CData Sync Enterprise - CDC Replication for Cloud and On-Prem Data

During the project, I used CData Sync majorly to achieve automated data replication, continuously moving data from source systems into a data warehouse we were working on at the time, and I also used it for ETL and ELT pipelines.

For the project, we were pulling CRM data from Oracle Eloqua into MySQL for analytics and BI reporting, and we made use of the native Eloqua connector which handled the integration seamlessly with operations that we set around it, so for the most part, we did not have to write code, as we just used their native picker and the custom settings to achieve what we wanted within the pipeline.

For the major part, we did not have to write code, which I found fascinating, as we had a good understanding of the source, the structure of the data, the source environment, and then the warehouse where we were sending the data, and given that understanding, we were able to use CData Sync's features to connect to Eloqua and the other side, leading to seamless replication of data from the CRM software.

CData Sync offers source connectors that feel unlimited, as it has nearly every single connector needed, especially regarding databases and native software that help in collecting data, such as the unique Eloqua connector, and the interface does not require writing any code since it is primarily a point-and-click interface, allowing you to build, schedule, and monitor data pipelines without coding. I appreciate the Change Data Capture feature which replicates only what changes in your data since the last synchronization, avoiding automatic overwrites of entire tables. The Change Data Capture feature made a significant difference for us in efficiency because we did not have to worry about wrong data overwriting the correct data that had already been uploaded, and CData Sync just looked out for true changes that were made, requiring less time for uploads since it is not rewriting everything but including only the changes, thereby saving both resources and time in monitoring the whole process.

The first improvement I would like for CData Sync is the user interface, which sometimes does not allow for custom sorting of jobs, making pipeline management cumbersome at scale, especially when you want to do custom sorts or filters, plus the limited transformation capability means that since CData Sync is primarily a replication tool, complex transformations require external tools.

To add to that, the customization of the UI is sometimes limited when you want to build a custom job template, finding yourself restricted to their pre-built job templates without the ability to create a fully custom configuration independently.

I used CData Sync for a project that lasted for four months, and that was where I used CData Sync.

CData Sync offers ETL, ELT, and reverse ETL support, allowing us to replicate data from our CRM software into the target environment, and in a special case, we had to do reverse ETL where we pulled out data from the target environment and loaded it back into the CRM for a follow-up the sales team needed, with the data populated into the CRM software enabling the sales team to proceed with their campaign seamlessly.

Regarding productivity, during the project time, we were able to eliminate manual data extraction tasks since we did not have to write much code to monitor the pipeline or perform a lot of manual data connections and data mapping, and for cost savings, I relate that to time savings, as we did not spend much time and mental resources on new software or unnecessary expenditures; we focused our energy on ensuring the source and target environments were duly set up while deploying CData Sync to handle the connection and transmission.

Without CData Sync, I estimate that the project would have taken us about six or seven months, but given that we had CData Sync, we were able to conclude the project within four months.

In terms of governance and security for CData Sync's capabilities, transaction logging is built in, which logs all replication activities for audit trails, making it reputable in terms of governance, and connections to sensitive source systems are managed centrally within CData Sync's configuration, providing more transparency regarding role-based access and credential management, which is a positive sign for security; also, the on-premises deployment option gives us full control over where data lands, significantly aiding in monitoring data footprints of datasets and databases.

CData Sync is primarily a data movement tool rather than an AI inference tool, so discussing accuracy and reliability pertains to its data replication capabilities, which are very accurate in extracting data and replicating it in the target environment, and the Change Data Capture ensures that only changes are replicated, making it reliable; additionally, automated schema change management means that structural changes in source systems do not silently break pipelines, with the schema being adaptable and smart, so even slight changes in the source environment do not disrupt the pipeline at the target environment.

I would rate this product an 8 out of 10.