Before You Connect

You can either create your own custom role definitions, or assign one of the built-in role definitions:

• CosmosDB Built-in Data Reader
• CosmosDB Built-in Data Contributor

You must also set the scope of the role assignment, where "/" means that the identity has access to all the databases.

For details, see Configure role-based access control for your Azure Cosmos DB account with Azure AD.

Adding a Connection to Azure Cosmos DB

1. In the application console, navigate to the Connections page.
2. At the Add Connections panel, select the icon for the connection you want to add.
3. If the Azure Cosmos DB icon is not available, click the Add More icon to download and install the Azure Cosmos DB connector from the CData site.

For required properties, see the Settings tab.

For connection properties that are not typically required, see the Advanced tab.

Connecting to Azure Cosmos DB

Account Key

Log in to the Azure Portal, select Azure Cosmos DB, and select your account.

Set the following to authenticate:

• AccountEndpoint: The Cosmos DB account URL. Set this to the URI value found in the Settings > Keys blade of the Cosmos DB account.
• AccountKey: A master key token or a resource token for connecting to Azure Cosmos DB. Set this to the PRIMARY KEY value found in the Settings > Keys blade of the Cosmos DB account.
• TokenType: (optional). Set this to "master" (the default value) if you are using a Master Token, which is a full permissions token generated during account creation. Otherwise, set this property to "resource" if you are using a Resource Token, which is a custom permissions token generated when a database user is set up.

Azure AD

Authentication to Azure AD over a Web application always requires the creation of a custom OAuth application .

For details about creating a custom OAuth application, see Creating an Azure AD Application.

Azure Service Principal

Azure Service Principal is role-based application-based authentication. This means that authentication is done per application, rather than per user. All tasks taken on by the application are executed without a default user context, but based on the assigned roles. The application access to the resources is controlled through the assigned roles' permissions.

For information about how to set up Azure Service Principal authentication, see Creating an Azure AD App with Service Principal.

Fine Tuning Data Access

You can use the following properties to gain greater control over Azure Cosmos DB API features and the strategies the Sync App uses to surface them:

• RowScanDepth: This property determines the number of rows that will be scanned to detect column data types when generating table metadata.
• TypeDetectionScheme: This property allows more control over the strategy implemented by the RowScanDepth property.

• GenerateSchemaFiles: This property enables you to persist table metadata in static schema files that are easy to customize, to persist your changes to column data types, for example.
  You can set this property to "OnStart" to generate schema files for all tables in your database at connection. Or, you can generate schemas as you execute SELECT queries to tables.
  The resulting schemas are based on the connection properties you use to configure Automatic Schema Discovery
  To use the resulting schema files, set the Location property to the folder containing the schemas.

Just as described in the SQL Compliance the Sync App supports batch CUD (Create, Update, Delete) operations. Batch processing is achieved by issuing multiple requests simultaneously. Even though this method greatly improves the performance for write operations, the cost of these operations is relatively high, thus the Request Units (RU) budget per second for a certain container or database may be exceeded. Depending on your Azure Cosmos DB Service Quotas, exceeding the RU budgets may incur in extra costs, or it may even temporary throttle or interrupt the Azure Cosmos DB usage for other workloads.

In order to avoid exceeding the RU budget per second, the Sync App dynamically adjusts the number of concurrent requests per second depending on the set WriteThroughputBudget and the constantly adjusted average RU cost per statement. The user can utilize the WriteThroughputBudget connection property to define the RU budged per second, that batch write operations should not exceed. Another important factor in batch write operations is the MaxThreads connection property, which specifies the maximum number of concurrent requests. If using a low MaxThreads value, the Sync App might not be able to efficiently use the available budget.

Since the requests throttling logic is applied client-side, in a few cases the RU/s budged may be exceeded by a relatively small amount. These cases include inserting, updating and deleting records with highly variable column count and input value length per column.

Note: By default, the WriteThroughputBudget property is set 1000 RU/s and the MaxThreads property is set to 200 threads.

Azure Cosmos DB is a schemaless, document database that provides high performance, availability, and scalability. These features are not necessarily incompatible with a standards-compliant query language like SQL-92. In this section we will show various schemes that the Sync App offers to bridge the gap with relational SQL and a document database.

Working with Azure Cosmos DB Objects as Tables

The Sync App models the schemaless Azure Cosmos DB objects into relational tables and translates SQL queries into Azure Cosmos DB queries to get the requested data. See Query Mapping (Sql API) for more details on how various Azure Cosmos DB operations are represented as SQL.

Discovering Schemas Automatically

The Automatic Schema Discovery scheme automatically finds the data types in a Azure Cosmos DB object by scanning a configured number of rows of the object. You can use RowScanDepth, FlattenArrays, and FlattenObjects to control the relational representation of the collections in Azure Cosmos DB. You can also write Free-Form Queries not tied to the schema.

Customizing Schemas

Optionally, you can use Custom Schema Definitions to project your chosen relational structure on top of a Azure Cosmos DB object. This allows you to define your chosen names of columns, their data types, and the location of their values in the collection.

Set GenerateSchemaFiles to save the detected schemas as simple configuration files that are easy to extend. You can persist schemas for all collections in the database or for the results of SELECT queries.

Limitations of the RawValue TypeDetectionScheme

If the TypeDetectionScheme is set to RawValue, the Sync App will push each document as single aggregate value on a column named JsonData, along with its resource identifier on the separate Primary Key column. The JSON documents are not processed, and as a result, the below functionalities are NOT supported with this configuration.

• Automatic Schema Discovery
• Free-Form Queries
• Vertical Flattening
• SQL API Built-In Functions
• SQL API GROUP BY
• Almost all server side supported filters apart from WHERE clause conditions built with the resource identifier.

The Sync App automatically infers a relational schema by inspecting a series of Azure Cosmos DB documents in a collection. You can use the RowScanDepth property to define the number of documents the Sync App will scan to do so. The columns identified during the discovery process depend on the FlattenArrays and FlattenObjects properties.

Flattening Objects

If FlattenObjects is set, all nested objects will be flattened into a series of columns. For example, consider the following document:

{
  id: 12,
  name: "Lohia Manufacturers Inc.",
  address: {street: "Main Street", city: "Chapel Hill", state: "NC"},
  offices: ["Chapel Hill", "London", "New York"],
  annual_revenue: 35,600,000
}

If FlattenObjects is not set, then the address.street, address.city, and address.state columns will not be broken apart. The address column of type string will instead represent the entire object. Its value would be {street: "Main Street", city: "Chapel Hill", state: "NC"}. See JSON Functions for more details on working with JSON aggregates.

You can change the separator character in the column name from a dot by setting SeparatorCharacter.

Flattening Arrays

The FlattenArrays property can be used to flatten array values into columns of their own. This is only recommended for arrays that are expected to be short, for example the coordinates below:

"coord": [ -73.856077, 40.848447 ]

It is best to leave other unbounded arrays as they are and piece out the data for them as needed using JSON Functions.

As discussed in Automatic Schema Discovery, intuited table schemas enable SQL access to unstructured Azure Cosmos DB data. JSON Functions enable you to use standard JSON functions to summarize Azure Cosmos DB data and extract values from any nested structures. Custom Schema Definitions enable you to define static tables and give you more granular control over the relational view of your data; for example, you can write schemas defining parent/child tables or fact/dimension tables. However, you are not limited to these schemes.

After connecting you can query any nested structure without flattening the data. Any relations that you can access with FlattenArrays and FlattenObjects can also be accessed with an ad hoc SQL query.

Let's consider an example document from the following Restaurant data set:

 
{
  "address": {
    "building": "1007",
    "coord": [
      -73.856077,
      40.848447
    ],
    "street": "Morris Park Ave",
    "zipcode": "10462"
  },
  "borough": "Bronx",
  "cuisine": "Bakery",
  "grades": [
    {
      "grade": "A",
      "score": 2,
      "date": {
        "$date": "1393804800000"
      }
    },
    {
      "date": {
        "$date": "1378857600000"
      },
      "grade": "B",
      "score": 6
    },
    {
      "score": 10,
      "date": {
        "$date": "1358985600000"
      },
      "grade": "C"
    }
  ],
  "name": "Morris Park Bake Shop",
  "restaurant_id": "30075445"
} 

SELECT [address.building], [grades.1.grade] FROM restaurants WHERE restaurant_id = '30075445'

It is possible to retrieve an array of documents as if it were a separate table. Take the following JSON structure from the restaurants collection for example:

{
  "_id" : ObjectId("568c37b748ddf53c5ed98932"),
  "address" : {
    "building" : "1007",
    "coord" : [-73.856077, 40.848447],
    "street" : "Morris Park Ave",
    "zipcode" : "10462"
  },
  "borough" : "Bronx",
  "cuisine" : "Bakery",
  "grades" : [{
      "date" : ISODate("2014-03-03T00:00:00Z"),
      "grade" : "A",
      "score" : 2
    }, {
      "date" : ISODate("2013-09-11T00:00:00Z"),
      "grade" : "A",
      "score" : 6
    }, {
      "date" : ISODate("2013-01-24T00:00:00Z"),
      "grade" : "A",
      "score" : 10
    }, {
      "date" : ISODate("2011-11-23T00:00:00Z"),
      "grade" : "A",
      "score" : 9
    }, {
      "date" : ISODate("2011-03-10T00:00:00Z"),
      "grade" : "B",
      "score" : 14
    }],
  "name" : "Morris Park Bake Shop",
  "restaurant_id" : "30075445"
}

SELECT * FROM [restaurants.grades]

You may also want to include information from the base restaurants table. You can do this with a join. Flattened arrays can only be joined with the root document. The Sync App expects the left part of the join is the array document you want to flatten vertically. Disable SupportEnhancedSQL to join nested Azure Cosmos DB documents -- this type of query is supported through the Azure Cosmos DB API.

SELECT [restaurants].[restaurant_id], [restaurants.grades].* FROM [restaurants.grades] JOIN [restaurants] WHERE [restaurants].name = 'Morris Park Bake Shop'

The Sync App can return JSON structures as column values. The Sync App enables you to use standard SQL functions to work with these JSON structures. The examples in this section use the following array:

[
     { "grade": "A", "score": 2 },
     { "grade": "A", "score": 6 },
     { "grade": "A", "score": 10 },
     { "grade": "A", "score": 9 },
     { "grade": "B", "score": 14 }
]

JSON_EXTRACT

SELECT Name, JSON_EXTRACT(grades,'[0].grade') AS Grade, JSON_EXTRACT(grades,'[0].score') AS Score FROM Students;

JSON_COUNT

SELECT Name, JSON_COUNT(grades,'[x]') AS NumberOfGrades FROM Students;

JSON_SUM

SELECT Name, JSON_SUM(score,'[x].score') AS TotalScore FROM Students;

JSON_MIN

SELECT Name, JSON_MIN(score,'[x].score') AS LowestScore FROM Students;

JSON_MAX

SELECT Name, JSON_MAX(score,'[x].score') AS HighestScore FROM Students;

DOCUMENT

The DOCUMENT function can be used to retrieve the entire document as a JSON string. See the following query and its result as an example:

SELECT DOCUMENT(*) FROM Customers;

{ "id": 12, "name": "Lohia Manufacturers Inc.", "address": { "street": "Main Street", "city": "Chapel Hill", "state": "NC"}, "offices": [ "Chapel Hill", "London", "New York" ], "annual_revenue": 35,600,000 }

Cosmos DB also supports a number of built-in functions for common operations, that can be used inside queries. Here are some example of how can be used as part of select columns or the WHERE clause:

Use Built-in functions as part of SELECT columns

SELECT IS_NUMBER(user_id) AS ISN_ATTR, IS_NUMBER(id) AS ISN_ID FROM [users]
SELECT POWER(user_id, 2) AS POWERSSS, LENGTH(id) AS LENGTH_ID, PI() AS JustThePI FROM [users]

Use Built-in functions as part of WHERE clause

SELECT * FROM [users] WHERE STARTSWITH(middle_name, 'G')
SELECT * FROM [users] WHERE REPLACE(middle_name, 'Chr', '___') = '___istopher'

Mathematical functions

The mathematical functions each perform a calculation, based on input values that are provided as arguments, and return a numeric value. Here's a table of supported built-in mathematical functions.

Type checking functions

The type checking functions allow you to check the type of an expression within SQL queries. Type checking functions can be used to determine the type of properties within documents dynamically when it is variable or unknown. Here's a table of supported built-in type checking functions.

String functions

The following scalar functions perform an operation on a string input value and return a string, numeric or Boolean value. Here's a table of built-in string functions:

Array functions

The following scalar functions perform an operation on an array input value and return numeric, Boolean or array value. Here's a table of built-in array functions:

Nested functions

You can also perform nested built-in functions, which are processed server side as well:

i.e. SELECT TOP 10 CONCAT(SUBSTRING(UPPER(cuisine), 0, 3), '-cuisine') FROM [restaurants]

The GROUP BY clause divides the query's results according to the values of one or more specified properties. This operation is partially done server-side because of some API limitations. We still need to operate a client-side grouping.

GROUP BY Examples

SELECT COUNT(*) AS CNT, gender FROM [users] GROUP BY gender
SELECT COUNT(*) AS CNT, gender, doc_type FROM [users] GROUP BY gender, doc_type

The Sync App maps SQL queries into the corresponding Azure Cosmos DB SQL API queries. A detailed description of all the transformations is out of scope, but we will describe some of the common elements that are used. The Sync App takes advantage of SQL API features such as the aggregation framework to compute the desired results.

SELECT Queries

SELECT id, name FROM Users

SELECT C.id, C.name FROM C

SELECT * FROM Users WHERE name = 'A'

SELECT * FROM C WHERE C.name = 'A'

SELECT * FROM Users WHERE name = 'A' OR email = '[email protected]'

SELECT * FROM C WHERE C.name = 'A' OR C.email = '[email protected]'

SELECT id, grantamt FROM WorldBank WHERE grantamt IN (4500000, 85400000) OR grantamt = 16200000

SELECT C.id, C.grantamt FROM C WHERE C.grantamt IN (4500000, 85400000) OR C.grantamt = 16200000

SELECT * FROM WorldBank WHERE CountryCode = 'A' ORDER BY TotalCommAmt ASC

SELECT * FROM C WHERE C.countrycode = 'AL' ORDER BY C.totalcommamt ASC

SELECT * FROM WorldBank WHERE CountryCode = 'A' ORDER BY TotalCommAmt DESC

SELECT * FROM C WHERE C.countrycode = 'AL' ORDER BY C.totalcommamt DESC

Aggregate Queries

SELECT COUNT(grantamt) AS COUNT_GRAMT FROM WorldBank

SELECT COUNT(C.grantamt) AS COUNT_GRAMT FROM C

SELECT SUM(grantamt) AS SUM_GRAMT FROM WorldBank

SELECT SUM(C.grantamt) AS SUM_GRAMT FROM C

Built-In functions

SELECT IS_NUMBER(grantamt) AS ISN_ATTR, IS_NUMBER(id) AS ISN_ID FROM WorldBank

SELECT IS_NUMBER(C.grantamt) AS ISN_ATTR, IS_NUMBER(C.id) AS ISN_ID FROM C

SELECT POWER(totalamt, 2) AS POWERS_A, LENGTH(id) AS LENGTH_ID, PI() AS ThePI FROM WorldBank

SELECT POWER(C.totalamt, 2) AS POWERS_A, LENGTH(C.id) AS LENGTH_ID, PI() AS ThePI FROM C

You can extend the table schemas created with Automatic Schema Discovery by saving them into schema files. The schema files have a simple format that makes the schemas to edit.

Generating Schema Files

Set GenerateSchemaFiles to "OnStart" to persist schemas for all tables when you connect. You can also generate table schemas as needed: Set GenerateSchemaFiles to "OnUse" and execute a SELECT query to the table.

For example, consider a schema for the restaurants data set. This is a sample data set provided by Azure Cosmos DB.

Below is an example document from the collection:

{
  "address":{
    "building":"461",
      "coord":[
        -74.138492,
        40.631136
      ],
      "street":"Port Richmond Ave",
      "zipcode":"10302"
   },
   "borough":"Staten Island",
   "cuisine":"Other",
   "name":"Indian Oven",
   "restaurant_id":"50018994"
}

Customizing a Schema

When GenerateSchemaFiles is set, the Sync App saves schemas into the folder specified by the Location property. You can then change column behavior in the resulting schema.

The following schema uses the other:bsonpath property to define where in the collection to retrieve the data for a particular column. Using this model you can flatten arbitrary levels of hierarchy.

Below are the corresponding column definitions for the restaurants data set. In Custom Schema Example, you will find the complete schema.

<rsb:script xmlns:rsb="http://www.rssbus.com/ns/rsbscript/2">  

  <rsb:info title="StaticRestaurants" description="Custom Schema for the restaurants data set.">  
    <!-- Column definitions -->
    <attr   name="_rid"               xs:type="string"   key="true"   other:collrid="hWdRAKRi3Pg=" other:dbrid="hWdRAA==" other:partitionpath="/name" />
	<attr   name="borough"            xs:type="string"   />
    <attr   name="cuisine"            xs:type="string"   />
    <attr   name="address.building"   xs:type="string"   />
    <attr   name="address.street"     xs:type="string"   />
    <attr   name="address.coord.0"    xs:type="double"   />
    <attr   name="address.coord.1"    xs:type="double"   />
    <input name="rows@next" desc="Internal attribute used for paging through data."  />
  </rsb:info>  

  <rsb:set attr="collection" value="restaurants"/>

</rsb:script>

This section contains a complete schema. The info section enables a relational view of a Azure Cosmos DB object. For more details, see Custom Schema Definitions. The table below allows the SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE commands as implemented in the GET, POST, MERGE, and DELETE sections of the schema below.

Copy the rows@next input as-is into your schema. The operations, such as cosmosdbadoSysData, are internal implementations and can also be copied as is.

Set the Location property to the file directory that will contain the schema file.

When, creating custom schemas, the attr for _rid, shown below, is required.

Also required are three properties for the _rid column definition:

• other:dbrid is found in the _self property of an item in the collection, after "dbs/".
• other:collrid is found in the _self property of an item in the collection, after "/colls/".
• other:partitionpath refers to the name of the partition specified when the collection was created.

<rsb:script xmlns:rsb="http://www.rssbus.com/ns/rsbscript/2">  

  <rsb:info title="StaticRestaurants" description="Custom Schema for the restaurants data set.">  
    <!-- Column definitions -->
	<attr   name="_rid"               xs:type="string"   key="true"   other:collrid="hWdRAKRi3Pg=" other:dbrid="hWdRAA==" other:partitionpath="/name" />
    <attr   name="borough"            xs:type="string"   />
    <attr   name="cuisine"            xs:type="string"   />
    <attr   name="address.building"   xs:type="string"   />
    <attr   name="address.street"     xs:type="string"   />
    <attr   name="address.coord.0"    xs:type="double"   />
    <attr   name="address.coord.1"    xs:type="double"   />
    <input name="rows@next" desc="Internal attribute used for paging through data."  />
  </rsb:info>  

  <rsb:script method="GET">
    <rsb:call op="cosmosdbadoSysData">
      <rsb:push />
    </rsb:call>
  </rsb:script>

  <rsb:script method="POST">
    <rsb:call op="cosmosdbadoSysData">
      <rsb:push />
    </rsb:call>
  </rsb:script>

  <rsb:script method="MERGE">
    <rsb:call op="cosmosdbadoSysData">
      <rsb:push />
    </rsb:call>
  </rsb:script>

  <rsb:script method="DELETE">
    <rsb:call op="cosmosdbadoSysData">
      <rsb:push />
    </rsb:call>
  </rsb:script>

</rsb:script>

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.

Authentication

Azure Authentication

OAuth

JWT OAuth

SSL

Firewall

Proxy

Logging

Schema

Miscellaneous

This section provides a complete list of the Authentication properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.

The type of authentication to use when connecting to Azure Cosmos DB.

Remarks

• AccountKey: Set this to perform authentication with AccountKey and AccountEndpoint.
• AzureAD: Set this to perform Azure Active Directory OAuth authentication.
• AzureServicePrincipal: Set this to authenticate as an Azure Service Principal using a Client Secret.
• AzureServicePrincipalCert: Set this to authenticate as an Azure Service Principal using a Certificate.

The value should be the Cosmos DB account URL from the Keys blade of the Cosmos DB account.

Remarks

The value should be the Cosmos DB account URL from the Keys blade of the Cosmos DB account.

A master key token or a resource token for connecting to the Azure Cosmos DB REST API.

Remarks

In the Azure portal, navigate to the Cosmos DB service and select your Azure Cosmos DB account. From the resource menu, go to the Keys page. Find the PRIMARY KEY value and set Token to this value.

Denotes the type of token: master or resource.

Remarks

The master key is created during the creation of an account. There are two sets of master keys, the primary key and the secondary key. The administrator of the account can then exercise key rotation using the secondary key. In addition, the account administrator can also regenerate the keys as needed.

Resource tokens are created when users in a database are set up with access permissions for precise access control on a resource, also known as a permission resource. A permission resource contains a hash resource token constructed with the information regarding the resource path and access type a user has access to. The permission resource token is time bound and the validity period can be overridden. When a permission resource is acted upon on (POST, GET, PUT), a new resource token is generated.

This section provides a complete list of the Azure Authentication properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.

Identifies the Azure Cosmos DB tenant being used to access data, either by name (for example, contoso.omnicrosoft.com) or ID. (Conditional).

Remarks

A tenant is a digital representation of your organization, primarily associated with a domain (for example, microsoft.com). The tenant is managed through a Tenant ID (also known as the directory ID), which is specified whenever you assign users permissions to access or manage Azure resources.

To locate the directory ID in the Azure Portal, navigate to Azure Active Directory > Properties.

Specifying AzureTenant is required when AuthScheme = either AzureServicePrincipal or AzureServicePrincipalCert, or if AuthScheme = AzureAD and the user belongs to more than one tenant.

A tenant is a digital representation of your organization, primarily associated with a domain (for example, microsoft.com). The tenant is managed through a Tenant ID (also known as the directory ID), which is specified whenever you assign users permissions to access or manage Azure resources.

To locate the directory ID in the Azure Portal, navigate to Azure Active Directory > Properties.

Specifying AzureTenant is required when AuthScheme = either AzureServicePrincipal or AzureServicePrincipalCert, or if AuthScheme = AzureAD and the user belongs to more than one tenant.

Specifies the Azure network environment to which you will connect. Must be the same network to which your Azure account was added.

Remarks

Required if your Azure account is part of a different network than the Global network, such as China, USGOVT, or USGOVTDOD.

This section provides a complete list of the OAuth properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.

Specifies the grant type for the chosen OAuth flow. This value should be the same as the grant_type that was set during OAuth custom application creation.

Remarks

In most cases, the default grant type should not be modified. For information about the most common OAuth grant types and the trade-offs between them, see https://oauth.net/2/grant-types/.

This section provides a complete list of the JWT OAuth properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.

The JWT Certificate store.

Remarks

The name of the certificate store for the client certificate.

The OAuthJWTCertType field specifies the type of the certificate store specified by OAuthJWTCert. If the store is password protected, specify the password in OAuthJWTCertPassword.

OAuthJWTCert is used in conjunction with the OAuthJWTCertSubject field in order to specify client certificates. If OAuthJWTCert has a value, and OAuthJWTCertSubject is set, a search for a certificate is initiated. Please refer to the OAuthJWTCertSubject field for details.

Designations of certificate stores are platform-dependent.

The following are designations of the most common User and Machine certificate stores in Windows:

In Java, the certificate store normally is a file containing certificates and optional private keys.

When the certificate store type is PFXFile, this property must be set to the name of the file. When the type is PFXBlob, the property must be set to the binary contents of a PFX file (i.e. PKCS12 certificate store).

The type of key store containing the JWT Certificate.

Remarks

This property can take one of the following values:

The password for the OAuth JWT certificate used to access a certificate store that requires a password. If the certificate store does not require a password, leave this property blank.

Remarks

This property specifies the password needed to open the certificate store, but only if the store type requires one. To determine if a password is necessary, refer to the documentation or configuration for your specific certificate store.

The subject of the OAuth JWT certificate used to locate a matching certificate in the store. Supports partial matches and the wildcard '*' to select the first certificate.

Remarks

The value of this property is used to locate a matching certificate in the store. The search process works as follows:

• If an exact match for the subject is found, the corresponding certificate is selected.
• If no exact match is found, the store is searched for certificates whose subjects contain the property value.
• If no match is found, no certificate is selected.

You can set the value to '*' to automatically select the first certificate in the store. The certificate subject is a comma-separated list of distinguished name fields and values. For example: CN=www.server.com, OU=test, C=US, [email protected]. Common fields include:

If a field value contains a comma, enclose it in quotes. For example: "O=ACME, Inc.".

This section provides a complete list of the SSL properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.

Specifies the TLS/SSL client certificate store for SSL Client Authentication (2-way SSL). This property works in conjunction with other SSL-related properties to establish a secure connection.

Remarks

This property specifies the client certificate store for SSL Client Authentication. Use this property alongside SSLClientCertType, which defines the type of the certificate store, and SSLClientCertPassword, which specifies the password for password-protected stores. When SSLClientCert is set and SSLClientCertSubject is configured, the driver searches for a certificate matching the specified subject.

Certificate store designations vary by platform. On Windows, certificate stores are identified by names such as MY (personal certificates), while in Java, the certificate store is typically a file containing certificates and optional private keys.

The following are designations of the most common User and Machine certificate stores in Windows:

For PFXFile types, set this property to the filename. For PFXBlob types, set this property to the binary contents of the file in PKCS12 format.

Specifies the type of key store containing the TLS/SSL client certificate for SSL Client Authentication. Choose from a variety of key store formats depending on your platform and certificate source.

Remarks

This property determines the format and location of the key store used to provide the client certificate. Supported values include platform-specific and universal key store formats. The available values and their usage are:

Specifes the password required to access the TLS/SSL client certificate store. Use this property if the selected certificate store type requires a password for access.

Remarks

This property provides the password needed to open a password-protected certificate store. This property is necessary when using certificate stores that require a password for decryption, as is often recommended for PFX or JKS type stores.

If the certificate store type does not require a password, for example USER or MACHINE on Windows, this property can be left blank. Ensure that the password matches the one associated with the specified certificate store to avoid authentication errors.

Specifes the subject of the TLS/SSL client certificate to locate it in the certificate store. Use a comma-separated list of distinguished name fields, such as CN=www.server.com, C=US. The wildcard * selects the first certificate in the store.

Remarks

This property determines which client certificate to load based on its subject. The Sync App searches for a certificate that exactly matches the specified subject. If no exact match is found, the Sync App looks for certificates containing the value of the subject. If no match is found, no certificate is selected.

The subject should follow the standard format of a comma-separated list of distinguished name fields and values. For example, CN=www.server.com, OU=Test, C=US. Common fields include the following:

Note: If any field contains special characters, such as commas, the value must be quoted. For example: CN="Example, Inc.", C=US.

Specifies the certificate to be accepted from the server when connecting using TLS/SSL.

Remarks

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:

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 Firewall properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.

Specifies the protocol the provider uses to tunnel traffic through a proxy-based firewall.

Remarks

A proxy-based firewall (or proxy firewall) is a network security device that acts as an intermediary between user requests and the resources they access. The proxy accepts the request of an authenticated user, tunnels through the firewall, and transmits the request to the appropriate server.

Because the proxy evaluates and transfers data backets on behalf of the requesting users, the users never connect directly with the servers, only with the proxy.

Note: By default, the Sync App connects to the system proxy. To disable this behavior and connect to one of the following proxy types, set ProxyAutoDetect to false.

The following table provides port number information for each of the supported protocols.

To connect to HTTP proxies, use ProxyServer and ProxyPort. To authenticate to HTTP proxies, use ProxyAuthScheme, ProxyUser, and ProxyPassword.

Identifies the IP address, DNS name, or host name of a proxy used to traverse a firewall and relay user queries to network resources.

Remarks

A proxy-based firewall (or proxy firewall) is a network security device that acts as an intermediary between user requests and the resources they access. The proxy accepts the request of an authenticated user, tunnels through the firewall, and transmits the request to the appropriate server.

Because the proxy evaluates and transfers data backets on behalf of the requesting users, the users never connect directly with the servers, only with the proxy.

Specifies the TCP port to be used for a proxy-based firewall.

Remarks

A proxy-based firewall (or proxy firewall) is a network security device that acts as an intermediary between user requests and the resources they access. The proxy accepts the request of an authenticated user, tunnels through the firewall, and transmits the request to the appropriate server.

Because the proxy evaluates and transfers data backets on behalf of the requesting users, the users never connect directly with the servers, only with the proxy.

Identifies the user ID of the account authenticating to a proxy-based firewall.

Remarks

A proxy-based firewall (or proxy firewall) is a network security device that acts as an intermediary between user requests and the resources they access. The proxy accepts the request of an authenticated user, tunnels through the firewall, and transmits the request to the appropriate server.

Because the proxy evaluates and transfers data backets on behalf of the requesting users, the users never connect directly with the servers, only with the proxy.

Specifies the password of the user account authenticating to a proxy-based firewall.

Remarks

A proxy-based firewall (or proxy firewall) is a network security device that acts as an intermediary between user requests and the resources they access. The proxy accepts the request of an authenticated user, tunnels through the firewall, and transmits the request to the appropriate server.

Because the proxy evaluates and transfers data backets on behalf of the requesting users, the users never connect directly with the servers, only with the proxy.

This section provides a complete list of the Proxy properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.

Specifies whether the provider checks your system proxy settings for existing proxy server configurations, rather than using a manually specified proxy server.

Remarks

When this connection property is set to True, the Sync App checks your system proxy settings for existing proxy server configurations (no need to manually supply proxy server details).

This connection property takes precedence over other proxy settings. Set to False if you want to manually configure the Sync App to connect to a specific proxy server.

To connect to an HTTP proxy, see ProxyServer. For other proxies, such as SOCKS or tunneling, see FirewallType.

The hostname or IP address of the proxy server that you want to route HTTP traffic through.

Remarks

The Sync App only routes HTTP traffic through the proxy server specified in this connection property when ProxyAutoDetect is set to False. If ProxyAutoDetect is set to True, which is the default, the Sync App instead routes HTTP traffic through the proxy server specified in your system proxy settings.

The TCP port on your specified proxy server (set in the ProxyServer connection property) that has been reserved for routing HTTP traffic to and from the client.

Remarks

The Sync App only routes HTTP traffic through the proxy server port specified in this connection property when ProxyAutoDetect is set to False. If ProxyAutoDetect is set to True, which is the default, the Sync App instead routes HTTP traffic through the proxy server port specified in your system proxy settings.

For other proxy types, see FirewallType.

Specifies the authentication method the provider uses when authenticating to the proxy server specified in the ProxyServer connection property.

Remarks

The authentication type can be one of the following:

• BASIC: The Sync App performs HTTP BASIC authentication.
• DIGEST: The Sync App performs HTTP DIGEST authentication.
• NTLM: The Sync App retrieves an NTLM token.
• NEGOTIATE: The Sync App retrieves an NTLM or Kerberos token based on the applicable protocol for authentication.
• NONE: Set this when the ProxyServer does not require authentication.

For all values other than "NONE", you must also set the ProxyUser and ProxyPassword connection properties.

If you need to use another authentication type, such as SOCKS 5 authentication, see FirewallType.

The username of a user account registered with the proxy server specified in the ProxyServer connection property.

Remarks

The ProxyUser and ProxyPassword connection properties are used to connect and authenticate against the HTTP proxy specified in ProxyServer.

After selecting one of the available authentication types in ProxyAuthScheme, set this property as follows:

The Sync App only uses this username if ProxyAutoDetect is set to False. If ProxyAutoDetect is set to True, which is the default, the Sync App instead uses the username specified in your system proxy settings.

The password associated with the user specified in the ProxyUser connection property.

Remarks

The ProxyUser and ProxyPassword connection properties are used to connect and authenticate against the HTTP proxy specified in ProxyServer.

After selecting one of the available authentication types in ProxyAuthScheme, set this property as follows:

For SOCKS 5 authentication or tunneling, see FirewallType.

The Sync App only uses this password if ProxyAutoDetect is set to False. If ProxyAutoDetect is set to True, which is the default, the Sync App instead uses the password specified in your system proxy settings.

The SSL type to use when connecting to the proxy server specified in the ProxyServer connection property.

Remarks

This property determines when to use SSL for the connection to the HTTP proxy specified by ProxyServer. You can set this connection property to the following values :

A semicolon separated list of destination hostnames or IPs that are exempt from connecting through the proxy server set in the ProxyServer connection property.

Remarks

The ProxyServer is used for all addresses, except for addresses defined in this property. Use semicolons to separate entries.

Note that the Sync App uses the system proxy settings by default, without further configuration needed. If you want to explicitly configure proxy exceptions for this connection, set ProxyAutoDetect to False.

This section provides a complete list of the Logging properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.

Specifies the core modules to include in the log file. Use a semicolon-separated list of module names. By default, all modules are logged.

Remarks

This property lets you customize the log file content by specifying the logging modules to include. Logging modules categorize logged information into distinct areas, such as query execution, metadata, or SSL communication. Each module is represented by a four-character code, with some requiring a trailing space for three-letter names.

For example, EXEC logs query execution, and INFO logs general provider messages. To include multiple modules, separate their names with semicolons as follows: INFO;EXEC;SSL.

The Verbosity connection property takes precedence over the module-based filtering specified by this property. Only log entries that meet the verbosity level and belong to the specified modules are logged. Leave this property blank to include all available modules in the log file.

For a complete list of available modules and detailed guidance on configuring logging, refer to the Advanced Logging section in Logging.

This section provides a complete list of the Schema properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.

Specifies the location of a directory containing schema files that define tables, views, and stored procedures. Depending on your service's requirements, this may be expressed as either an absolute path or a relative path.

Remarks

The Location property is only needed if you want to either customize definitions (for example, change a column name, ignore a column, etc.) or extend the data model with new tables, views, or stored procedures.

If left unspecified, the default location is %APPDATA%\\CData\\CosmosDB Data Provider\\Schema, where %APPDATA% is set to the user's configuration directory:

Optional setting that restricts the schemas reported to a subset of all available schemas. For example, BrowsableSchemas=SchemaA,SchemaB,SchemaC .

Remarks

Listing all available database schemas can take extra time, thus degrading performance. Providing a list of schemas in the connection string saves time and improves performance.

Optional setting that restricts the tables reported to a subset of all available tables. For example, Tables=TableA,TableB,TableC .

Remarks

Listing all available tables from some databases can take extra time, thus degrading performance. Providing a list of tables in the connection string saves time and improves performance.

If there are lots of tables available and you already know which ones you want to work with, you can use this property to restrict your viewing to only those tables. To do this, specify the tables you want in a comma-separated list. Each table should be a valid SQL identifier with any special characters escaped using square brackets, double-quotes or backticks. For example, Tables=TableA,[TableB/WithSlash],WithCatalog.WithSchema.`TableC With Space`.

Note: If you are connecting to a data source with multiple schemas or catalogs, you must specify each table you want to view by its fully qualified name. This avoids ambiguity between tables that may exist in multiple catalogs or schemas.

Optional setting that restricts the views reported to a subset of the available tables. For example, Views=ViewA,ViewB,ViewC .

Remarks

Listing all available views from some databases can take extra time, thus degrading performance. Providing a list of views in the connection string saves time and improves performance.

If there are lots of views available and you already know which ones you want to work with, you can use this property to restrict your viewing to only those views. To do this, specify the views you want in a comma-separated list. Each view should be a valid SQL identifier with any special characters escaped using square brackets, double-quotes or backticks. For example, Views=ViewA,[ViewB/WithSlash],WithCatalog.WithSchema.`ViewC With Space`.

Note: If you are connecting to a data source with multiple schemas or catalogs, you must specify each view you want to examine by its fully qualified name. This avoids ambiguity between views that may exist in multiple catalogs or schemas.

Specify the Azure Cosmos DB database you want to work with.

Remarks

Specify the Azure Cosmos DB database you want to work with.

This section provides a complete list of the Miscellaneous properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.

Specifies whether will return the calculated value of the aggregates or grouped by partiton range.

Remarks

Specifies whether will return the calculated value of the aggregates or grouped by partiton range.

Denotes the type of token: master or resource.

Remarks

The consistency level override for read options against documents and attachments. The valid values are: Strong, Bounded, Session, or Eventual (in order of strongest to weakest). The override must be the same or weaker than the account's configured consistency level.

The consistency level override for read options against documents and attachments. The valid values are: Strong, Bounded, Session, or Eventual (in order of strongest to weakest). The override must be the same or weaker than the account's configured consistency level.

By default, nested arrays are returned as strings of JSON. The FlattenArrays property can be used to flatten the elements of nested arrays into columns of their own. Set FlattenArrays to the number of elements you want to return from nested arrays.

Remarks

By default, nested arrays are returned as strings of JSON. The FlattenArrays property can be used to flatten the elements of nested arrays into columns of their own. This is only recommended for arrays that are expected to be short.

Set FlattenArrays to the number of elements you want to return from nested arrays. The specified elements are returned as columns. The zero-based index is concatenated to the column name. Other elements are ignored.

For example, you can return an arbitrary number of elements from an array of strings:

["FLOW-MATIC","LISP","COBOL"]

Setting FlattenArrays to -1 will flatten all the elements of nested arrays.

Set FlattenObjects to true to flatten object properties into columns of their own. Otherwise, objects nested in arrays are returned as strings of JSON.

Remarks

Set FlattenObjects to true to flatten object properties into columns of their own. Otherwise, objects nested in arrays are returned as strings of JSON. The property name is concatenated onto the object name with a dot to generate the column name.

For example, you can flatten the nested objects below at connection time:

[
     { "grade": "A", "score": 2 },
     { "grade": "A", "score": 6 },
     { "grade": "A", "score": 10 },
     { "grade": "A", "score": 9 },
     { "grade": "B", "score": 14 }
]

Force the use of an index scan to process the query if indexing is disabled or the right index path is not available.

Remarks

Queries against containers where indexing is disabled or paths are excluded may fail. Set this property to true to force the use of indexing on the server so the query is processed successfully. By default, queries that require the use of indexing on containers where IndexingMode=None are handled client-side.

Indicates the user preference as to when schemas should be generated and saved.

Remarks

GenerateSchemaFiles enables you to save the table definitions identified by Automatic Schema Discovery. This property outputs schemas to .rsd files in the path specified by Location.

Available settings are the following:

• Never: A schema file will never be generated.
• OnUse: A schema file will be generated the first time a table is referenced, provided the schema file for the table does not already exist.
• OnStart: A schema file will be generated at connection time for any tables that do not currently have a schema file.
• OnCreate: A schema file will be generated by when running a CREATE TABLE SQL query.

Generate Schemas with SQL

When you set GenerateSchemaFiles to OnUse, the Sync App generates schemas as you execute SELECT queries. Schemas are generated for each table referenced in the query.

When you set GenerateSchemaFiles to OnCreate, schemas are only generated when a CREATE TABLE query is executed.

Generate Schemas on Connection

Another way to use this property is to obtain schemas for every table in your database when you connect. To do so, set GenerateSchemaFiles to OnStart and connect.

Alternatives to Static Schemas

If your data structures are volatile, consider setting GenerateSchemaFiles to Never and using dynamic schemas. See Automatic Schema Discovery for more information about dynamic schemas.

Editing Schemas

Schema files have a simple format that makes them easy to modify. See Custom Schema Definitions for more information.

Specifies the maximum rows returned for queries without aggregation or GROUP BY.

Remarks

This property sets an upper limit on the number of rows the Sync App returns for queries that do not include aggregation or GROUP BY clauses. This limit ensures that queries do not return excessively large result sets by default.

When a query includes a LIMIT clause, the value specified in the query takes precedence over the MaxRows setting. If MaxRows is set to "-1", no row limit is enforced unless a LIMIT clause is explicitly included in the query.

This property is useful for optimizing performance and preventing excessive resource consumption when executing queries that could otherwise return very large datasets.

Specifies the maximum number of concurrent requests for Batch CUD (Create, Update, Delete) operations.

Remarks

This property should be used in conjunction with the WriteThroughputBudget connection property. The Sync App may execute less parallel requests than the configured MaxThreads value, since it always aims to not exceed the WriteThroughputBudget limit. The number of concurrent requests will also depend on the running machine's resources.

Note: This property is applicable only when executing batch CUD operations.

Aggregate queries in partitioned collections will require parallel requests for different partition ranges. Set this to the number of parallel request to be issued in the same time.

Remarks

Aggregate queries in partitioned collections will require parallel requests for different partition ranges. Set this to the number of parallel request to be issued in the same time.

Specifies additional hidden properties for specific use cases. These are not required for typical provider functionality. Use a semicolon-separated list to define multiple properties.

Remarks

This property allows advanced users to configure hidden properties for specialized scenarios. These settings are not required for normal use cases but can address unique requirements or provide additional functionality. Multiple properties can be defined in a semicolon-separated list.

Note: It is strongly recommended to set these properties only when advised by the support team to address specific scenarios or issues.

Specify multiple properties in a semicolon-separated list.

Integration and Formatting

Specifies the maximum number of results to return from Azure Cosmos DB, per page. This setting overrides the default page size set by the datasource, which is optimized for most use cases.

Remarks

You may want to adjust the default pagesize to optimize results for a particular object or service endpoint you are querying. Be aware that increasing the page size may improve performance, but it could also result in higher memory consumption per page.

Specifies the pseudocolumns to expose as table columns. Use the format 'TableName=ColumnName;TableName=ColumnName'. The default is an empty string, which disables this property.

Remarks

This property allows you to define which pseudocolumns the Sync App exposes as table columns.

To specify individual pseudocolumns, use the following format: "Table1=Column1;Table1=Column2;Table2=Column3"

To include all pseudocolumns for all tables use: "*=*"

Specifies the priority level for requests sent to Azure Cosmos DB when the number of requests exceeds the configured RU/s within a second.

Remarks

• None: Sends requests with the default priority.
• Low: Sends requests with low priority.
• High: Sends requests with high priority.

The maximum number of rows to scan to look for the columns available in a table.

Remarks

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 character or characters used to denote hierarchy.

Remarks

In order to flatten out hierarchical structures, the Sync App needs some specifier that states the path to a column through the hierarchy. If this value is "." and a column comes back with the name address.city, this indicates that there is a mapped attribute with a child called city. If your data has columns that already use a single period within the attribute name, set the SeparatorCharacter to a different character or characters.

Whether or not to use the collection's Partition Key field as part of composite Primary Key for the corresponding exposed table.

Remarks

By default, this is set to TRUE, and the collection's Partition Key is used as part of the table's composite Primary Key along with the _rid column. If this is set to FALSE, only the _rid column will serve as the Primary Key for the exposed table.

Specifies the maximum time, in seconds, that the provider waits for a server response before throwing a timeout error. The default is 60 seconds. Set to 0 to disable the timeout.

Remarks

This property controls the maximum time, in seconds, that the Sync App waits for an operation to complete before canceling it. If the timeout period expires before the operation finishes, the Sync App cancels the operation and throws an exception.

The timeout applies to each individual communication with the server rather than the entire query or operation. For example, a query could continue running beyond 60 seconds if each paging call completes within the timeout limit.

Setting this property to 0 disables the timeout, allowing operations to run indefinitely until they succeed or fail due to other conditions such as server-side timeouts, network interruptions, or resource limits on the server. Use this property cautiously to avoid long-running operations that could degrade performance or result in unresponsive behavior.

Comma-separated options for how the provider will scan the data to determine the fields and datatypes in each document collection.

Remarks

Specifies a filepath to a JSON configuration file defining custom views. The provider automatically detects and uses the views specified in this file.

Remarks

This property allows you to define and manage custom views through a JSON-formatted configuration file called UserDefinedViews.json. These views are automatically recognized by the Sync App and enable you to execute custom SQL queries as if they were standard database views. The JSON file defines each view as a root element with a child element called "query", which contains the SQL query for the view. For example:

{
	"MyView": {
		"query": "SELECT * FROM [CData].[Entities].Customers WHERE MyColumn = 'value'"
	},
	"MyView2": {
		"query": "SELECT * FROM MyTable WHERE Id IN (1,2,3)"
	}
}

You can define multiple views in a single file and specify the filepath using this property. For example: UserDefinedViews=C:\Path\To\UserDefinedViews.json. When you use this property, only the specified views are seen by the Sync App.

Refer to User Defined Views for more information.

Set this property to false to switch using the id column as primary key instead the default _rid.

Remarks

Since CosmosDB allows you to use both _rid and id fields as unique values for retrieving resource data, you can set this property to false to switch using the id column as primary key instead the default _rid.

Defines the Requests Units (RU) budget per Second that the Batch CUD (Create, Update, Delete) operations should not exceed.

Remarks

The Sync App will dynamically adjust the maximum number of requests per second depending on the configured RU budget. Although the Sync App always aims to not exceed the RU budget, since the requests throttling logic is applied client-side, it may be exceeded by a relatively small amount in a few cases. These cases include inserting, updating and deleting records with highly variable column count and input value length per column.

Note: This property is applicable only when executing batch CUD operations.