Create a PostgreSQL base connection using the Flow Service API

Read this guide to learn how to connect your PostgreSQL database to Adobe Experience Platform using the Flow Service API.

Getting started

This guide requires a working understanding of the following components of Experience Platform:

• Sources: Experience Platform allows data to be ingested from various sources while providing you with the ability to structure, label, and enhance incoming data using Experience Platform services.
• Sandboxes: Experience Platform provides virtual sandboxes which partition a single Experience Platform instance into separate virtual environments to help develop and evolve digital experience applications.

The following sections provide additional information that you will need to know in order to successfully connect to PostgreSQL using the Flow Service API.

Using Experience Platform APIs

Read the guide on getting started with Experience Platform APIs for information on how to successfully make calls to Experience Platform APIs.

Gather required credentials

Read the PostgreSQL overview for more information on authentication.

Enable SSL encryption for your connection string

You can enable SSL encryption for your PostgreSQL connection string by appending your connection string with the following properties:

The following is an example of a PostgreSQL connection string appended with SSL encryption: Server={SERVER};Database={DATABASE};Port={PORT};UID={USERNAME};Password={PASSWORD};EncryptionMethod=1;ValidateServerCertificate=1.

Connect PostgreSQL to Experience Platform on Azure

Read the steps below to learn how to connect your PostgreSQL account to Experience Platform on Azure.

Create a base connection

A base connection retains information between your source and Experience Platform, including your source’s authentication credentials, the current state of the connection, and your unique base connection ID. The base connection ID allows you to explore and navigate files from within your source and identify the specific items that you want to ingest, including information regarding their data types and formats.

To create a base connection ID, make a POST request to the /connections endpoint while providing your PostgreSQL authentication credentials as part of the request parameters.

API format

POST /connections

curl -X POST \
  'https://platform.adobe.io/data/foundation/flowservice/connections' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer {ACCESS_TOKEN}' \
  -H 'x-api-key: {API_KEY}' \
  -H 'x-gw-ims-org-id: {ORG_ID}' \
  -H 'x-sandbox-name: {SANDBOX_NAME}' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
      "name": "PostgreSQL base connection",
      "description": "PostgreSQL base connection via connection string",
      "auth": {
          "specName": "Connection String Based Authentication",
          "params": {
              "connectionString": "Server={SERVER};Database={DATABASE};Port={PORT};UID={USERNAME};Password={PASSWORD}"
          }
      },
      "connectionSpec": {
          "id": "74a1c565-4e59-48d7-9d67-7c03b8a13137",
          "version": "1.0"
      }
  }'

{
    "id": "056dd1b4-da33-42f9-add1-b4da3392f94e",
    "etag": "\"1700e582-0000-0200-0000-5e3c85180000\""
}

curl -X POST \
  'https://platform.adobe.io/data/foundation/flowservice/connections' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer {ACCESS_TOKEN}' \
  -H 'x-api-key: {API_KEY}' \
  -H 'x-gw-ims-org-id: {ORG_ID}' \
  -H 'x-sandbox-name: {SANDBOX_NAME}' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
      "name": "PostgreSQL base connection",
      "description": "PostgreSQL base connection via basic authentication",
      "auth": {
          "specName": "Basic Authentication",
          "params": {
              "server": "{SERVER}",
              "port": "{PORT}",
              "database": "{DATABASE}",
              "username": "{USERNAME}",
              "password": "{PASSWORD}",
              "sslMode": "{SSL_MODE}"
          }
      },
      "connectionSpec": {
          "id": "74a1c565-4e59-48d7-9d67-7c03b8a13137",
          "version": "1.0"
      }
  }'

{
    "id": "2c15b1c5-73bf-47ab-9098-0467fcd854d9",
    "etag": "\"2600fc39-0000-0200-0000-67dd48f80000\""
}

Connect PostgreSQL to Experience Platform on Amazon Web Services

Read the steps below for information on how to connect your PostgreSQL database to Experience Platform on AWS.

Create a base connection

To create a base connection ID, make a POST request to the /connections endpoint while providing your PostgreSQL authentication credentials as part of the request parameters.

API format

POST /connections

Request

The following request creates a base connection for PostgreSQL to connect to Experience Platform on AWS.

curl -X POST \
  'https://platform.adobe.io/data/foundation/flowservice/connections' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer {ACCESS_TOKEN}' \
  -H 'x-api-key: {API_KEY}' \
  -H 'x-gw-ims-org-id: {ORG_ID}' \
  -H 'x-sandbox-name: {SANDBOX_NAME}' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
      "name": "PostgreSQL base connection",
      "description": "PostgreSQL base connection via basic authentication",
      "auth": {
          "specName": "Basic Authentication",
          "params": {
              "server": "{SERVER}",
              "port": "{PORT}",
              "database": "{DATABASE}",
              "username": "{USERNAME}",
              "password": "{PASSWORD}",
              "sslMode": "{SSL_MODE}"
          }
      },
      "connectionSpec": {
          "id": "74a1c565-4e59-48d7-9d67-7c03b8a13137",
          "version": "1.0"
      }
  }'

Response

A successful response returns the unique identifier (id) of the newly created base connection.

{
    "id": "2c15b1c5-73bf-47ab-9098-0467fcd854d9",
    "etag": "\"2600fc39-0000-0200-0000-67dd48f80000\""
}

Next steps

Now that you have created a connection between your PostgreSQL database and Experience Platform, you can now proceed to next steps and bring your PostgreSQL data to Experience Platform. For more information, read the following documentation:

• Explore the structure and contents of your data tables using the Flow Service API
• Create a dataflow to bring database data to Experience Platform using the Flow Service API