Stream Zuora Data into Apache Kafka Topics

Apache Kafka is an open-source stream processing platform that is primarily used for building real-time data pipelines and event-driven applications. When paired with the CData JDBC Driver for Zuora, Kafka can work with live Zuora data. This article describes how to connect, access and stream Zuora data into Apache Kafka Topics and to start Confluent Control Center to help users secure, manage, and monitor the Zuora data received using Kafka infrastructure in the Confluent Platform.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData JDBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Zuora data. When you issue complex SQL queries to Zuora, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Zuora and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations). Its built-in dynamic metadata querying allows you to work with and analyze Zuora data using native data types.

Prerequisites

Before connecting the CData JDBC Driver for streaming Zuora data in Apache Kafka Topics, install and configure the following in the client Linux-based system.

1. Confluent Platform for Apache Kafka
2. Confluent Hub CLI Installation
3. Self-Managed Kafka JDBC Source Connector for Confluent Platform

Define a New JDBC Connection to Zuora data

1. Download CData JDBC Driver for Zuora on a Linux-based system
2. Follow the given instructions to create a new directory extract all the driver contents into it:
   1. Create a new directory named Zuora mkdir Zuora
   2. Move the downloaded driver file (.zip) into this new directory mv ZuoraJDBCDriver.zip Zuora/
   3. Unzip the CData ZuoraJDBCDriver contents into this new directory unzip ZuoraJDBCDriver.zip
3. Open the Zuora directory and navigate to the lib folder ls cd lib/
4. Copy the contents of the lib folder of Zuora into the lib folder of Kafka Connect JDBC. Check the Kafka Connect JDBC folder contents to confirm that the cdata.jdbc.zuora.jar file is successfully copied into the lib folder cp * ../../confluent-7.5.0/share/confluent-hub-components/confluentinc-kafka-connect-jdbc/lib/ cd ../../confluent-7.5.0/share/confluent-hub-components/confluentinc-kafka-connect-jdbc/lib/
5. Install the CData Zuora JDBC driver license using the given command, followed by your Name and Email ID java -jar cdata.jdbc.zuora.jar -l
6. Enter the product key or "TRIAL" (In the scenarios of license expiry, please contact our CData Support team)
7. Start the Confluent local services using the command: confluent local services start

   This starts all the Confluent Services like Zookeeper, Kafka, Schema Registry, Kafka REST, Kafka CONNECT, ksqlDB and Control Center. You are now ready to use the CData JDBC driver for Zuora to stream messages using Kafka Connect Driver into Kafka Topics on ksqlDB.

8. Create the Kafka topics manually using a POST HTTP API Request: curl --location 'server_address:8083/connectors' --header 'Content-Type: application/json' --data '{ "name": "jdbc_source_cdata_zuora_01", "config": { "connector.class": "io.confluent.connect.jdbc.JdbcSourceConnector", "connection.url": "jdbc:zuora:OAuthClientID=MyOAuthClientId;OAuthClientSecret=MyOAuthClientSecret;Tenant=USProduction;ZuoraService=DataQuery;; InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH", "topic.prefix": "zuora-01-", "mode": "bulk" } }'

   Let us understand the fields used in the HTTP POST body (shown above):

   • connector.class: Specifies the Java class of the Kafka Connect connector to be used.
   • connection.url: The JDBC connection URL to connect with Zuora data.

     Built-in Connection String Designer

     For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Zuora JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

     java -jar cdata.jdbc.zuora.jar

     Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

     Zuora uses the OAuth standard to authenticate users. See the online Help documentation for a full OAuth authentication guide.

     Configuring Tenant property

     In order to create a valid connection with the provider you need to choose one of the Tenant values (USProduction by default) which matches your account configuration. The following is a list with the available options:

     • USProduction: Requests sent to https://rest.zuora.com.
     • USAPISandbox: Requests sent to https://rest.apisandbox.zuora.com"
     • USPerformanceTest: Requests sent to https://rest.pt1.zuora.com"
     • EUProduction: Requests sent to https://rest.eu.zuora.com"
     • EUSandbox: Requests sent to https://rest.sandbox.eu.zuora.com"

     Selecting a Zuora Service

     Two Zuora services are available: Data Query and AQuA API. By default ZuoraService is set to AQuADataExport.

     DataQuery

     The Data Query feature enables you to export data from your Zuora tenant by performing asynchronous, read-only SQL queries. We recommend to use this service for quick lightweight SQL queries.

     Limitations
     • The maximum number of input records per table after filters have been applied: 1,000,000
     • The maximum number of output records: 100,000
     • The maximum number of simultaneous queries submitted for execution per tenant: 5
     • The maximum number of queued queries submitted for execution after reaching the limitation of simultaneous queries per tenant: 10
     • The maximum processing time for each query in hours: 1
     • The maximum size of memory allocated to each query in GB: 2
     • The maximum number of indices when using Index Join, in other words, the maximum number of records being returned by the left table based on the unique value used in the WHERE clause when using Index Join: 20,000

     AQuADataExport

     AQuA API export is designed to export all the records for all the objects ( tables ). AQuA query jobs have the following limitations:

     Limitations
     • If a query in an AQuA job is executed longer than 8 hours, this job will be killed automatically.
     • The killed AQuA job can be retried three times before returned as failed.

   • topic.prefix: A prefix that will be added to the Kafka topics created by the connector. It's set to "zuora-01-".
   • mode: Specifies the mode in which the connector operates. In this case, it's set to "bulk", which suggests that the connector is configured to perform bulk data transfer.

   This request adds all the tables/contents from Zuora as Kafka Topics.

   Note: The IP Address (server) to POST the request (shown above) is the Linux Network IP Address.

9. Run ksqlDB and list the topics. Use the commands: ksql list topics;
10. To view the data inside the topics, type the SQL Statement: PRINT topic FROM BEGINNING;

Connecting with the Confluent Control Center

To access the Confluent Control Center user interface, ensure to run the "confluent local services" as described in the above section and type http://<server address>:9021/clusters/ on your local browser.

Get Started Today

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData JDBC Driver for Zuora and start streaming Zuora data into Apache Kafka. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.