Copy data from Google BigQuery using Azure Data Factory or Synapse Analytics

APPLIES TO: Azure Data Factory Azure Synapse Analytics

This article outlines how to use Copy Activity in Azure Data Factory and Synapse Analytics pipelines to copy data from Google BigQuery. It builds on the Copy Activity overview article that presents a general overview of the copy activity.

Supported capabilities

This Google BigQuery connector is supported for the following capabilities:

Supported capabilities	IR
Copy activity (source/-)	① ②
Lookup activity	① ②

① Azure integration runtime ② Self-hosted integration runtime

For a list of data stores that are supported as sources or sinks by the copy activity, see the Supported data stores table.

The service provides a built-in driver to enable connectivity. Therefore, you don't need to manually install a driver to use this connector.

Get started

To perform the Copy activity with a pipeline, you can use one of the following tools or SDKs:

• The Copy Data tool
• The Azure portal
• The .NET SDK
• The Python SDK
• Azure PowerShell
• The REST API
• The Azure Resource Manager template

Create a linked service to Google BigQuery using UI

Use the following steps to create a linked service to Google BigQuery in the Azure portal UI.

1. Browse to the Manage tab in your Azure Data Factory or Synapse workspace and select Linked Services, then click New:

   • Azure Data Factory
   • Azure Synapse

   

2. Search for Google BigQuery and select the connector.

   

3. Configure the service details, test the connection, and create the new linked service.

   

Connector configuration details

The following sections provide details about properties that are used to define entities specific to the Google BigQuery connector.

Linked service properties

The following properties are supported for the Google BigQuery linked service.

Property	Description	Required
type	The type property must be set to GoogleBigQueryV2.	Yes
projectId	The project ID of the default BigQuery project to query against.	Yes
authenticationType	The OAuth 2.0 authentication mechanism used for authentication. Allowed values are UserAuthentication and ServiceAuthentication. Refer to sections below this table on more properties and JSON samples for those authentication types respectively.	Yes

Using user authentication

Set "authenticationType" property to UserAuthentication, and specify the following properties along with generic properties described in the previous section:

Property	Description	Required
clientId	ID of the application used to generate the refresh token.	Yes
clientSecret	Secret of the application used to generate the refresh token. Mark this field as a SecureString to store it securely, or reference a secret stored in Azure Key Vault.	Yes
refreshToken	The refresh token obtained from Google used to authorize access to BigQuery. Learn how to get one from Obtaining OAuth 2.0 access tokens and this community blog. Mark this field as a SecureString to store it securely, or reference a secret stored in Azure Key Vault.	Yes

Example:

{
    "name": "GoogleBigQueryLinkedService",
    "properties": {
        "type": "GoogleBigQueryV2",
        "typeProperties": {
            "projectId" : "<project ID>",
            "authenticationType" : "UserAuthentication",
            "clientId": "<client ID>",
            "clientSecret": {
                "type": "SecureString",
                "value":"<client secret>"
            },
            "refreshToken": {
                "type": "SecureString",
                "value": "<refresh token>"
            }
        }
    }
}

Using service authentication

Set "authenticationType" property to ServiceAuthentication, and specify the following properties along with generic properties described in the previous section.

Property	Description	Required
keyFileContent	The key file in JSON format that is used to authenticate the service account. Mark this field as a SecureString to store it securely, or reference a secret stored in Azure Key Vault.	Yes

Example:

{
    "name": "GoogleBigQueryLinkedService",
    "properties": {
        "type": "GoogleBigQueryV2",
        "typeProperties": {
            "projectId": "<project ID>",
            "authenticationType": "ServiceAuthentication",
            "keyFileContent": {
                "type": "SecureString",
                "value": "<key file JSON string>"
            }
        }
    }
}

Dataset properties

For a full list of sections and properties available for defining datasets, see the Datasets article. This section provides a list of properties supported by the Google BigQuery dataset.

To copy data from Google BigQuery, set the type property of the dataset to GoogleBigQueryV2Object. The following properties are supported:

Property	Description	Required
type	The type property of the dataset must be set to: GoogleBigQueryV2Object	Yes
dataset	Name of the Google BigQuery dataset.	No (if "query" in activity source is specified)
table	Name of the table.	No (if "query" in activity source is specified)

Example

{
    "name": "GoogleBigQueryDataset",
    "properties": {
        "type": "GoogleBigQueryV2Object",
        "linkedServiceName": {
            "referenceName": "<Google BigQuery linked service name>",
            "type": "LinkedServiceReference"
        },
        "schema": [],
        "typeProperties": {
            "dataset": "<dataset name>",
            "table": "<table name>"
        }
    }
}

Copy activity properties

For a full list of sections and properties available for defining activities, see the Pipelines article. This section provides a list of properties supported by the Google BigQuery source type.

GoogleBigQuerySource as a source type

To copy data from Google BigQuery, set the source type in the copy activity to GoogleBigQueryV2Source. The following properties are supported in the copy activity source section.

Property	Description	Required
type	The type property of the copy activity source must be set to GoogleBigQueryV2Source.	Yes
query	Use the custom SQL query to read data. An example is "SELECT * FROM MyTable". For more information, go to Query syntax.	No (if "dataset" and "table" in dataset are specified)

Example:

"activities":[
    {
        "name": "CopyFromGoogleBigQuery",
        "type": "Copy",
        "inputs": [
            {
                "referenceName": "<Google BigQuery input dataset name>",
                "type": "DatasetReference"
            }
        ],
        "outputs": [
            {
                "referenceName": "<output dataset name>",
                "type": "DatasetReference"
            }
        ],
        "typeProperties": {
            "source": {
                "type": "GoogleBigQueryV2Source",
                "query": "SELECT * FROM MyTable"
            },
            "sink": {
                "type": "<sink type>"
            }
        }
    }
]

Lookup activity properties

To learn details about the properties, check Lookup activity.

Upgrade the Google BigQuery connector

To upgrade the Google BigQuery connector, create a new Google BigQuery linked service and configure it by referring to Linked service properties.

Differences between Google BigQuery and Google BigQuery (legacy)

The Google BigQuery connector offers new functionalities and is compatible with most features of Google BigQuery (legacy) connector. The table below shows the feature differences between Google BigQuery and Google BigQuery (legacy).

Google BigQuery	Google BigQuery (legacy)
Service authentication is supported by the Azure integration runtime and the self-hosted integration runtime. The properties trustedCertPath, useSystemTrustStore, email and keyFilePath are not supported as they are available on the self-hosted integration runtime only.	Service authentication is only supported by the self-hosted integration runtime. Support trustedCertPath, useSystemTrustStore, email and keyFilePath properties.
The following mappings are used from Google BigQuery data types to interim data types used by the service internally. Numeric -> Decimal Timestamp -> DateTimeOffset Datetime -> DatetimeOffset	The following mappings are used from Google BigQuery data types to interim data types used by the service internally. Numeric -> String Timestamp -> DateTime Datetime -> DateTime
requestGoogleDriveScope is not supported. You need additionally apply the permission in Google BigQuery service by referring to Choose Google Drive API scopes and Query Drive data.	Support requestGoogleDriveScope.
additionalProjects is not supported. As an alternative, query a public dataset with the Google Cloud console.	Support additionalProjects.

Related content

For a list of data stores supported as sources and sinks by the copy activity, see Supported data stores.