Microsoft SQL Server SSL Integration Guide

9 min

Review the following guide for setting up an integration between Belden Horizon Data Operations (BHDO) and a Microsoft SQL database using SSL authentication.

Before You Begin

You will need the following:

Access to a Microsoft SQL Server database that uses SSL authentication.
The CA Certificate associated with the database.

Refer to the following links to learn more:

Step 1: Add Device

Follow the steps to Connect a Device. The device will be used to store tags that will be eventually used to create outbound topics in the connector. Make sure to select the Enable Data Store check box.

Step 2: Add Tags

After connecting the device in Belden Horizon Data Operations, you can Add Tags to the device. Create tags that you want to use to create outbound topics for the connector.

Step 3: Add the Microsoft SQL Server Connector

Follow the steps to Add a Connector and select the DB - MIcrosoft SQL Server SSL provider.

Configure the following parameters.

Name: Enter a name for the connector.
Hostname: Enter the IP address to access the database.
Port: The port to access the database. The default value is 1433.
SSL Mode: Select the SSL mode: disable, true, or false.
CA Certificate: Paste or upload the CA certificate.
Username: Enter the username to access the database.
Password: Enter the password associated with the username.
Database: Enter the database name.
Table: Enter the table that will be receiving the data. If you are sending data to an existing table, use the corresponding name.
Show Mapping: If you want to send data to a custom table, select this check box and unselect Create table. See Configure tables for SQL connectors to learn more. To add key/value pairs for the custom table, see Configure Key/Value Pairs.
Create table: If you want to send data to an existing table in the default format, or you want to create a new table in the default format, select this check box and unselect Show Mapping. See Configure tables for SQL connectors to learn more.
Commit timeout: Transaction commit time (ms).
Max transaction size: Maximum number of messages before a transaction is committed regardless of timeout.
Bulk insert count: To enable this option, enter the number of messages to group together and send as one bulk insert statement. Enabling this option can improve how quickly data is processed when dealing with high volumes of tags. Available for Belden Horizon Data Operations 3.11.1 and later.
Throttling limit: The maximum number of messages per second to be processed. The default value is zero, which means that there is no limit.
Persistent storage: When enabled, this will cause messages to undergo a store-and-forward procedure. Messages will be stored within Belden Horizon Data Operations when cloud providers are online.
Queue Mode: Select the queue mode as lifo (last in first out) or fifo (first in first out). Selecting lifo means that the last data entry is processed first, and selecting fifo means the first data entry is processed first.

Step 4: Enable the Connector

After adding the connector, click the toggle in the connector tile to enable it.

If you see a Failed status, review the Connector Logs and any relevant error messages.

Step 5: Create Topics for Connector

You will now need to import the tags created in Step 2 as topics for the Microsoft connector. The topics will be created as outbound topics.

To create outbound topics:

Click the connector tile. The connector Dashboard appears.
Click the Topics tab.
Click the Import from DeviceHub tags icon. The DeviceHub Import dialog box appears.
Select all the tags to import and click Import.

After adding all required topics, navigate to the Integration overview page and ensure the connector is not disabled and still shows a CONNECTED status.

Step 6: Enable Topics

To enable the topics, return to the Topics tab and click the Enable all topics icon.

Enable all topics icon

Step 7: Create Flow

You can now create a flow in Belden Horizon Data Operations to verify the connection.

To create the flow:

In Belden Horizon Data Operations, navigate to Flows Manager.
Click the Go To Flow Definition icon for a selected Flows Manager. The Flow canvas opens in a new browser tab.
Go To Flow Definition icon
From the node palette, drag the DataHub Subscribe node (DataConnector section) to the canvas.
DataHub Subscribe node
Drag the Debug node to the canvas and connect the two nodes.
Double click the DataHub Subscribe node. The Edit DataHub Subscribe Node dialog box appears.
In the Topic field, paste the topic name copied in Step 6.
Enter tag imported to mssql db in the Name field.
If needed, configure the Datahub Subscribe connection. See the "Step 3: Configure Connector Nodes" section in Create a Flow to learn more.
Click Done.
Click Deploy.
Expand the message window beneath the flow canvas and click the Debug icon. Verify that messages are displaying.
Debug node messages

Step 8: Make Microsoft SQL Queries

You can now verify that you can view data in the Microsoft SQL (MSSQL) database.

Update credentials, the database name, and the table as needed for your specific configurations

To make Microsoft SQL queries:

From the MSSQL terminal window, enter /opt/mssql-tools/bin/sqlcmd -S localhost -U sa -P <sa password> , and then press ENTER.
Enter select DB_NAME (), and then press ENTER.
Enter go, and then press ENTER. The master database name appears.
Enter select name from sys.databases, and then press ENTER.
Enter go, and then press ENTER. All database names appear.
Enter use master, and then press ENTER
Enter go, and then press ENTER. Changed database context to master appears.
Enter select * from information_schema.tables; and press ENTER.
Enter go, and then press ENTER. The Table Catalog for the master database appears.
Enter select * from test_table, and then press ENTER.
Enter go, and then press ENTER. If you selected Create table in Step 3, identification messages from the topic appear, including the deviceId and registerId at the end of each message. If you selected Show Mapping in Step 3, the custom mapping you configured appears.