Using Interzoid with Azure SQL

Azure SQL is a Cloud database platform offering from Microsoft for storing and analyzing data in the Cloud. While Microsoft SQL Server is the core database offering for Azure SQL, other database platforms are available for use within Azure, such as PostgreSQL, in which case PostgreSQL connectivity should be used. Since Interzoid supports Azure SQL connectivity, this means that database tables in these platforms can be targets of Interzoid analysis and processing, simply by using an Azure SQL for SQL Server connection string.

There are two ways to work with and process Azure SQL tables: through the Cloud Data Connect Wizard, or via an API call.

Using the Cloud Data Connect Wizard, you simply connect to an instance of Azure SQL with a connection string (see below) or providing connection parameters within the form, selecting the database and table you will use as your source. You must also provide the specific column you will be matching on. You need to choose the category of matching you want to perform (company names, individual names, or addresses).

Finally, select the type of matching you want to perform. This can be a match/inconsistency report that shows clusters of similar data, inconsistent, and otherwise matched data. You can also create an output file with a similarity key for every record in the file. You can create a new table that will be created within the source database that will store the similarity keys along with the corresponding value, or you can choose to generate the SQL that allows for the same. Creating a new table to store similarity keys enables you to perform your own custom types of matching using similarity keys as the basis of a join rather than the actual value of the data itself, and also enables matching across tables within your database. This will provide significantly higher match rates than matching on the original data values.

Here is a screen from the Cloud Data Connect Wizard showing a sample configuration. After you select your options, click "Run" and you will shortly have your results.

You can also access an Azure table programmatically via an API call. Here is an example (place in the URL address bar of your browser and press 'enter'):

                            
    https://connect.interzoid.com/run?function=match&apikey=use-your-own-api-key-here&source=azure sql&connection=your-specific-connection-string&table=companies&column=company&process=matchreport&category=company
                            

For more details and documentation for the parameters of the API call, visit here.

Azure SQL Connection string example:

            
    "server={servername}.database.windows.net;user id={youruserid};password={yourpassword};port=1433;database=mysample;"
            

A "connection string" provides the parameters necessary to initiate the connection to a specific data source on the Cloud for analysis, enrichment, matching, or whatever data function from Interzoid is selected for use.

A connection string enables connecting to a data source using the Interzoid Cloud Data Connect product.

Connection strings for your particular instance of Azure SQL can also can be found within the Microsoft Azure portal.