JDBC Extractor
The JDBC Extractor is the underlying protocol used by Celonis Platform extractors for Direct and Uplink connections to extract data from databases. This page provides an overview of the JDBC Extractor.
Tip
You can find a complete list of all native Celonis database extractors in the Databases. You can find a list of which connection types they support on Supported database types.
Direct connections are established when the Celonis Platform connects across the public internet directly to your database endpoint using the JDBC extractor, which is pre-loaded with the necessary database driver based on your configured source.
Direct connections are normally used for cloud-hosted databases (such as Azure SQL, Databricks, and Databricks) with the database port is accessible to the Celonis Cloud IP ranges. In addition to the basic configuration options in the Celonis Platform for connections, the JDBC Extractor also enables you to extend the connection behavior via JDBC strings. For more information on using JDBC strings, see Custom JDBC connection strings.
You can find the complete list of databases that support Direct connections in Supported database types.
Note
Direct connections do not require an on-premise JDBC extractor.
When you cannot grant the Celonis Platform direct access to your on-premises or private cloud database, you can extract data via an Uplink connection. This requires installing the Celonis JDBC Extractor within your local network, ideally on a dedicated server.
For Uplink connections, the role of the JDBC Extractor is to act as an uplink agent that continuously polls and fetches job requests from the Celonis Platform and then submits execution information to your database via SQL queries. Once the data is retrieved from the database, the extractor fetches it and sends it back to the Celonis Platform. As such, the connection between the database and the Celonis Platform is always made by the extractor. This means that your database is never directly exposed to the public internet when extracting data to the Celonis Platform.
In addition to the basic configuration options in the Celonis Platform for connections, the JDBC Extractor also enables you to extend the connection behavior via JDBC strings. For more information on using JDBC strings, see Custom JDBC connection strings.
Important
You must install, and update as needed, the JDBC Extractor within your local network for all Uplink connections. This requirement applies whether you are using a native database connector provided by Celonis or a custom JDBC driver.
For a full list of native Uplink connectors, see Supported database types.
For system requirements for the extractor server, see Prerequisites for on-premise JDBC Extractors.
To download, configure, or update the on-premise JDBC extractor, see Updating on-premise JDBC extractors.
Custom JDBC drivers
If you need to connect to a database that the Celonis does not natively support Uplink connections for or you require a specific vendor-provided version, you can supply your own custom JDBC driver. This is particularity helpful in cases when your IT policy mandates the use of a specific driver version provided directly by your database vendor.
Note
Custom JDBC drivers require the Celonis JDBC Extractor to access local .jar files. Consequently, this method is only supported via Uplink connections with an on-premise JDBC Extractor installed in your network.
Additionally, you are responsible for obtaining the correct .jar file from your database provider and placing it in the designated directory of your on-premises extractor.
To learn how to connect to your database using a custom JDBC driver, see Using custom JDBC driver.
While the Celonis Platform provides native connection options for many common databases, certain environments require more granular control. Depending on your security requirements or database type, you can customize your connection using custom JDBC strings defining how the connection behaves.
Custom JDBC connection strings are especially helpful in cases such as:
Enabling SSL/TLS encryption for data in transit.
Pointing the connection to local
.jks(Java KeyStore) files or specific CA certificates.Setting specific timeout values or fetch sizes.
To use custom JDBC connection strings, choose the Custom JDBC Connection String option during extractor configuration.
Tip
For extractors natively supported by Celonis, instructions for using custom JDBC strings are included on the extractor documentation page, along with the corresponding string format.
When connecting your database to the Celonis Platform, the following security specifications apply:
Communication protocol: The JDBC extractor server connects to the Celonis Platform for data extraction (full load or delta load) using HTTPS encrypted via TLS 1.2 over port 443.
Encryption protocol: The TLS 1.2 protocol is used for encryption.
Encryption in transit: This is primarily handled by the JDBC driver issued from the database provider. For further information, refer to the official documentation of your database provider.
Data pseudonymization: Pseudonymization is handled by the extractor before the data is written to parquet files and inserted into the Celonis Platform.
Direct connections: This happens when the files are sent to the cloud.
Uplinked connections: This happens on-premise on the extractor server.
Credential storage: Username and password information is converted to a byte array and securely encrypted before it is stored in Celonis database.
Celonis only provides fixes for the latest version of the on-premise JDBC extractor. If you are not running the latest JDBC extractor version, and you raise a support ticket, we'll check whether the issue still exists in the latest version. If it does, we’ll fix it in that version. In any case, you'll need to upgrade to the latest version to get the fix.
Older versions of the JDBC extractor won't stop working, and you can continue using them until you need support, at which time you'll need to upgrade to get the bug fixes. We recommend you update the JDBC Extractor at least every quarter, even if you don't experience any issues, to get the latest capabilities and any fixes for security vulnerabilities.
In the Admin & Settings > Download Portal > JDBC (Database) Extractor section, you can find the release date, package name, and the version of the latest on-premise JDBC Extractor package as part of the archive name, which is in this format:
<YYYY-MM-DD>-<package-name>-<major version>.<minor version>.<patch version>.zip
For example:
2024-03-06-dockerized-package-jdbc-2.92.1.zip
Where the release date is 2024-03-06 (March 06, 2024), the package name is dockerized-package-jdbc, and the version is 2.92.1.
You can confirm the release date of JDBC extractors used in Uplink connections by going to Admin & Settings > Uplink Integrations. For example, in the image below, the release date 2024-04-08 is shown in the Connector Version field for the Cleo Uplink connector.
If you have any questions or need help, contact your Celonis point of contact or Support.
The first step to connecting your database is confirming the types of connections that are supported for it, and what the configuration options are. You can find this in Supported database types, and selecting the link to your database's documentation.
Note
To use an Uplink connection, proceed to Prerequisites for on-premise JDBC Extractors. If your database connection shows not supported in not in the list, you must you use a Custom JDBC Driver connection.