How to integrate Cosmos DB using SSIS
Learn how to quickly and efficiently connect Cosmos DB with SSIS for smooth data access.
Read and write Azure Cosmos DB data effortlessly. Query, integrate, and manage databases, containers, documents, and users — almost no coding required. You can do it all using the high-performance Cosmos DB Connector for SSIS. We'll walk you through the entire setup.
Ready to dive in? Download the product to jump right in, or follow the step-by-step guide below to see how it works.
Video Tutorial
This video covers the following topics and more, so please watch carefully. After watching the video, follow the steps outlined in this article:
- How to download and install the required PowerPack for Cosmos DB integration in SSIS
- How to configure the connection for Cosmos DB
- Features of the ZappySys API Source (Authentication / Query Language / Examples / Driver UI)
- How to use the Cosmos DB in SSIS
Prerequisites
Before we begin, make sure the following prerequisites are met:
- SSIS designer installed. Sometimes it is referred as BIDS or SSDT (download it from Microsoft).
- Basic knowledge of SSIS package development using Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services.
- SSIS PowerPack is installed (if you are new to SSIS PowerPack, then get started!).
Read data from Cosmos DB in SSIS (Export data)
In this section we will learn how to configure and use Cosmos DB Connector in API Source to extract data from Cosmos DB.
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Begin with opening Visual Studio and Create a New Project.
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Select Integration Service Project and in new project window set the appropriate name and location for project. And click OK.
In the new SSIS project screen you will find the following:
- SSIS ToolBox on left side bar
- Solution Explorer and Property Window on right bar
- Control flow, data flow, event Handlers, Package Explorer in tab windows
- Connection Manager Window in the bottom
Note: If you don't see ZappySys SSIS PowerPack Task or Components in SSIS Toolbox, please refer to this help link. -
Now, Drag and Drop SSIS Data Flow Task from SSIS Toolbox. Double click on the Data Flow Task to see Data Flow designer.
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From the SSIS toolbox drag and API Source (Predefined Templates) on the data flow designer surface, and double click on it to edit it:
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Select New Connection to create a new connection:
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Use a preinstalled Cosmos DB Connector from Popular Connector List or press Search Online radio button to download Cosmos DB Connector. Once downloaded simply use it in the configuration:
Cosmos DB
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Now it's time to configure authentication. Firstly, configure authentication settings in Cosmos DB service and then proceed by configuring API Connection Manager. Start by expanding an authentication type:
Cosmos DB authentication
Connecting to your Azure Cosmos DB data requires you to authenticate your REST API access. Follow the instructions below:- Go to your Azure portal homepage: https://portal.azure.com/.
- In the search bar at the top of the homepage, enter Azure Cosmos DB. In the dropdown that appears, select Azure Cosmos DB.
- Click on the name of the database account you want to connect to (also copy and paste the name of the database account for later use).
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On the next page where you can see all of the database account information, look along the left side and select Keys:
- On the Keys page, you will have two tabs: Read-write Keys and Read-only Keys. If you are going to write data to your database, you need to remain on the Read-write Keys tab. If you are only going to read data from your database, you should select the Read-only Keys tab.
- On the Keys page, copy the PRIMARY KEY value and paste it somewhere for later use (the SECONDARY KEY value may also be copied and used).
- Now go to SSIS package or ODBC data source and use this PRIMARY KEY in API Key authentication configuration.
- Enter the primary or secondary key you recorded in step 6 into the Primary or Secondary Key field.
- Then enter the database account you recorded in step 3 into the Database Account field.
- Next, enter or select the default database you want to connect to using the Default Database field.
- Continue by entering or selecting the default table (i.e. container/collection) you want to connect to using the Default Table (Container/Collection) field.
- Select the Test Connection button at the bottom of the window to verify proper connectivity with your Azure Cosmos DB account.
- If the connection test succeeds, select OK.
- Done! Now you are ready to use Cosmos DB Connector!
API Connection Manager configuration
Just perform these simple steps to finish authentication configuration:
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Set Authentication Type to
API Key [Http] - Optional step. Modify API Base URL if needed (in most cases default will work).
- Fill in all the required parameters and set optional parameters if needed.
- Finally, hit OK button:
Cosmos DBAPI Key [Http]https://[$Account$].documents.azure.comRequired Parameters Primary or Secondary Key Fill-in the parameter... Account Name (Case-Sensitive) Fill-in the parameter... Database Name (keep blank to use default) Case-Sensitive Fill-in the parameter... API Version Fill-in the parameter... Optional Parameters Default Table (needed to invoke #DirectSQL) 
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Select the desired endpoint, change/pass the properties values, and click on Preview Data button to make the API call.
API Source - Cosmos DBRead and write Azure Cosmos DB data effortlessly. Query, integrate, and manage databases, containers, documents, and users — almost no coding required.
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That's it! We are done! Just in a few clicks we configured the call to Cosmos DB using Cosmos DB Connector.
You can load the source data into your desired destination using the Upsert Destination , which supports SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and Amazon Redshift. We also offer other destinations such as CSV , Excel , Azure Table , Salesforce , and more . You can check out our SSIS PowerPack Tasks and components for more options. (*loaded in Trash Destination)
Write data to Cosmos DB using SSIS (Import data)
In this section we will learn how to configure and use Cosmos DB Connector in the API Destination to write data to Cosmos DB.
Video tutorial
This video covers following and more so watch carefully. After watching this video follow the steps described in this article.
- How to download SSIS PowerPack for Cosmos DB integration in SSIS
- How to configure connection for Cosmos DB
- How to write or lookup data to Cosmos DB
- Features about SSIS API Destination
- Using Cosmos DB Connector in SSIS
Step-by-step instructions
In upper section we learned how to read data, now in this section we will learn how to configure Cosmos DB in the API Source to POST data to the Cosmos DB.
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Begin with opening Visual Studio and Create a New Project.
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Select Integration Service Project and in new project window set the appropriate name and location for project. And click OK.
In the new SSIS project screen you will find the following:
- SSIS ToolBox on left side bar
- Solution Explorer and Property Window on right bar
- Control flow, data flow, event Handlers, Package Explorer in tab windows
- Connection Manager Window in the bottom
Note: If you don't see ZappySys SSIS PowerPack Task or Components in SSIS Toolbox, please refer to this help link. -
Now, Drag and Drop SSIS Data Flow Task from SSIS Toolbox. Double click on the Data Flow Task to see Data Flow designer.
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Read the data from the source, using any desired source component. You can even make an API call using the ZappySys JSON/XML/API Source and read data from there. In this example, we will use an OLE DB Source component to read real-time data from a SQL Server database.
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From the SSIS Toolbox drag and drop API Destination (Predefined Templates) on the Data Flow Designer surface and connect source component with it, and double click to edit it.
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Select New Connection to create a new connection:
API Destination - Cosmos DBRead and write Azure Cosmos DB data effortlessly. Query, integrate, and manage databases, containers, documents, and users — almost no coding required.
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To configure the Cosmos DB connector, choose one of the following methods:
- Choose from Popular Connector List: Select a pre-installed service directly from the dropdown menu.
- Search Online: Use this to find and download a new connector file to your computer.
- Use Saved/Downloaded File: Once the file is downloaded, browse your local drive to load it into the configuration.
After that, just click Continue >>:
Cosmos DB
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Proceed with selecting the desired Authentication Type. Then select API Base URL (in most cases default one is the right one). Finally, fill in all the required parameters and set optional parameters if needed. You may press a link Steps to Configure which will help set certain parameters. More info is available in Authentication section.
Cosmos DB authentication
Connecting to your Azure Cosmos DB data requires you to authenticate your REST API access. Follow the instructions below:- Go to your Azure portal homepage: https://portal.azure.com/.
- In the search bar at the top of the homepage, enter Azure Cosmos DB. In the dropdown that appears, select Azure Cosmos DB.
- Click on the name of the database account you want to connect to (also copy and paste the name of the database account for later use).
-
On the next page where you can see all of the database account information, look along the left side and select Keys:
- On the Keys page, you will have two tabs: Read-write Keys and Read-only Keys. If you are going to write data to your database, you need to remain on the Read-write Keys tab. If you are only going to read data from your database, you should select the Read-only Keys tab.
- On the Keys page, copy the PRIMARY KEY value and paste it somewhere for later use (the SECONDARY KEY value may also be copied and used).
- Now go to SSIS package or ODBC data source and use this PRIMARY KEY in API Key authentication configuration.
- Enter the primary or secondary key you recorded in step 6 into the Primary or Secondary Key field.
- Then enter the database account you recorded in step 3 into the Database Account field.
- Next, enter or select the default database you want to connect to using the Default Database field.
- Continue by entering or selecting the default table (i.e. container/collection) you want to connect to using the Default Table (Container/Collection) field.
- Select the Test Connection button at the bottom of the window to verify proper connectivity with your Azure Cosmos DB account.
- If the connection test succeeds, select OK.
- Done! Now you are ready to use Cosmos DB Connector!
API Connection Manager configuration
Just perform these simple steps to finish authentication configuration:
-
Set Authentication Type to
API Key [Http] - Optional step. Modify API Base URL if needed (in most cases default will work).
- Fill in all the required parameters and set optional parameters if needed.
- Finally, hit OK button:
Cosmos DBAPI Key [Http]https://[$Account$].documents.azure.comRequired Parameters Primary or Secondary Key Fill-in the parameter... Account Name (Case-Sensitive) Fill-in the parameter... Database Name (keep blank to use default) Case-Sensitive Fill-in the parameter... API Version Fill-in the parameter... Optional Parameters Default Table (needed to invoke #DirectSQL)
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Select the desired endpoint, change/pass the properties values, and go to the Mappings tab to map the columns.
API Destination - Cosmos DBRead and write Azure Cosmos DB data effortlessly. Query, integrate, and manage databases, containers, documents, and users — almost no coding required.
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Finally, map the desired columns:
API Destination - Cosmos DBRead and write Azure Cosmos DB data effortlessly. Query, integrate, and manage databases, containers, documents, and users — almost no coding required.
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That's it; we successfully configured the POST API Call. In a few clicks we configured the Cosmos DB API call using ZappySys Cosmos DB Connector
Load Cosmos DB data into SQL Server using Upsert Destination (Insert or Update)
Once you configured the data source, you can load Cosmos DB data into SQL Server using Upsert Destination.
Upsert Destination can merge or synchronize source data with the target table.
It supports Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and Redshift databases as targets.
Upsert Destination also supports very fast bulk upsert operation along with bulk delete.
Upsert operation
- a database operation which performs INSERT or UPDATE SQL commands
based on record's existence condition in the target table.
It
Upsert Destination supports INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE operations,
so it is similar to SQL Server's MERGE command, except it can be used directly in SSIS package.
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From the SSIS Toolbox drag-and-drop Upsert Destination component onto the Data Flow designer background.
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Connect your SSIS source component to Upsert Destination.
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Double-click on Upsert Destination component to open configuration window.
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Start by selecting the Action from the list.
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Next, select the desired target connection or create one by clicking <New [provider] Connection> menu item from the Target Connection dropdown.
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Then select a table from the Target Table list or click New button to create a new table based on the source columns.
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Continue by checking Insert and Update options according to your scenario (e.g. if Update option is unchecked, no updates will be made).
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Finally, click Map All button to map all columns and then select the Key columns to match the columns on:
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Click OK to save the configuration.
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Run the package and Cosmos DB data will be merged with the target table in SQL Server, PostgreSQL, or Redshift:
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Done!
Deploy and schedule SSIS package
After you are done creating SSIS package, most likely, you want to deploy it to SQL Server Catalog and run it periodically. Just follow the instructions in this article:
Running SSIS package in Azure Data Factory (ADF)
To use SSIS PowerPack in ADF, you must first prepare Azure-SSIS Integration Runtime. Follow this link for detailed instructions:
Supported Cosmos DB Connector actions
Got a specific use case in mind? We've mapped out exactly how to perform a variety of essential Cosmos DB operations directly in SSIS, so you don't have to figure out the setup from scratch. Check out the step-by-step guides below:
- Create a document in the container
- Create Permission Token for a User (One Table)
- Create User for Database
- Delete a Document by Id
- Get All Documents for a Table
- Get All Users for a Database
- Get Database Information by Id or Name
- Get Document by Id
- Get List of Databases
- Get List of Tables
- Get table information by Id or Name
- Get table partition key ranges
- Get User by Id or Name
- Query documents using Cosmos DB SQL query language
- Update Document in the Container
- Upsert a document in the container
- Make Generic REST API Request
- Make Generic REST API Request (Bulk Write)
Conclusion
In this article we showed you how to connect to Cosmos DB in SSIS and integrate data without writing complex code — all of this was powered by Cosmos DB Connector.
Download SSIS PowerPack now or ping us via chat if you have any questions or are looking for a specific feature (you can also reach out to us by submitting a ticket):
