How to use IBM® App Connect with Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is a globally distributed, multi-model database service from Microsoft, which is designed to provide high availability, scalability, and low-latency access to data for modern applications.

Availability:
  • App Connect Enterprise as a Service connector
  • A local connector in a Designer instance of IBM App Connect in containers (Continuous Delivery release)Local connector in containers (Continuous Delivery release) 13.0.2.2-r2 or later

Supported product and API versions

To find out which product and API versions this connector supports, see Detailed System Requirements on the IBM Support page.

Connecting to Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

Complete the connection fields that you see in the App Connect Designer Connect > Applications and APIs page (previously the Catalog page) or flow editor. If necessary, work with your Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB administrator to obtain these values.

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB connection fields:
Server URL: Specify the URI created for the database account in the Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB service.
Key: Specify the read-write or read-only key to access the database account in the Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB service.
Private network connection: Select the name of a private network agent that App Connect uses to connect to your private network. This list is populated with the names of private network agents that are created on the Private networks page. For more information, see Connecting to a private network.

To obtain the connection values for Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB, see Obtaining connection values for Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB.

To connect to a Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB endpoint from the App Connect Designer Applications and APIs page for the first time, expand Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB, then click Connect. For more information, see Managing accounts.

Tip:

Before you use the account that is created in App Connect in a flow, rename the account to something meaningful that helps you to identify it. To rename the account on the Applications and APIs page, select the account, open its options menu (⋮), then click Rename Account.

General Considerations

Before you use App Connect Designer with Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB, take note of the following considerations:

  • You can see lists of the trigger events and actions that are available on the Applications and APIs page of the App Connect Designer.

    For some applications, the events and actions depend on the environment and whether the connector supports configurable events and dynamic discovery of actions. If the application supports configurable events, you see a Show more configurable events link under the events list. If the application supports dynamic discovery of actions, you see a Show more link under the actions list.

  • If you are using multiple accounts for an application, the set of fields that is displayed when you select an action for that application can vary for different accounts. In the flow editor, some applications always provide a curated set of static fields for an action. Other applications use dynamic discovery to retrieve the set of fields that are configured on the instance that you are connected to. For example, if you have two accounts for two instances of an application, the first account might use settings that are ready for immediate use. However, the second account might be configured with extra custom fields.

Events and Actions

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB events

These events are for changes in this application that trigger a flow to start completing the actions in the flow.

Note: Events are not available for changes in this application. You can trigger a flow in other ways, such as at a scheduled interval or at specific dates and times.

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB actions

Your flow completes these actions on this application.

Object Action Description
Custom SQL queries Run custom SQL query Allows you to run custom SQL queries
Items Create item Creates an item to an Azure Cosmos DB container as a JSON document
Delete item Deletes the item from the Azure Cosmos DB container
Retrieve item by ID Retrieves an item from the Azure Cosmos DB container using identifier
Retrieve items Retrieves items from the Azure Cosmos DB container
Update item Updates the existing item in the Azure Cosmos DB container

Examples

Templates
Use the following templates to create flows for Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB. For more information, see Creating a flow from a template
IBM community blogs

Read blog: Introducing Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB and Azure Service Bus Connectors in IBM App Connect