Google AlloyDB

This page walks through how to connect Census with your Google AlloyDB database.

Getting Started

This guide shows you how to use Census to connect your AlloyDB database to your data warehouse and create your first sync.

In order for a third party application (like Census) to query your AlloyDB, Google Cloud requires that you set up an Auth proxy as detailed in their documentation. If you have any questions at all setting up this Auth proxy, please reach out to [email protected].

1. Visit the Destinations page and click + New Destination.

2. Select AlloyDB from the menu.

3. Enter the requested database credentials:

Credential	Description
Hostname	Host name or IP address of database
Port	Port of database
Database Name	Name of database to connect to
Username	Username Census will use to connect
Password	Password Census will use to connect
Number of Client Connections	Value between 1 and 8 (default is 1). This is the maximum number of concurrent connections Census will use to connect to database. The default should be fine in most cases, but increasing this value can increase throughput on very large syncs.
Use SSH Tunnel	Default: Off - Toggle on to indicate that Census should connect via an SSH Tunnel. For more information, see Network Access Controls
SSH Hostname	Hostname of the Census accessible SSH Tunnel bastion.
SSH Port	Port of SSH Tunnel bastion.
SSH Username	Username Census will use to connect to bastion.

🔑 Permissions

To use AlloyDB as a destination, Census requires permission to write to the desired destination tables, as well as read metadata about the table and database structures.

-- Note that creating a user may be redundant if you're already configured
-- AlloyDB as a source.

-- Give the census user the ability to sign in with a password
CREATE USER CENSUS WITH PASSWORD '<strong, unique password>';

-- Let the census user see this schema
GRANT USAGE ON SCHEMA "<your schema>" TO CENSUS;

-- Let the census user read all existing tables in this schema
-- Note: this can also be granted to specific tables as well
GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA "<your schema>" TO CENSUS;

️ Supported Objects and Sync Behaviors

We support syncing data to Tables in AlloyDB, but they must have a uniqueness constraint on a column. ​

Object Name	Supported?	Sync Keys	Behaviors
Table	✅	Primary Keys or Columns with Uniqueness Constraints	Update or Create, Update Only, Add, Mirror

Learn more about all of our sync behaviors in our Syncs documentation.

Contact us if you want Census to support more AlloyDB objects and/or sync behaviors.

Advanced Network Configuration

Census can successfully connect to AlloyDB instances that are using advanced networking controls including region constraints, IP address allow lists, or SSH Tunneling. For more information, see our Network Access Controls documentation.

❗️Common troubleshooting issues

You may be trying to sync to a table that does not have a uniqueness constraint. If possible, you need to add one to be able to sync to it. The syntax to do so is here.

Need help connecting to Google AlloyDB?

Contact us via [email protected] or start a conversation with us via the in-app chat.