Salesforce Lightning Connect Real Time Exp

What is Salesforce Lightning Connect ?

This is a framework that enables to view,search and modify data that is stored outside Salesforce Org.
It is very effective way of data integration.

What are the benefits ?

1. Real Time Data  Access: Data access is on-demand & Real time with out copying the data into your org can access external  data source.So no data duplication.
2. Code Free : Completely code free,Can be achieved by points and click 

Any blockers to implement this solution?

Few things need to know ,Before finalizing this solution

1. Additional Cost : Price starts  $4,000 per month per data source 
2. External Data Availability Should be  by :  Either
• oData API's - Refer
• Custom Salesforce Connect Adapter - Refer (Or)

Using lightning connect Salesforce objects can be accessed by external data source?

No

Ex: SQL server  integrated to Salesforce through Salesforce lightning connect.

Case1 : SQL server tables will be accessible in Salesforce ? Yes

Case2 : All the Salesforce objects will be accessible in SQL Server ? No

How to access Salesforce Objects in External Data Source ?

By using ODBC / JDBC Drivers,

But Salesforce doesn't have any native ODBC/JDBC drivers as of today.Refer.

There are commercial solutions are available.

• Easysoft
• cData
• devart
• Progress

Lightning Connect  VS REST API ?

Lightning Connect uses OData Protocol and commonly accepted methodologies like REST for the web.

So question is,If we have other REST API already built to access the external data source,Then which will be better option among those two?

It depends on the project requirement,Design decision will be chosen

Lightning Connect	REST API
Directly allow  to access the external data source like custom object of Salesforce.Which called as external object.	Data will not able available in Salesforce, Each time on request get response and parse and show as per requirement.
Can directly build relationships. ·         Indirect Relationships ·         External Relationships Can Use Salesforce Reports & Dashboards, Page Layouts	No, We cannot leverage any standard salesforce OOB functionality like Reports and Dashboards, Page layouts, Relationships.
Additional cost 4k$ /Per Data Source / Month	No additional cost
Dependency: OData API should be exposed on the data source, If already not available need to build for that particular data source.	No dependency

Lightning Connect replaces ETL tools ?

Not exactly,

ETL approch physically moves the data where as lightning connect does not.

So it's based on the use case need to choose the suitable solution. 

What is External object ?

External objects map to the data located outside your Salesforce org & It’s similar to custom objects.

o   External objects ends with “__x”

Custom Object VS External Object ?

Feature	Custom Objects	External Objects
Data stored in your org	Yes	No
CRUD	Yes	Yes, Write (Limited)
Tabs Layouts Visualforce Field Level Security REST & SOAP API	Yes	Yes
SOQL SOSL Report & Analytics Chatter	Yes	Yes (Limited)
Sharing	Yes	No
Formula Fields Workflows Trigger Batch Apex	Yes	Not Yet
Search	Yes	Yes (Limited) Global  search only by text, text area and long text area fields

Indirect Look Up & External Look Up Relationships ?

Refer

External DataSource --> Validate And Sync :

On click of that button,Gives the refresh data from external system. 

Note : On click of Validate And Sync the relationships will be cleared,Need to create again ,Please think if required then only click on that button

External Object In Test class : Currently you can not get the external object in test classes,It needs to be implemented with a work around.

Name few enterprise built-in OData service?

• Progress DataDirect Cloud
• SkyVia
• MuleSoft

Refer 

Implementation using enterprise built-in oData Service - Progress DataDirect Cloud ?

DataDirect Cloud provides real-time connectivity to on-premise and cloud data

SNO	Task	More Details
1	SQL Server Database Login Details	SQL Server Database Credentials ·         User Name ·         Password ·         Database Name ·         Server Name ·         Port Number
2	DataDirect Cloud Login Account	DataDirect Cloud provides real-time connectivity to on-premise and cloud data. ·         Create an account ·         Login à Downloads à DataDirect Cloud Driver Downloads à Install à Get the Connector ID ·         Login à DataDirect Cloud à Data Sources à Select SQLServer à Create SQL Server Data Source à Test Connection à On Success à Save ·         Configure SchemaàSelect Schemaà dboàSelect all the tables /views which would like to expose to Salesforce à Select the primary key on column ·         Go to OData  à Access URI Note: This Access URI should be given in Salesforce  à New External Data Source à URL
3	Salesforce Login Account	Login à Set up à Build à Develop à External Data Sources à Select like below values Type Lightning Connect OData 4.0 Parameters à URL OData  à Access URI from “DataDirect Cloud Login Account Authentication àIdentity Type Named Principal Authentication àAuthentication Protocol Password Authentication à Enter DataDirect Cloud Login à User Name & Password Save à Validate and Sync à External Objects Result: Finally exposed tables/views can find in the External Objects  J Further : If would like to see in the external object in the new tab, Create new tab for each external object and configure the page layout accordingly to view the fields