Oracle DB (version 2)

The Oracle DB connector lets you connect to an Oracle database (version 11.2 or later) instance and perform the supported database operations.

Before you begin

Before using the Oracle DB connector, do the following tasks:

In your Google Cloud project:
- Ensure that network connectivity is set up. For information about network patterns, see Network connectivity.
- Grant the roles/connectors.admin IAM role to the user configuring the connector.
- Grant the following IAM roles to the service account that you want to use for the connector:
  - roles/secretmanager.viewer
  - roles/secretmanager.secretAccessor
  A service account is a special type of Google account intended to represent a non-human user that needs to authenticate and be authorized to access data in Google APIs. If you don't have a service account, you must create a service account. For more information, see Creating a service account.
- Enable the following services:
  - secretmanager.googleapis.com (Secret Manager API)
  - connectors.googleapis.com (Connectors API)
  To understand how to enable services, see Enabling services.
If these services or permissions have not been enabled for your project previously, you are prompted to enable them when configuring the connector.

Configure the connector

Configuring the connector requires you to create a connection to your data source (backend system). A connection is specific to a data source. It means that if you have many data sources, you must create a separate connection for each data source. To create a connection, do the following steps:

In the Cloud console, go to the Integration Connectors > Connections page and then select or create a Google Cloud project.
Go to the Connections page
Click + Create new to open the Create Connection page.
In the Location section, choose the location for the connection.
1. Region: Select a location from the drop-down list.
  For the list of all the supported regions, see Locations.
2. Click Next.
In the Connection Details section, complete the following:
1. Connector: Select Oracle DB from the drop down list of available Connectors.
2. Connector version: Select version 2 from the drop down list of available versions.
3. In the Connection Name field, enter a name for the Connection instance.
  Connection names must meet the following criteria:
  - Connection names can use letters, numbers, or hyphens.
  - Letters must be lower-case.
  - Connection names must begin with a letter and end with a letter or number.
  - Connection names cannot exceed 49 characters.
4. Optionally, enter a Description for the connection instance.
5. Optionally, enable Cloud logging, and then select a log level. By default, the log level is set to Error.
6. Optionally, select Enable Cloud Logging to enable cloud logging.
7. Service Account: Select a service account that has the required roles.
8. Optionally, configure the Connection node settings:
  - Minimum number of nodes: Enter the minimum number of connection nodes.
  - Maximum number of nodes: Enter the maximum number of connection nodes.
  A node is a unit (or replica) of a connection that processes transactions. More nodes are required to process more transactions for a connection and conversely, fewer nodes are required to process fewer transactions. To understand how the nodes affect your connector pricing, see Pricing for connection nodes. If you don't enter any values, by default the minimum nodes are set to 2 (for better availability) and the maximum nodes are set to 50.
9. Based on whether your Oracle DB connection uses server-based connection or TNS connectivity, specify either ServiceName or DataSource (TNS connect string). If you specify both, DataSource is used.
  - ServiceName: If you use server-based authentication, specify the service name along with the destination details.
  - DataSource: If you use TNS connectivity, specify the Oracle Net Services Name, Connect Descriptor (also known as TNS connect string), or an easy connect naming that identifies the database to which to connect. You needn't specify the destination details. Use the following format to specify the TNS connect string: (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(protocol_address_information))(CONNECT_DATA= (SERVICE_NAME=service_name))).
10. Optionally, select Include Synonyms.
11. Abandoned Connection Timeout: Enter the timeout value (in seconds) that specifies how long a borrowed connection can remain unused before it's considered as abandoned.
12. Inactive Connection Timeout: Enter the connection timeout value (in seconds).
13. Max Connection Reuse Time: Enter the connection reuse time (in seconds).
14. TTL Connection Timeout: Enter the maximum time (in seconds) the connection may remain in-use.
15. Browsable Schemas: Enter the comma-separated schema names to be used when fetching entities and actions. For example, schemaA, schemaB, schemaC.
16. Optionally, click + ADD LABEL to add a label to the Connection in the form of a key/value pair.
17. Click NEXT.
In the Destinations section, enter details of the remote host (backend system) you want to connect to.
1. Destination Type: Select a Destination Type.
  - Select Host address from the list to specify the hostname or IP address of the destination.
  - If you want to establish a private connection to your backend systems, select Endpoint attachment from the list, and then select the required endpoint attachment from the Endpoint Attachment list.
    Note: To understand how to create an endpoint attachment, see PSC service attachment and endpoint attachment. After you have created the endpoint attachment, it will be visible in the Endpoint Attachment list.
  If you want to establish a public connection to your backend systems with additional security, you can consider configuring static outbound IP addresses for your connections, and then configure your firewall rules to allowlist only the specific static IP addresses.
  
  To enter additional destinations, click +ADD DESTINATION.
2. Click NEXT.
In the Authentication section, enter the authentication details.
1. Select an Authentication type and enter the relevant details.
  The following authentication types are supported by the Oracle DB connection:
  - Username and password
2. Click NEXT.
Review: Review your connection and authentication details.
Click Create.

Configure authentication

Enter the details based on the authentication you want to use.

Username and password
- Username: Username of the Oracle account used for authentication
- Password: Secret Manager Secret containing the password associated with the Oracle account username.

Entities, operations, and actions

All the Integration Connectors provide a layer of abstraction for the objects of the connected application. You can access an application's objects only through this abstraction. The abstraction is exposed to you as entities, operations, and actions.

Entity: An entity can be thought of as an object, or a collection of properties, in the connected application or service. The definition of an entity differs from a connector to a connector. For example, in a database connector, tables are the entities, in a file server connector, folders are the entities, and in a messaging system connector, queues are the entities.
However, it is possible that a connector doesn't support or have any entities, in which case the Entities list will be empty.
Operation: An operation is the activity that you can perform on an entity. You can perform any of the following operations on an entity:
- List
- Get
- Create
- Update
- Delete
Selecting an entity from the available list, generates a list of operations available for the entity. For a detailed description of the operations, see the Connectors task's entity operations. However, if a connector doesn't support any of the entity operations, such unsupported operations aren't listed in the Operations list.
Action: An action is a first class function that is made available to the integration through the connector interface. An action lets you make changes to an entity or entities, and vary from connector to connector. Normally, an action will have some input parameters, and an output parameter. However, it is possible that a connector doesn't support any action, in which case the Actions list will be empty.

System limitations

The Oracle DB connector can process a maximum of 70 transactions per second, per node, and throttles any transactions beyond this limit. By default, Integration Connectors allocates 2 nodes (for better availability) for a connection.

For information on the limits applicable to Integration Connectors, see Limits.

Note: The number of Integration Connectors nodes will autoscale dynamically based on your usage. However, if you want to reserve capacity for large volumes without waiting for autoscaling, you can adjust the minimum node value for a connection. More nodes are required to process more transactions for a connection. Conversely, fewer nodes are required if a connection processes fewer transactions. To configure the node values, do the following:

If you are a pay-as-you-go customer, configure the minimum and maximum node value in the edit connection page.
If you are a subscription based customer, contact support.

The maximum transactions that a node can handle depends on various factors. So, before adjusting the minimum nodes for better throughput, it is recommended you check if your backend systems are set up optimally to handle the required traffic.

Supported data types

The following are the supported data types for this connector:

BIGINT
BINARY
BIT
BOOLEAN
CHAR
DATE
DECIMAL
DOUBLE
FLOAT
INTEGER
LONGN VARCHAR
LONG VARCHAR
NCHAR
NUMERIC
NVARCHAR
REAL
SMALL INT
TIME
TIMESTAMP
TINY INT
VARBINARY
VARCHAR

Actions

The Oracle DB connector lets you execute your stored procedures, functions, and custom SQL queries in the format supported by your Oracle database. To execute custom SQL queries, the connector provides the Execute custom query action.

To create a custom query, follow these steps:

Follow the detailed instructions to add a connectors task.
When you configure the connector task, in the type of action you want to perform, select Actions.
In the Action list, select Execute custom query, and then click Done.
Expand the Task input section, and then do the following:
1. In the Timeout after field, enter the number of seconds to wait till the query executes.
  Default value: 180 seconds.
2. In the Maximum number of rows field, enter the maximum number of rows to be returned from the database.
  Default value: 25.
3. To update the custom query, click Edit Custom Script. The Script editor dialog opens.
4. In the Script editor dialog, enter the SQL query and click Save.
  You can use a question mark (?) in a SQL statement to represent a single parameter that must be specified in the query parameters list. For example, the following SQL query selects all rows from the Employees table that matches the values specified for the LastName column:
```
SELECT * FROM Employees where LastName=?
```
  Note: Data manipulation language (DML) and data definition language (DDL) statements are supported.
5. If you've used question marks in your SQL query, you must add the parameter by clicking + Add Parameter Name for each question mark. While executing the integration, these parameters replace the question marks (?) in the SQL query sequentially. For example, if you have added three question marks (?), then you must add three parameters in order of sequence.
  
  To add query parameters, do the following:
  1. From the Type list, select the data type of the parameter.
  2. In the Value field, enter the value of the parameter.
  3. To add multiple parameters, click + Add Query Parameter.

To understand how to use the custom query action, see Action examples.

Action examples

This section describes how to perform some of the actions in this connector.

Example - Execute a group by query

In the Configure connector task dialog, select Actions.
Select the Execute custom query action, and then click Done.
In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click Edit Custom Query. The Custom query dialog opens.
In the Custom query dialog, enter the following SQL query and click Save:
```
      Select E.EMPLOYEE_ID, E.EMPLOYEE_NAME, E.CITY
      FROM EMPLOYEES E
      LEFT JOIN EMPLOYEE_DEPARTMENT ED ON E.EMPLOYEE_ID=ED.ID 
      WHERE E.EMPLOYEE_NAME = 'John'
      GROUP BY E.CITY,E.EMPLOYEE_ID,E.EMPLOYEE_NAME
    
```
This example selects the employee records from the EMPLOYEES and the EMPLOYEE_DEPARTMENT tables. If the action is successful, your connector task's connectorOutputPayload response parameter will have the query result set.

Example - Execute a parameterized query

In the Configure connector task dialog, select Actions.
Select the Execute custom query action, and then click Done.
In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, set the following values for the field:
1. Timeout after: 10
2. Maximum number of rows: 3
Click +Add Parameter name to enter the following values:
1. Type: VARCHAR
2. Value: John
Click Edit Custom Query. The Custom query dialog opens.

In the Custom query dialog, enter the following SQL query and click Save:

  Select C.ID,C.NAME,C.CITY,C.O_DATE,E.EMPLOYEE_ID 
  FROM customqueries C,Employees E 
  WHERE C.ID=E.Employee_id and C.NAME=?

This example selects employee records where the name of the employee is John. Notice that the name of the employee is parameterized. If the action is successful, your connector task's connectorOutputPayload response parameter will have a value similar to the following:

[{
"NAME": "John",
"O_DATE": "2023-06-01 00:00:00.0",
"EMPLOYEE_ID": 1.0
}, {
"NAME": "John",
"O_DATE": "2021-07-01 00:00:00.0",
"EMPLOYEE_ID": 3.0
}, {
"NAME": "John",
"O_DATE": "2022-09-01 00:00:00.0",
"EMPLOYEE_ID": 4.0
}]

Example - Insert a record by using a sequence value

In the Configure connector task dialog, select Actions.
Select the Execute custom query action, and then click Done.

In the Custom query dialog, enter the following SQL query and click Save:

  INSERT INTO AUTHOR(id,title) VALUES(author_table_id_seq.NEXTVAL,'Sample_book_title')

This example inserts a record in the AUTHOR table, by using an existing author_table_id_seq sequence object. If the action is successful, your connector task's connectorOutputPayload response parameter will have a value similar to the following:

[{
}]

Example - Execute a query with an aggregate function

In the Configure connector task dialog, select Actions.
Select the Execute custom query action, and then click Done.
In the Custom query dialog, enter the following SQL query and click Save:
```
  SELECT SUM(SALARY) as Total FROM EMPLOYEES
  
```

This example calculates the aggregate value of salaries in the EMPLOYEES table. If the action is successful, your connector task's connectorOutputPayload response parameter will have a value similar to the following:

[{
"TOTAL": 13000.0
}]

Example - Create a new table

In the Configure connector task dialog, select Actions.
Select the Execute custom query action, and then click Done.

In the Custom query dialog, enter the following SQL query and click Save:

    CREATE TABLE TEST1 (ID INT, NAME VARCHAR(40),DEPT VARCHAR(20),CITY VARCHAR(10))

This example creates the TEST1 table. If the action is successful, your connector task's connectorOutputPayload response parameter will have a value similar to the following:

[{
}]

Entity operation examples

Example - List all the employees

This example lists all the employees in the Employee entity.

In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
Select Employee from the Entity list.
Select the List operation, and then click Done.
Optionally, in Task Input section of the Connectors task, you can filter your result set by specifying a filter clause.

Example - Get employee details

This example gets the details of the employee whose ID is 45, from the Employee entity.

In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
Select Employee from the Entity list.
Select the Get operation, and then click Done.
In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click EntityId and then enter 45 in the Default Value field.
Here, 45 is the primary key value of the Employee entity.

Example - Create a employee record

This example adds a new employee record in the Employee entity.

In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
Select Employee from the Entity list.
Select the Create operation, and then click Done.
In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click connectorInputPayload and then enter a value similar to the following in the Default Value field:
```
{
"EMPLOYEE_ID": 69.0,
"EMPLOYEE_NAME": "John",
"CITY": "Bangalore"
}
```
If the integration is successful, your connector task's connectorOutputPayload field will have a value similar to the following:
```
 {
"ROWID": "AAAoU0AABAAAc3hAAF"
}
```

Example - Update an employee record

This example updates the employee record whose ID is 69 in the Employee entity.

In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
Select Employee from the Entity list.
Select the Update operation, and then click Done.
In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click connectorInputPayload and then enter a value similar to the following in the Default Value field:
```
{
"EMPLOYEE_NAME": "John",
"CITY": "Mumbai"
}
```
Click entityId, and then enter 69 in the Default Value field.
Alternately, instead of specifying the entityId, you can also set the filterClause to 69.

If the integration is successful, your connector task's connectorOutputPayload field will have a value similar to the following:
```
{
}
```

Example - Delete an employee record

This example deletes the employee record whose ID is 35 in the Employee entity.

In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
Select Employee from the Entity list.
Select the Delete operation, and then click Done.
In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click entityId and then enter 35 in the Default Value field.

Use terraform to create connections

You can use the Terraform resource to create a new connection.

To learn how to apply or remove a Terraform configuration, see Basic Terraform commands.

To view a sample terraform template for connection creation, see sample template.

When creating this connection by using Terraform, you must set the following variables in your Terraform configuration file:

Parameter name	Data type	Required	Description
service_name	STRING	False	The service name of the Oracle database.
data_source	STRING	False	Oracle Net Services Name, Connect Descriptor (also known as TNS Connect String), or an easy connect naming that identifies the database to which to connect.
include_synonyms	BOOLEAN	False	Query metadata for synonyms and make them available as entities. Setting the property to false can increase metadata performance.
abandoned_connection_timeout	INTEGER	False	Abandoned connection timeout (in seconds) determines how long a borrowed connection can remain unused before it is considered as abandoned and reclaimed by the connection pool.
inactive_connection_timeout	INTEGER	False	Inactive connection timeout (in seconds) determines how long an available connection remains in the connection pool before it is removed from the pool.
max_connection_reuse_time	INTEGER	False	Maximum connection reuse time (in seconds) specifies the maximum time any connection can potentially be reused after which the pool removes and closes a connection.
ttl_connection_timeout	INTEGER	False	Maximum time (in seconds) a connection may remain in-use.
browsable_schemas	STRING	False	Comma-separated schemas (Eg. SchemaA, SchemaB) to be used when fetching entities and actions for the connection. Uses user's schema by default

Use the Oracle DB connection in an integration

After you create the connection, it becomes available in both Apigee Integration and Application Integration. You can use the connection in an integration through the Connectors task.

To understand how to create and use the Connectors task in Apigee Integration, see Connectors task.
To understand how to create and use the Connectors task in Application Integration, see Connectors task.

Get help from the Google Cloud community

You can post your questions and discuss this connector in the Google Cloud community at Cloud Forums.

What's next

Understand how to suspend and resume a connection.
Understand how to monitor connector usage.
Understand how to view connector logs.