Overview

Microsoft Azure, a Microsoft cloud computing platform, offers access to, management of, and development of applications and services through global data centers. The Microsoft Azure data export feature provides the capability to bulk export your CleverTap event data to Azure Blob Storage. You can use this for analysis in BI tools or storage in your data warehouse for analysis in the future.

Setup

The following are the two major steps involved in enabling this feature for your account:

1. Create a Microsoft Azure Storage Account.
2. Create a Blob Service Container.
3. Generate a SAS Token.
4. Configure Microsoft Azure Blob Container details on the CleverTap Dashboard.

Create a Microsoft Azure Storage Account

To create a Microsoft Azure Storage Account:

1. Log in to your Microsoft Azure account and select Storage Accounts from the left menu.
2. Click + Create to create a new storage account.

3. Enter the Storage account name, and do not modify the default settings.

4. Click Review and click Create. The following screen displays once the storage account is created:

The storage account you created now appears under the Storage accounts page.

Create a Blob Service Container

To create a Blob Service Container:

1. Navigate to the Blobs menu under the Blob Service section of your storage account.
2. Create + Container to create a Blob Service Container within the storage account you created in the previous section.

3. Enter the Name of your Blob Service Container, and do not modify the other default settings.
4. Click Create.

Generate a SAS Token

A Shared Access Signature (SAS) Token is a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) that provides limited access to an Azure Storage container. It is used when you want to authorize access to storage account assets within a defined time frame while keeping your storage account key confidential. For more information about SAS, refer to Delegate access by using a SAS Token.

To generate a SAS Token:

1. Select the Container and click the icon.
2. Select Generate SAS from the dropdown list. The Generate SAS window opens on the right side of the screen.

3. Enter the following details:

4. Click Generate SAS token and URL.

Copy the generated SAS token and URL, as you cannot access it later.

Configure Microsoft Azure Blob Container on CleverTap Dashboard

To add your Microsoft Azure Blob Container to Clevertap:

1. Navigate to Settings > Partners and click Integrate against Mircosoft Azure. The Integrate analytics partner - Microsoft Azure window displays on the right side of the screen.

2. Click + Microsoft Azure to create a new bucket. The Integrate Microsoft Azure Bucket window opens on the right side of the screen.
3. Enter the Bucket Nickname.
4. Select the Azure Blob Storage Endpoint.
   • Default: Enter the Blob Storage Account name.

• Custom: Add a custom domain mapped to your Azure Blob Storage Endpoint. For more information about defining a custom endpoint, refer to Map a Custom Domain.

2. Enter the container name that stores data on Azure and the SAS token we obtained in Step 4 of the Generate a SAS Token section.

Create a New Data Export

To create a new data export, perform the following steps:

1. Navigate to Settings > Partners > Exports.
2. Click Create Export and select Microsoft Azure.

The Export to Microsoft Azure popup displays.

3. Configure the following settings:

   • Partner Bucket name: Name of the partner bucket. You can choose the required partner bucket from the drop-down list.
   • DATA TYPE & IDENTIFIER PRIORITY: Select the events from the available options to export. For more information, refer to Export Details.
     • Fallback priority orders for identifiers: When exporting data, you can prioritize user identities. If you have selected multiple identities in the User Identity section, you can assign priorities 1, 2, and 3 to Email, Identity, and Phone Number. Users can then be identified based on these assigned priorities.
       NOTE: This feature applies only to All events and All user properties type.
   • FREQUENCY: Select from one of the following options:
     • One time: A single export for the selected export type. You can export data up to the last 60 days. You create an export for a specific day, date range, previous month, current month, and more.
     • Recurring: Set up a recurring export that exports all the new events captured in the last window. You can export data as frequently as every 4 hours and up to once every 24 hours.
     • Dates to export data: The export starts at 12:00 a.m. on the specified date by default.
   • FORMAT: Select from the following export formats: JSON, XML, CSV, and Parquet. For more information, refer to Export Format.
   • Export Data: Enable As string to export data in string format.

4. Click Export. On clicking, the popup closes, and the following message displays at the top of the Exports page:

CleverTap processes the export, and you can now see the newly created export for Microsoft Azure.

The status for each export is displayed as Pending as soon as the export is created. The status changes to Running after the processing starts. And it changes to Done when the export is complete.

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Stop Export

You can also stop the export that you have created. To do so, click the icon for the export request you want to stop, and then click Stop to confirm your action.

5. Confirm if your event data was successfully exported. To do so:
   a. Log in to your Microsoft Azure account and select the Storage account under Resources.
   b. Click the Blob service link under the Properties tab.
   c. Select the Container where you exported the data.
   d. (Optional) Click the Switch to Acces Key link if you encounter any authorization error after selecting the Container.

Stop Export

You can also stop the export that you have created. Hover over the export. Click the Stop button for the export request you want to stop.

The Stop export? window appears. Click Stop to confirm your action.

You now return to the Exports page, and the Microsoft Azure data export stopped message displays at the top. The status of the export is displayed as Stopped.

Edit an Export

You might need to modify an export to meet specific business requirements or while waiting for the next run. This section describes editing a Live Data Streaming and Recurring export in the RUNNING and PENDING (awaiting next run) state.

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Points to Remember

• In case of running exports, the new changes will apply to the next run.
• You cannot edit a One-time export, regardless its status (RUNNING, PENDING, DONE, or STOPPED).
• You cannot change the export from User Profile to Event and vice-versa.
• You cannot modify exports marked as DONE or STOPPED.
• Export changes for Live DataStreaming take 10-15 minutes to take effect.

To edit an export:

1. On the CleverTap dashboard, go to Partners > Exports.
2. Hover over the required export. The View, Edit, and the Stop buttons appear.

3. Click the Edit button. The Export to Segment section appears.

4. Edit the export details and click Update export.

Filter Exports

This section describes the different ways you can filter exports.

Filter by Export Details

To filter by export details:

1. Click the Filter button at the top right corner.
2. You can filter exports by Partner, Type, Format, Status, or Frequency.
3. To clear the filter, click Reset all.

Filter Exports by Date Range

To filter exports by export date range:

1. Click the Filter button at the top right corner.
2. Click the Exported on button.
   The Calendar widget appears.

3. Choose the custom date range and click Apply.
   The exports are filtered accordingly.

Filter Exports by Pagination

To choose how many export items you view per page:

1. Use the Items per page drop-down at the bottom of the Exports page.
2. Select one of the following options: 10, 20, 30, or 40. By default, the Exports page shows 20 exports.

Export Details

Export Type

• All user events: This exports data for all events that have been defined, which include System and Custom events.
• Select events: This exports specific events you want to export.
• All user profiles: This exports all your user profile data.

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Private Beta: Recurring Export for User Profiles

Previously, handling large amounts of data and frequent updates led to duplication and higher storage needs. The new method uses scheduled transfers to manage resources more effectively and ease system load. We start with a full data export to set a complete base. Then, we only transfer updates or new data. This means that the profile exports will include less data than usual, considering only incremental updates will be exported. This reduces duplication and saves storage space, making data management more efficient.

Currently, this feature is in Private Beta. To enable this feature for your account, contact your Customer Success Manager.

Export Frequency

• One time: Single export for the export type selected. You can export data up to the last 60 days.
• Recurring: Set up a recurring export that exports all the new events/user profiles captured in the last window. You can export as frequently as every 4 hours and up to once every 24 hours.

Export Format

• JSON
• XML
• CSV
• Parquet

For more information, refer to the following section.

Export Format

This section provides information about the file format and the name format of the files exported to the S3 bucket.

File Name Format

• File Name Format for Event Export
  The example below shows the file name format for event export:
  • Export request ID: Indicates the export request ID generated when you create a request in the CleverTap dashboard.
  • Timestamp of export run: Indicates when the export was run.
  • Event name: Indicates the event type that is included in the file.
  • File index: We chunk the data across multiple files for larger exports. We limit file sizes to 100 MB chunks to make them more consumable. The file index indicates the file number in the file series.
  • Database ID: Indicates the database ID of the CleverTap from where the file was exported.
  • File format: Indicates the format of the file exported to the S3 bucket.

<export request id>-<timestamp of the export run>-<event name>-<yyyymmdd>-<file index>-<database-id>.json

• File Name Format for User Profile Export:
  The example below shows the file name format for user profile export:
  • Account ID: Indicates the integer value for your CleverTap project ID.
  • Request ID: Indicates the export request ID generated when you create a request in the CleverTap dashboard.
  • Timestamp of export run: Indicates when the export was run.
  • Database ID: Indicates the database ID of the CleverTap from where the file was exported.
  • File format: Indicates the format of the file exported to the S3 bucket.

<account id>-<request id>-<timestamp of the export run>-<database-id>-<file format>.gz

File Data Format

Files are split by event names for event exports, and each file will have all event data for the given period for the event.

JSON

The first line of the file contains the event name. After the first line, each line in JSON describes the timestamp, object id, and event properties.

{
	"profile": {
		"identity": "dqsndckfk234"
	},
	"ts": 20171109000015,
	"eventProps": {
		"ct_connected_to_wifi": "false",
		"ct_bluetooth_version": "ble",
		"ct_bluetooth_enabled": "false",
		"ct_sdk_version": 30107,
		"ct_latitude": -6.1975594,
		"ct_longitude": 106.52913,
		"ct_os_version": "5.1.1",
		"ct_app_version": "2.30.1",
		"ct_network_carrier": "3",
		"ct_network_type": "4G"
	}
}

CSV

CSV files are comma-delimited and have each event in separate rows.

XML

XML has the timeStamp, eventName, followed by eventProperties.

<Event>
    <ts>20200220130735</ts>
    <eventName>Export Custom Event</eventName>
    <profile>
        <all_identities>[email protected]</all_identities>
        <platform>Web</platform>
        <email>[email protected]</email>
    </profile>
    <deviceInfo>
        <browser>Others</browser>
    </deviceInfo>
    <eventProps>
        <entry>
            <key>CT Source</key>
            <value>API</value>
        </entry>
        <entry>
            <key>Category</key>
            <value>Mens Watch</value>
        </entry>
        <entry>
            <key>Product name</key>
            <value>Casio Chronograph Watch</value>
        </entry>
        <entry>
            <key>Price</key>
            <value>59.99</value>
        </entry>
        <entry>
            <key>Currency</key>
            <value>USD</value>
        </entry>
    </eventProps>
</Event>

Parquet

Parquet has a timestamp, eventName, and eventProperties for each event.

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Parquet File Format

• Parquet is an open-source file format for Hadoop. Parquet stores nested data structures in a flat columnar format.
• Currently, exports in Parquet format are compressed as .parquet.gzip. Contact the customer support if you wish to get the file as .parquet i.e. without any additional compression.

Prioritize User Identity for Exports

The export file includes an identity column with the user's Identity, Phone Number, or Email values. These values are set based on the identities configured in the CleverTap dashboard under the Settings > User Identity page. This feature lets you prioritize the identifier you want to export in the identity column.

Let us understand how the prioritization works based on the identities selected in the User Identity page:

• If you select only Identity, export includes the identity value. The export file's identity column is empty if it is unavailable.
  
• If you select multiple identifiers, you must set the priorities on the Export page. For instance, you set Priority 1 to Identity and Priority 2 to Email ID. When exporting data, the export prioritizes the Identity value for the identity column. If it is absent, the Email ID is exported under the identity column of the export file. If both are missing, the column remains empty.
  

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Key Points to Remember

• If you change the identity later, the export works according to the set priority. To prioritize the modified identities, edit your export.
• This feature applies only to the following export types: All events and All user profiles.
• For the old running export, this configuration or prirotization is not applicable. You can add the prioritization by editing the running exports.

To prioritize user identity for exports:

1. Go to Partners > Exports.
2. Hover over the required Microsoft Azure export. Click the Edit button.
3. Under Fallback priority order for identifiers, set up the priority 1, 2, and 3 for the required identities from the drop-down list.

4. Click Update export.

FAQ

Q. How do you secure the data exports from CleverTap to Microsoft Azure?

A. You can whitelist IPs to ensure that CleverTap will only have access to push data to your Microsoft Azure bucket. To get the list of IP Whitelisting, refer to the IP Whitelisting documentation.

Q. What customer-related errors can stop exports, and how are customers notified when interruptions occur?

A. Exports can stop due to customer-related errors. For example, invalid/expired credentials or a missing partner bucket. CleverTap emails customers about the issue to ensure timely resolution.

Here are the customer-related errors that can stop Microsoft Azure export:

Exports are checked every hour for failures. If an error occurs, CleverTap sends three emails to the export creator within a span of three days. Emails 1 and 2 include the error details and a link to fix it. It warns that the export will stop if the problem is not fixed within three days. Email 3 notifies the creator that CleverTap has stopped the export.