Updated on 2024-09-25 GMT+08:00

From Microsoft SQL Server to Kafka

Supported Source and Destination Databases

Table 1 Supported databases

Source DB

Destination DB

RDS for SQL Server (Enterprise Edition 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2019 and Standard Edition 2016 SP2 or later, 2017, and 2019)

Kafka 0.11 or later

Only whitelisted users can use this function.

Supported Synchronization Objects

Table 2 lists the objects that can be synchronized in different scenarios. DRS will automatically check the objects you selected before the synchronization.

Table 2 Supported synchronization objects

Type

Precautions

Objects

  • Supported field types

    TINYINT, SMALLINT, INT, BIGINT, DECIMAL, NUMERIC, FLOAT, REAL, SMALLMONEY, MONEY, BIT, DATE, DATETIME, DATETIME2, DATETIMEOFFSET, TIME, TIMESTAMP, XML, CHAR, VARCHAR, NCHAR, NVARCHAR, BINARY, VARBINARY, IMAGE, HIERARCHYID, NTEXT, TEXT, and UNIQUEIDENTIFIER

  • Unsupported field types: SQL_VARIANT, GEOMETRY, and GEOGRAPHY
  • Scope of incremental synchronization
    • DML statements, including INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE, are supported.
    • DDL statements are not supported.

Database Account Permission Requirements

To start a synchronization task, the source and destination database users must meet the requirements in the following table. Different types of synchronization tasks require different permissions. For details, see Table 3. DRS automatically checks the database account permissions in the pre-check phase and provides handling suggestions.

Table 3 Database account permission

Type

Incremental

Source database user

Sysadmin or view server state and db_datareader or db_owner permissions for databases to be synchronized

Suggestions

  • The success of database synchronization depends on environment and manual operations. To ensure a smooth synchronization, perform a synchronization trial before you start the synchronization to help you detect and resolve problems in advance.
  • It is recommended that you start a task during off-peak hours to minimize the impact of synchronization on your services.
  • For more information about the impact of DRS on databases, see How Does DRS Affect the Source and Destination Databases?

Precautions

DRS incremental synchronization consists of three phases: task start, incremental synchronization, and task completion. To ensure smooth synchronization, read the following notes before creating a synchronization task.

Table 4 Precautions

Type

Restrictions

Starting a task

  • Source database parameter requirements:
    • The source database mode must be set to FULL.
    • The SQL Server Agent proxy service must be enabled for the source database.
    • If Force Protocol Encryption is set to Yes for the source database, Trust Server Certificate also must be set to Yes, as shown in Figure 1.
      Figure 1 Client configuration
  • Source database object requirements:
    • If the source database contains disabled clustered indexes of tables, the synchronization fails.
    • The source database cannot contain the username cdc or schema.
    • Names of the databases, schemas, and tables to be synchronized in the source database can contain a maximum of 64 characters, including only letters, digits, underscores (_), and hyphens (-).
    • Names of the columns in the source table cannot contain the following special characters: []?
  • Destination database parameter requirements:
    • The destination database is a Kafka database.
    • You are advised to set auto.create.topics.enable of Kafka to false.
  • Other notes:
    • Do not perform primary/standby switchover on the source database. Otherwise, the synchronization task will fail.
    • The source Microsoft SQL Server database using TLS 1.0 or TLS 1.1 cannot be synchronized. If data synchronization is required, you are advised to upgrade TLS version of the source database to TLS 1.2 or later.
    • Incremental synchronization of the source SQL Server database is based on the CDC capability provided by the SQL Server database. If CDC of the source SQL Server database is abnormal (for example, CDC is disabled or the transaction log is full), incremental synchronization will be affected.

Incremental synchronization

  • Do not change the port of the source and destination databases, or change or delete the passwords and permissions of the source and destination database users. Otherwise, the task may fail.
  • Do not write data to the destination database. Otherwise, data may be inconsistent.
  • To ensure normal synchronization and data consistency, you are advised to create a DRS task again during off-peak hours to meet the preceding requirements.
  • Do not delete the topic for receiving DRS data in Kafka. Otherwise, the task may fail.
  • DDL operations performed on the source database will not be synchronized to the destination database.
  • The IMAGE, TEXT, and NTEXT big data types cannot be deleted.
  • You can add additional synchronization objects.

Procedure

This section uses Microsoft SQL Server to Kafka synchronization as an example to describe how to use DRS to configure a real-time synchronization task over a public network.

  1. On the Data Synchronization Management page, click Create Synchronization Task.
  2. On the Create Synchronization Instance page, select a region and project, specify the task name, description, and the synchronization instance details, and click Create Now.

    • Task information description
      Figure 2 Synchronization task information
      Table 5 Task information

      Parameter

      Description

      Region

      The region where the replication instance is deployed. You can change the region.

      Project

      The project corresponds to the current region and can be changed.

      Task Name

      The task name must start with a letter and consist of 4 to 50 characters. It can contain only letters, digits, hyphens (-), and underscores (_).

      Description

      The description consists of a maximum of 256 characters and cannot contain special characters !=<>'&"\

    • Synchronization instance details
      Figure 3 Synchronization instance details
      Table 6 Synchronization instance settings

      Parameter

      Description

      Data Flow

      Select Out of the cloud.

      Source DB Engine

      Select Microsoft SQL Server.

      Destination DB Engine

      Select Kafka.

      Network Type

      Available options: VPC, Public network and VPN or Direct Connect. Public network is used as an example.

      • VPC is suitable for data synchronization between cloud databases of the same account in the same region and VPC.
      • Public network is suitable for data synchronization from on-premises or external cloud databases to the destination databases bound with an EIP.
      • VPN or Direct Connect is suitable for data synchronization from on-premises databases to cloud databases, between databases of different accounts in the same region on the cloud, or between databases across regions on the cloud using a VPN, Direct Connect, Cloud Connect, VPCEP, or a VPC peering connection.

      Source DB Instance

      Select an RDS for SQL Server instance you created as the source database.

      Synchronization Instance Subnet

      Select the subnet where the synchronization instance is located. You can also click View Subnets to go to the network console to view the subnet where the instance resides.

      By default, the DRS instance and the destination DB instance are in the same subnet. You need to select the subnet where the DRS instance resides, and there are available IP addresses for the subnet. To ensure that the synchronization instance is successfully created, only subnets with DHCP enabled are displayed.

      Synchronization Mode

      Incremental: Through log parsing, incremental data generated on the source database is synchronized to the destination database.

      Specify EIP

      This parameter is available when you select Public network for Network Type. Select an EIP to be bound to the DRS instance. DRS will automatically bind the specified EIP to the DRS instance and unbind the EIP after the task is complete. The number of specified EIPs must be the consistent with that of DB instances.

      For details about the data transfer fee generated using a public network, see EIP Price Calculator.

    • AZ
      Figure 4 AZ
      Table 7 Task AZ

      Parameter

      Description

      AZ

      Select the AZ where you want to create the DRS task. Selecting the one housing the source or destination database can provide better performance.

    • Enterprise Project and Tags
      Figure 5 Enterprise projects and tags
      Table 8 Enterprise Project and Tags

      Parameter

      Description

      Enterprise Project

      An enterprise project you would like to use to centrally manage your cloud resources and members. Select an enterprise project from the drop-down list. The default project is default.

      For more information about enterprise project, see Enterprise Management User Guide.

      To customize an enterprise project, click Enterprise in the upper right corner of the console. The Enterprise Project Management Service page is displayed. For details, see Creating an Enterprise Project in Enterprise Management User Guide.

      Tags

      • Tags a task. This configuration is optional. Adding tags helps you better identify and manage your tasks. Each task can have up to 20 tags.
      • If your organization has configured tag policies for DRS, add tags to tasks based on the policies. If a tag does not comply with the policies, task creation may fail. Contact your organization administrator to learn more about tag policies.
      • After a task is created, you can view its tag details on the Tags tab. For details, see Tag Management.

    If a task fails to be created, DRS retains the task for three days by default. After three days, the task automatically stops.

  3. On the Configure Source and Destination Databases page, wait until the synchronization instance is created. Then, specify source and destination database information and click Test Connection for both the source and destination databases to check whether they have been connected to the synchronization instance. After the connection tests are successful, select the check box before the agreement and click Next.

    Establish the connectivity between the DRS instance and the source and destination databases.

    • Network connectivity: Ensure that the source and destination databases accept connections from the DRS instance. To access databases over a public network, configure the database to accept connections from the EIP of the DRS instance. To access databases over a VPC, VPN, or Direct Connect network, configure the database to accept connections from the private IP address of the DRS instance. For details, see Network Preparations.
    • Account connectivity: Ensure that the source and destination databases allows connections from the DRS instance using the username and password.
    Figure 6 Source database information
    Table 9 Source database settings

    Parameter

    Description

    DB Instance Name

    The RDS for SQL Server instance you selected when creating the task. The parameter cannot be changed.

    Database Username

    The username for accessing the source database.

    Database Password

    The password for the database username.

    Figure 7 Destination database information
    Table 10 Destination database settings

    Parameter

    Description

    IP Address or Domain Name

    The IP address or domain name of the destination database.

    Security Protocol

    Available options: PLAINTEXT, SSL, SASL_PLAINTEXT, and SASL_SSL. For details, see Kafka Authentication.

    The username and password of the source and destination databases are encrypted and stored in the databases and the synchronization instance during the synchronization. After the task is deleted, the username and password are permanently deleted.

  4. On the Set Synchronization Task page, select the synchronization policy and synchronization object, and click Next.

    Figure 8 Synchronization Object

    Table 11 Synchronization mode and object

    Parameter

    Description

    Synchronize DML

    Select the DML operations to be synchronized. By default, all DML operations are selected.

    If you do not select Delete, DELETE statements in the incremental data of the source database will not be synchronized, which may cause a data inconsistency. As a result, there may be a data conflict or the task may fail.

    Topic

    Select the topic to be synchronized to the destination database.

    Data Format in Kafka

    Select the format of data delivered to Kafka.

    • Avro refers to binary encoded format.
    • Json refers to data interchange format.

    For details, see Kafka Message Format.

    Synchronization Object

    The left pane displays the source database objects, and the right pane displays the selected objects. You can select Tables or Import object file for Synchronization Object as required.

    • If you select Import object file for Synchronization Object, different tables can be synchronized to different topics at the destination end. For details about the import procedure and description, Importing Synchronization Objects.
    • When you select Import object file, you can use the mapping function in Changing Object Names (Mapping Object Names) only when the topic synchronization policy is set to A specific topic. Otherwise, topics are generated based on the name format.
    NOTE:
    • To quickly select the desired database objects, you can use the search function.
    • If there are changes made to the source databases or objects, click in the upper right corner to update the objects to be synchronized.
    • If an object name contains spaces, the spaces before and after the object name are not displayed. If there are two or more consecutive spaces in the middle of the object name, only one space is displayed.
    • The name of the selected synchronization object cannot contain spaces.

  5. On the Check Task page, check the synchronization task.

    • If any check fails, review the cause and rectify the fault. After the fault is rectified, click Check Again.

      For details about how to handle check failures, see Solutions to Failed Check Items in Data Replication Service User Guide.

    • If all check items are successful, click Next.

      You can proceed to the next step only when all checks are successful. If there are any items that require confirmation, view and confirm the details first before proceeding to the next step.

  6. On the displayed page, specify Start Time, Send Notifications, SMN Topic, Delay Threshold (s), and Stop Abnormal Tasks After, confirm that the configured information is correct, select the check box before the agreement, and click Submit to submit the task.

    Figure 9 Task startup settings

    Table 12 Task startup settings

    Parameter

    Description

    Start Time

    Set Start Time to Start upon task creation or Start at a specified time based on site requirements.

    NOTE:

    After a synchronization task is started, the performance of the source and destination databases may be affected. You are advised to start a synchronization task during off-peak hours.

    Send Notifications

    This parameter is optional. After enabled, select a SMN topic. If the status, latency metric, or data of the migration task is abnormal, DRS will send you a notification.

    SMN Topic

    This parameter is available only after you enable Send Notifications and create a topic on the SMN console and add a subscriber.

    For details, see Simple Message Notification User Guide.

    Delay Threshold (s)

    During an incremental synchronization, a synchronization delay indicates a time difference (in seconds) of synchronization between the source and destination database.

    If the synchronization delay exceeds the threshold you specify, DRS will send alarms to the specified recipients. The value ranges from 0 to 3,600. To avoid repeated alarms caused by the fluctuation of delay, an alarm is sent only after the delay has exceeded the threshold for six minutes.

    NOTE:
    • If the delay threshold is set to 0, no notifications will be sent to the recipient.
    • In the early stages of an incremental synchronization, the synchronization delay is long because a large quantity of data is awaiting synchronization. In this case, no notifications will be sent.
    • Before setting the delay threshold, enable Send Notifications.

    Data Exception Notification

    This parameter is optional. After enabled, DRS will send a notification if the task data is abnormal.

    Stop Abnormal Tasks After

    Number of days after which an abnormal task is automatically stopped. The value must range from 14 to 100. The default value is 14.

    NOTE:
    • You can set this parameter only for pay-per-use tasks.
    • Tasks in the abnormal state are still charged. If tasks remain in the abnormal state for a long time, they cannot be resumed. Abnormal tasks run longer than the period you set (unit: day) will automatically stop to avoid unnecessary fees.

  7. After the task is submitted, you can view and manage it on the Data Synchronization Management page.

    • You can view the task status. For more information about task status, see Task Statuses.
    • You can click in the upper right corner to view the latest task status.
    • By default, DRS retains a task in the Configuration state for three days. After three days, DRS automatically deletes background resources, but the task status remains unchanged. When you configure the task again, DRS applies for resources for the task again. In this case, the IP address of the DRS instance changes.
    • For a public network task, DRS needs to delete background resources after you stop the task. The EIP bound to the task cannot be restored to the Unbound state until background resources are deleted.