHARINDEX, BYTE |
NUMERIC_FUNCTIONS | Supported numeric functions. | ABS, ACOS, ASIN, ATAN, ATAN2, CEILING, COS, COT, EXP, FLOOR, LOG, MOD, SIGN, SIN, SQRT, TAN, PI, RAND, DEGREES, LOG10, POWER, RADIANS, ROUND, TRUNCATE |
TIMEDATE_FUNCTIONS | Supported date/time functions. | NOW, CURDATE, DAYOFMONTH, DAYOFWEEK, DAYOFYEAR, MONTH, QUARTER, WEEK, YEAR, CURTIME, HOUR, MINUTE, SECOND, TIMESTAMPADD, TIMESTAMPDIFF, DAYNAME, MONTHNAME, CURRENT_DATE, CURRENT_TIME, CURRENT_TIMESTAMP, EXTRACT |
REPLICATION_SKIP_TABLES | Indicates tables skipped during replication. | |
REPLICATION_TIMECHECK_COLUMNS | A string array containing a list of columns which will be used to check for (in the given order) to use as a modified column during replication. | |
IDENTIFIER_PATTERN | String value indicating what string is valid for an identifier. | |
SUPPORT_TRANSACTION | Indicates if the provider supports transactions such as commit and rollback. | YES, NO |
DIALECT | Indicates the SQL dialect to use. | |
KEY_PROPERTIES | Indicates the properties which identify the uniform database. | |
SUPPORTS_MULTIPLE_SCHEMAS | Indicates if multiple schemas may exist for the provider. | YES, NO |
SUPPORTS_MULTIPLE_CATALOGS | Indicates if multiple catalogs may exist for the provider. | YES, NO |
DATASYNCVERSION | The CData Data Sync version needed to access this driver. | Standard, Starter, Professional, Enterprise |
DATASYNCCATEGORY | The CData Data Sync category of this driver. | Source, Destination, Cloud Destination |
SUPPORTSENHANCEDSQL | Whether enhanced SQL functionality beyond what is offered by the API is supported. | TRUE, FALSE |
SUPPORTS_BATCH_OPERATIONS | Whether batch operations are supported. | YES, NO |
SQL_CAP | All supported SQL capabilities for this driver. | SELECT, INSERT, DELETE, UPDATE, TRANSACTIONS, ORDERBY, OAUTH, ASSIGNEDID, LIMIT, LIKE, BULKINSERT, COUNT, BULKDELETE, BULKUPDATE, GROUPBY, HAVING, AGGS, OFFSET, REPLICATE, COUNTDISTINCT, JOINS, DROP, CREATE, DISTINCT, INNERJOINS, SUBQUERIES, ALTER, MULTIPLESCHEMAS, GROUPBYNORELATION, OUTERJOINS, UNIONALL, UNION, UPSERT, GETDELETED, CROSSJOINS, GROUPBYCOLLATE, MULTIPLECATS, FULLOUTERJOIN, MERGE, JSONEXTRACT, BULKUPSERT, SUM, SUBQUERIESFULL, MIN, MAX, JOINSFULL, XMLEXTRACT, AVG, MULTISTATEMENTS, FOREIGNKEYS, CASE, LEFTJOINS, COMMAJOINS, WITH, LITERALS, RENAME, NESTEDTABLES, EXECUTE, BATCH, BASIC, INDEX |
PREFERRED_CACHE_OPTIONS | A string value specifies the preferred cacheOptions. | |
ENABLE_EF_ADVANCED_QUERY | Indicates if the driver directly supports advanced queries coming from Entity Framework. If not, queries will be handled client side. | YES, NO |
PSEUDO_COLUMNS | A string array indicating the available pseudo columns. | |
MERGE_ALWAYS | If the value is true, The Merge Mode is forcibly executed in Data Sync. | TRUE, FALSE |
REPLICATION_MIN_DATE_QUERY | A select query to return the replicate start datetime. | |
REPLICATION_MIN_FUNCTION | Allows a provider to specify the formula name to use for executing a server side min. | |
REPLICATION_START_DATE | Allows a provider to specify a replicate startdate. | |
REPLICATION_MAX_DATE_QUERY | A select query to return the replicate end datetime. | |
REPLICATION_MAX_FUNCTION | Allows a provider to specify the formula name to use for executing a server side max. | |
IGNORE_INTERVALS_ON_INITIAL_REPLICATE | A list of tables which will skip dividing the replicate into chunks on the initial replicate. | |
CHECKCACHE_USE_PARENTID | Indicates whether the CheckCache statement should be done against the parent key column. | TRUE, FALSE |
CREATE_SCHEMA_PROCEDURES | Indicates stored procedures that can be used for generating schema files. |
The following query retrieves the operators that can be used in the WHERE clause:
SELECT * FROM sys_sqlinfo WHERE Name = 'SUPPORTED_OPERATORS'
Note that individual tables may have different limitations or requirements on the WHERE clause; refer to the Data Model section for more information.
Name | Type | Description |
NAME | String | A component of SQL syntax, or a capability that can be processed on the server. |
VALUE | String | Detail on the supported SQL or SQL syntax. |
Returns information about attempted modifications.
The following query retrieves the Ids of the modified rows in a batch operation:
SELECT * FROM sys_identity
Name | Type | Description |
Id | String | The database-generated Id returned from a data modification operation. |
Batch | String | An identifier for the batch. 1 for a single operation. |
Operation | String | The result of the operation in the batch: INSERTED, UPDATED, or DELETED. |
Message | String | SUCCESS or an error message if the update in the batch failed. |
The Cloud maps types from the data source to the corresponding data type available in the schema. The table below documents these mappings.
Azure Table Storage (OData V3) | CData Schema |
Edm.Binary | binary |
Edm.Boolean | bool |
Edm.DateTime | datetime |
Edm.Double | double |
Edm.Guid | guid |
Edm.Int32 | int |
Edm.Int64 | long |
Edm.String | string |
Edm.TimeOfDay | time |
The connection string properties are the various options that can be used to establish a connection. This section provides a complete list of the options you can configure in the connection string for this provider. Click the links for further details.
For more information on establishing a connection, see Establishing a Connection.
Property | Description |
Account | The Windows Azure Storage account name. |
UseSSL | This field sets whether SSL is enabled. The default is true. |
AccessKey | The key for the storage account. |
AuthScheme | The scheme used for authentication. Accepted entries are AccessKey, SharedAccessSignature and AzureAD. |
Backend | The backend where data is stored. |
SharedAccessSignature | A shared access key signature that may be used for authentication. |
Property | Description |
AzureTenant | The Microsoft Online tenant being used to access data. If not specified, your default tenant is used. |
AzureEnvironment | The Azure Environment to use when establishing a connection. |
Property | Description |
SSLServerCert | The certificate to be accepted from the server when connecting using TLS/SSL. |
Property | Description |
Verbosity | The verbosity level that determines the amount of detail included in the log file. |
Property | Description |
BrowsableSchemas | This property restricts the schemas reported to a subset of the available schemas. For example, BrowsableSchemas=SchemaA,SchemaB,SchemaC. |
Property | Description |
MaxRows | Limits the number of rows returned when no aggregation or GROUP BY is used in the query. This takes precedence over LIMIT clauses. |
Pagesize | The maximum number of results to return per page from Azure Table Storage. |
PseudoColumns | This property indicates whether or not to include pseudo columns as columns to the table. |
RowScanDepth | The maximum number of rows to scan to look for the columns available in a table. |
Timeout | The value in seconds until the timeout error is thrown, canceling the operation. |
TypeDetectionScheme | Determines how to determine the data type of columns. |
This section provides a complete list of the Authentication properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.
Property | Description |
Account | The Windows Azure Storage account name. |
UseSSL | This field sets whether SSL is enabled. The default is true. |
AccessKey | The key for the storage account. |
AuthScheme | The scheme used for authentication. Accepted entries are AccessKey, SharedAccessSignature and AzureAD. |
Backend | The backend where data is stored. |
SharedAccessSignature | A shared access key signature that may be used for authentication. |
The Windows Azure Storage account name.
string
""
The Windows Azure storage account name. To access your Azure storage accounts or create one, log into the Azure portal Click Storage Accounts in the services menu on the left.
If Backend is set to AzureStack, set the Account as the complete host for your data. For example: <account>.nm.azs.sandia.gov.
If Backend is set to Emulator, set the Account as the complete host. For example: http://127.0.0.1:10002/devstoreaccount1.
This field sets whether SSL is enabled. The default is true.
bool
true
This field sets whether SSL is enabled. The default is true.
The key for the storage account.
string
""
To obtain the Access Key, log into the Azure portal and click Storage Accounts in the services menu on the left to list the storage accounts. Select a storage account and click Access Keys in the Settings section. Either key1 or key2 can be used.
If using CosmosDB as the Backend, instead navigate to Cosmos DB service and select your Azure Cosmos DB Account. From the resource menu, go to the Connection String page. Find the PRIMARY KEY value and set AccessKey to this value.
The scheme used for authentication. Accepted entries are AccessKey, SharedAccessSignature and AzureAD.
string
"SharedAccessSignature"
Together with Account, this field is used to authenticate against the service. The default is SharedAccessSignature:
The backend where data is stored.
string
"Storage"
Data may retrieved from either the classic Azure Table Storage repository, Azure Storage Emulator, or it may be retrieved from CosmosDB. Alternatively, you may specify AzureStack if you are using Azure Stack Hub. If you choose to do so, specify the Account as the complete host for your data. For example: <account>.nm.azs.sandia.gov.
If you choose Emulator, specify the Account and SharedAccessSignature connection property.
This section provides a complete list of the Azure Authentication properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.
Property | Description |
AzureTenant | The Microsoft Online tenant being used to access data. If not specified, your default tenant is used. |
AzureEnvironment | The Azure Environment to use when establishing a connection. |
The Microsoft Online tenant being used to access data. If not specified, your default tenant is used.
string
""
The Microsoft Online tenant being used to access data. For instance, contoso.onmicrosoft.com. Alternatively, specify the tenant Id. This value is the directory Id in the Azure Portal > Azure Active Directory > Properties.
Typically it is not necessary to specify the Tenant. This can be automatically determined by Microsoft when using the OAuthGrantType set to CODE (default). However, it may fail in the case that the user belongs to multiple tenants. For instance, if an Admin of domain A invites a user of domain B to be a guest user. The user will now belong to both tenants. It is a good practice to specify the Tenant, although in general things should normally work without having to specify it.
The AzureTenant is required when setting OAuthGrantType to CLIENT. When using client credentials, there is no user context. The credentials are taken from the context of the app itself. While Microsoft still allows client credentials to be obtained without specifying which Tenant, it has a much lower probability of picking the specific tenant you want to work with. For this reason, we require AzureTenant to be explicitly stated for all client credentials connections to ensure you get credentials that are applicable for the domain you intend to connect to.
The Azure Environment to use when establishing a connection.
string
"GLOBAL"
In most cases, leaving the environment set to global will work. However, if your Azure Account has been added to a different environment, the AzureEnvironment may be used to specify which environment. The available values are GLOBAL, CHINA, USGOVT, USGOVTDOD.
This section provides a complete list of the SSL properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.
Property | Description |
SSLServerCert | The certificate to be accepted from the server when connecting using TLS/SSL. |
The certificate to be accepted from the server when connecting using TLS/SSL.
string
""
If using a TLS/SSL connection, this property can be used to specify the TLS/SSL certificate to be accepted from the server. Any other certificate that is not trusted by the machine is rejected.
This property can take the following forms:
Description | Example |
A full PEM Certificate (example shortened for brevity) | -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- MIIChTCCAe4CAQAwDQYJKoZIhv......Qw== -----END CERTIFICATE----- |
A path to a local file containing the certificate | C:\cert.cer |
The public key (example shortened for brevity) | -----BEGIN RSA PUBLIC KEY----- MIGfMA0GCSq......AQAB -----END RSA PUBLIC KEY----- |
The MD5 Thumbprint (hex values can also be either space or colon separated) | ecadbdda5a1529c58a1e9e09828d70e4 |
The SHA1 Thumbprint (hex values can also be either space or colon separated) | 34a929226ae0819f2ec14b4a3d904f801cbb150d |
If not specified, any certificate trusted by the machine is accepted.
Use '*' to signify to accept all certificates. Note that this is not recommended due to security concerns.
This section provides a complete list of the Logging properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.
Property | Description |
Verbosity | The verbosity level that determines the amount of detail included in the log file. |
The verbosity level that determines the amount of detail included in the log file.
string
"1"
The verbosity level determines the amount of detail that the Cloud reports to the Logfile. Verbosity levels from 1 to 5 are supported. These are detailed in the Logging page.
This section provides a complete list of the Schema properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.
Property | Description |
BrowsableSchemas | This property restricts the schemas reported to a subset of the available schemas. For example, BrowsableSchemas=SchemaA,SchemaB,SchemaC. |
This property restricts the schemas reported to a subset of the available schemas. For example, BrowsableSchemas=SchemaA,SchemaB,SchemaC.
string
""
Listing the schemas from databases can be expensive. Providing a list of schemas in the connection string improves the performance.
This section provides a complete list of the Miscellaneous properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.
Property | Description |
MaxRows | Limits the number of rows returned when no aggregation or GROUP BY is used in the query. This takes precedence over LIMIT clauses. |
Pagesize | The maximum number of results to return per page from Azure Table Storage. |
PseudoColumns | This property indicates whether or not to include pseudo columns as columns to the table. |
RowScanDepth | The maximum number of rows to scan to look for the columns available in a table. |
Timeout | The value in seconds until the timeout error is thrown, canceling the operation. |
TypeDetectionScheme | Determines how to determine the data type of columns. |
Limits the number of rows returned when no aggregation or GROUP BY is used in the query. This takes precedence over LIMIT clauses.
int
-1
Limits the number of rows returned when no aggregation or GROUP BY is used in the query. This takes precedence over LIMIT clauses.
The maximum number of results to return per page from Azure Table Storage.
int
1000
The Pagesize property affects the maximum number of results to return per page from Azure Table Storage. Setting a higher value may result in better performance at the cost of additional memory allocated per page consumed.
This property indicates whether or not to include pseudo columns as columns to the table.
string
""
This setting is particularly helpful in Entity Framework, which does not allow you to set a value for a pseudo column unless it is a table column. The value of this connection setting is of the format "Table1=Column1, Table1=Column2, Table2=Column3". You can use the "*" character to include all tables and all columns; for example, "*=*".
The maximum number of rows to scan to look for the columns available in a table.
int
1000
The columns in a table must be determined by scanning table rows. This value determines the maximum number of rows that will be scanned.
Setting a high value may decrease performance. Setting a low value may prevent the data type from being determined properly, especially when there is null data.
The value in seconds until the timeout error is thrown, canceling the operation.
int
60
If Timeout = 0, operations do not time out. The operations run until they complete successfully or until they encounter an error condition.
If Timeout expires and the operation is not yet complete, the Cloud throws an exception.
Determines how to determine the data type of columns.
string
"RowScan"
None | Setting TypeDetectionScheme to None will return all columns as the string type. |
RowScan | Setting TypeDetectionScheme to RowScan will scan rows to heuristically determine the data type. The RowScanDepth determines the number of rows to be scanned. |