Configuring an ADF Linked Service Connection for HTTP

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For information on how to enable a connection for use with linked services, see Configuring a Linked Service Connection.

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Field labels in this walkthrough follow the underlying Azure Data Factory property names, with the connection column that carries each value named alongside. The exact labels shown in the BimlFlex Connection Editor may differ.

After selecting HTTP Server from the Linked Service Type dropdown, the form required for creating an HTTP Linked Service will appear. The HTTP Server option is offered when the connection's Connection Type is Azure File Server.

File Format System Types

An HTTP Linked Service is selected on a connection whose System Type is a file format. The file format System Types that offer it are Delimited Format, Avro Format, Binary Format, JSON Format, ORC Format, Parquet Format and XML Format.

Choosing an Authentication Method

Method	Credentials	Additional Settings
Anonymous	None	None
Basic	Username and Password	None
Digest	Username and Password	None
Windows	Username and Password	None
ClientCertificate	A client certificate	embeddedCertData or certThumbprint

Recommendation: Store the Password in Azure Key Vault rather than entering it as plaintext.

Complete Example: Basic Authentication with Azure Key Vault

Field	Example Value
Connect via Integration Runtime	AutoResolveIntegrationRuntime
Url	https://files.contoso.com/exports/
Authentication Type	Basic
Username	bfx-reader
Azure Key Vault Linked Service	bfx-kv
Secret Name (for Password)	BFX-SRC-HttpPassword

Required Fields

Common Required Fields

Most required fields for an HTTP Linked Service connection depend on the Authentication Type used. There are some fields that are required regardless of Authentication Type.

These common required fields are:

• Connect via Integration Runtime
• Url
• Authentication Type

Optional fields are:

• Enable Server Certificate Validation

Authentication Type Dependent Required Fields

The remaining field requirements are dependent on Authentication Type.

Required fields for Anonymous:

• None

Required fields for Basic, Digest and Windows:

• Username
• Password (or Azure Key Vault)

Required fields for ClientCertificate:

• embeddedCertData or certThumbprint in Additional Settings

Connect via Integration Runtime

Connect via Integration Runtime names the integration runtime for an HTTP Linked Service connection. The default value is AutoResolveIntegrationRuntime. To use another runtime, select it from the dropdown or choose + New to add one. When a custom value is saved in the linked service form, it will be added to the custom integration runtimes. The custom values that appear in this dropdown can be maintained in Settings under Azure - AzureIntegrationRuntime.

The runtime is stored in the connection's LS_ConnectVia_IntegrationRuntime column. Any value other than AutoResolveIntegrationRuntime is written to the linked service as the runtime it connects through.

Url

The Url is the base URL of the web server (for example, https://files.contoso.com/exports/). It is stored in the connection's LS_Url column and maps to the ADF url property.

Authentication Type

The HTTP Linked Service connection can use Anonymous, Basic, Digest, Windows or ClientCertificate authentication. The selected value is stored in the connection's LS_AuthenticationType column and maps to the ADF authenticationType property. When a connection has no Authentication Type, the BimlFlex Connection Editor sets it to Anonymous.

For Anonymous, no credentials are required.

When using Basic, Digest or Windows, a Username and Password are required.

For ClientCertificate, a certificate is supplied through Additional Settings.

When the connection's LS_EncryptedCredential column holds an Encrypted Credential value, it is also written to the linked service. The BimlFlex Connection Editor shows no field for this setting.

Anonymous

Anonymous authentication connects to the web server without credentials.

Basic

Basic authentication signs in to the web server with a Username and Password.

The Username is stored in the connection's LS_Username column and maps to the ADF userName property. The Password field accepts the password as plaintext in the LS_Password column, or an Azure Key Vault reference held in the LS_PasswordKVS_ fields that resolves to the password at runtime. It maps to the ADF password property.

Digest

Digest authentication signs in to the web server with a Username and Password. The Username and Password are stored and written as described for Basic.

Windows

Windows authentication signs in to the web server with a Username and Password. The Username and Password are stored and written as described for Basic.

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It is suggested that Azure Key Vault be used in place of manually entering the Password.

ClientCertificate

ClientCertificate authentication presents a client certificate to the web server. The certificate is supplied in the connection's Additional Settings (LS_AdditionalSettings) under one of two keys:

• embeddedCertData holds the Base64-encoded certificate data and maps to the ADF embeddedCertData property.
• certThumbprint holds the thumbprint of a certificate installed in the certificate store of the self-hosted integration runtime machine, and maps to the ADF certThumbprint property. It applies only when the connection connects through a self-hosted integration runtime.

BimlFlex writes each key to the linked service when it is set.

Enable Server Certificate Validation

The Enable Server Certificate Validation setting is stored in the connection's LS_EnableServerCertificateValidation column and corresponds to the ADF enableServerCertificateValidation property.

Azure Data Factory Linked Service Additional Information

For additional information on ADF HTTP Linked Service and its connection requirements see the Azure Data Factory HTTP Connector documentation.