Configure a Connection Profile

From the CData ribbon, click Get Data and select From Microsoft Dynamics CRM connection/s to launch the CData Query window. To setup a new connection, you will have to click the New Microsoft Dynamics CRM Connection button. Here you can set the connection settings, test the connection, and save the connection profile.

Connecting to Microsoft Dynamics CRM

To connect, set the root URL of your organization.

Authenticating to Microsoft Dynamics CRM On-Premise

To authenticate to Microsoft Dynamics CRM On-Premise, set CRMVersion = CRM2011+.

NTLM

To use SPNEGO over NTLM authentication on a CRM On-Premise deployment, set these parameters:

• AuthScheme: NTLM.
• User: The user's login Id.
• Password: The user's login password.

Example NTLM connection string:

AuthScheme=NTLM;Url='https://myOrg.crm.dynamics.com/';User=username;Password=password;CRM Version='CRM2011+'

Kerberos

To use SPNEGO over Kerberos authentication on a CRM On-Premise deployment, set these parameters:

• AuthScheme: Kerberos.
• User: The user's login Id.
• Password: The user's login password.

Example Kerberos connection string:

AuthScheme=Kerberos;Url='https://myOrg.crm.dynamics.com/';User=username;Password=password;CRM Version='CRM2011+'

Internet-Facing Deployments (IFDs)

To authenticate via an IFD, set InternetFacingDeployment to true.

Example IFD connection string:

AuthScheme=NTLM;Url='https://myOrg.com/';User=username;Password=password;InternetFacingDeployment=True;CRM Version='CRM2011+'

Authenticating to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online

You can authenticate to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online via either Azure AD (for user-based authentication) or Azure Service Principal (for Service Principal-based authentication).

To authenticate to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, set CRMVersion = CRMOnline.

Azure AD

Azure AD is Microsoft’s multi-tenant, cloud-based directory and identity management service. It is user-based authentication that requires that you set AuthScheme to AzureAD.

Authentication to Azure AD over a Web application always requires the creation of a custom OAuth application. For details, see Creating an Azure AD Application.

Desktop Applications

CData provides an embedded OAuth application that simplifies connection to Azure AD from a Desktop application.

You can also authenticate from a desktop application using a custom OAuth application. (For further information, see Creating an Azure AD Application.) To authenticate via Azure AD, set these parameters:

• AuthScheme: AzureAD.

• Custom applications only:

  • OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
  • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
  • CallbackURL: The redirect URI you defined when you registered your custom OAuth application.

When you connect, the add-in opens Microsoft Dynamics CRM's OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the application.

The add-in completes the OAuth process, obtaining an access token from Microsoft Dynamics CRM and using it to request data. The OAuth values are saved in the path specified in OAuthSettingsLocation. These values persist across connections.

When the access token expires, the add-in refreshes it automatically.

Azure Service Principal

Service principals are security objects within an Azure AD application that define what that application can do within a particular Azure AD tenant. Service Principals are created in the Azure service portal. As part of the creation process we also specify whether the service principal will access Azure AD resources via a client secret or a certificate.

Instead of being tied to a particular user, service principal permissions are based on the roles assigned to them. The application access to the resources is controlled through the assigned roles' permissions.

When authenticating using an Azure Service Principal, you must register an application with an Azure AD tenant, as described in Creating an Azure AD Application with Service Principal.

You are ready to connect after setting the properties described in this subsection. These vary, depending on whether you will authenticate via a client secret or a certificate.

Authentication with Client Secret

• AuthScheme: AzureServicePrincipal.
• AzureTenant: The Azure AD tenant to which you wish to connect.
• OAuthGrantType: CLIENT.
• OAuthClientId: The client Id in your application settings.
• OAuthClientSecret: The client secret in your application settings.

Authentication with Certificate

• AuthScheme: AzureServicePrincipalCert.
• AzureTenant: The Azure AD tenant to which you wish to connect.
• OAuthGrantType: CLIENT.
• OAuthClientId: The client Id in your application settings.
• OAuthJWTCert: The JWT Certificate store.
• OAuthJWTCertType: The JWT Certificate store type.

Connection Properties

The Connection properties describe the various options that can be used to establish a connection.

Managing Connections

After successfully authenticating to Microsoft Dynamics CRM you will be able to customize the data you are importing. To learn more about this, see Managing Connections.

See Also

• Querying Data: Use the data selection wizard to pull data into a spreadsheet. You can also configure scheduled data refresh here.
• Using the Excel Add-In: Find other ways to interact with Microsoft Dynamics CRM data, such as using the available CData Excel Functions.