Warehouses and Lakes
Marketing Analytics

How to load data from Sendgrid to Databricks Lakehouse

Learn how to use Airbyte to synchronize your Sendgrid data into Databricks Lakehouse within minutes.

TL;DR

This can be done by building a data pipeline manually, usually a Python script (you can leverage a tool as Apache Airflow for this). This process can take more than a full week of development. Or it can be done in minutes on Airbyte in three easy steps:

  1. set up Sendgrid as a source connector (using Auth, or usually an API key)
  2. set up Databricks Lakehouse as a destination connector
  3. define which data you want to transfer and how frequently

You can choose to self-host the pipeline using Airbyte Open Source or have it managed for you with Airbyte Cloud.

This tutorial’s purpose is to show you how.

What is Sendgrid

SendGrid is a customer communication platform. Cloud-based and scalable, it easily powers more than 30 billions emails every month for both web and mobile customers. Extremely reliable and efficient, it services both innovative and traditional businesses such as Airbnb, HubSpot, Pandora, Uber, Spotify, FourSquare, Costco, and Intuit.

What is Databricks Lakehouse

Databricks is an American enterprise software company founded by the creators of Apache Spark. Databricks combines data warehouses and data lakes into a lakehouse architecture.

Integrate Sendgrid with Databricks Lakehouse in minutes

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Prerequisites

  1. A Sendgrid account to transfer your customer data automatically from.
  2. A Databricks Lakehouse account.
  3. An active Airbyte Cloud account, or you can also choose to use Airbyte Open Source locally. You can follow the instructions to set up Airbyte on your system using docker-compose.

Airbyte is an open-source data integration platform that consolidates and streamlines the process of extracting and loading data from multiple data sources to data warehouses. It offers pre-built connectors, including Sendgrid and Databricks Lakehouse, for seamless data migration.

When using Airbyte to move data from Sendgrid to Databricks Lakehouse, it extracts data from Sendgrid using the source connector, converts it into a format Databricks Lakehouse can ingest using the provided schema, and then loads it into Databricks Lakehouse via the destination connector. This allows businesses to leverage their Sendgrid data for advanced analytics and insights within Databricks Lakehouse, simplifying the ETL process and saving significant time and resources.

Step 1: Set up Sendgrid as a source connector

1. First, you need to obtain your SendGrid API key. You can do this by logging in to your SendGrid account and navigating to the API Keys section under Settings. Click on the Create API Key button to generate a new key.  

2. Once you have your API key, go to the Airbyte dashboard and click on the Sources tab. Then, click on the Add Source button and select SendGrid from the list of available connectors.  

3. In the SendGrid configuration page, enter a name for your source and paste your API key in the corresponding field.  

4. Next, you need to select the data you want to replicate from SendGrid. You can choose from a variety of options such as email events, email activity, and email statistics. Select the data you want to replicate and click on the Save button.  

5. After saving your configuration, you can test your connection by clicking on the Test button. This will verify that your API key is valid and that Airbyte can connect to your SendGrid account.  

6. Finally, you can schedule your replication by setting up a sync frequency. You can choose to replicate your data on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, or you can set up a custom schedule.  

7. Once you have completed these steps, your SendGrid source connector will be set up and ready to replicate data to your destination of choice.

Step 2: Set up Databricks Lakehouse as a destination connector

1. First, navigate to the Airbyte website and log in to your account.
2. Once you are logged in, click on the "Destinations" tab on the left-hand side of the screen.
3. Scroll down until you find the "Databricks Lakehouse" connector and click on it.
4. You will be prompted to enter your Databricks Lakehouse credentials, including your account name, personal access token, and workspace ID.
5. Once you have entered your credentials, click on the "Test" button to ensure that the connection is successful.
6. If the test is successful, click on the "Save" button to save your Databricks Lakehouse destination connector settings.
7. You can now use the Databricks Lakehouse connector to transfer data from your source connectors to your Databricks Lakehouse destination.
8. To set up a data transfer, navigate to the "Sources" tab and select the source connector that you want to use.
9. Follow the prompts to enter your source connector credentials and configure your data transfer settings.
10. Once you have configured your source connector, select the Databricks Lakehouse connector as your destination and follow the prompts to configure your data transfer settings.
11. Click on the "Run" button to initiate the data transfer.

Step 3: Set up a connection to sync your Sendgrid data to Databricks Lakehouse

Once you've successfully connected Sendgrid as a data source and Databricks Lakehouse as a destination in Airbyte, you can set up a data pipeline between them with the following steps:

  1. Create a new connection: On the Airbyte dashboard, navigate to the 'Connections' tab and click the '+ New Connection' button.
  2. Choose your source: Select Sendgrid from the dropdown list of your configured sources.
  3. Select your destination: Choose Databricks Lakehouse from the dropdown list of your configured destinations.
  4. Configure your sync: Define the frequency of your data syncs based on your business needs. Airbyte allows both manual and automatic scheduling for your data refreshes.
  5. Select the data to sync: Choose the specific Sendgrid objects you want to import data from towards Databricks Lakehouse. You can sync all data or select specific tables and fields.
  6. Select the sync mode for your streams: Choose between full refreshes or incremental syncs (with deduplication if you want), and this for all streams or at the stream level. Incremental is only available for streams that have a primary cursor.
  7. Test your connection: Click the 'Test Connection' button to make sure that your setup works. If the connection test is successful, save your configuration.
  8. Start the sync: If the test passes, click 'Set Up Connection'. Airbyte will start moving data from Sendgrid to Databricks Lakehouse according to your settings.

Remember, Airbyte keeps your data in sync at the frequency you determine, ensuring your Databricks Lakehouse data warehouse is always up-to-date with your Sendgrid data.

Use Cases to transfer your Sendgrid data to Databricks Lakehouse

Integrating data from Sendgrid to Databricks Lakehouse provides several benefits. Here are a few use cases:

  1. Advanced Analytics: Databricks Lakehouse’s powerful data processing capabilities enable you to perform complex queries and data analysis on your Sendgrid data, extracting insights that wouldn't be possible within Sendgrid alone.
  2. Data Consolidation: If you're using multiple other sources along with Sendgrid, syncing to Databricks Lakehouse allows you to centralize your data for a holistic view of your operations, and to set up a change data capture process so you never have any discrepancies in your data again.
  3. Historical Data Analysis: Sendgrid has limits on historical data. Syncing data to Databricks Lakehouse allows for long-term data retention and analysis of historical trends over time.
  4. Data Security and Compliance: Databricks Lakehouse provides robust data security features. Syncing Sendgrid data to Databricks Lakehouse ensures your data is secured and allows for advanced data governance and compliance management.
  5. Scalability: Databricks Lakehouse can handle large volumes of data without affecting performance, providing an ideal solution for growing businesses with expanding Sendgrid data.
  6. Data Science and Machine Learning: By having Sendgrid data in Databricks Lakehouse, you can apply machine learning models to your data for predictive analytics, customer segmentation, and more.
  7. Reporting and Visualization: While Sendgrid provides reporting tools, data visualization tools like Tableau, PowerBI, Looker (Google Data Studio) can connect to Databricks Lakehouse, providing more advanced business intelligence options. If you have a Sendgrid table that needs to be converted to a Databricks Lakehouse table, Airbyte can do that automatically.

Wrapping Up

To summarize, this tutorial has shown you how to:

  1. Configure a Sendgrid account as an Airbyte data source connector.
  2. Configure Databricks Lakehouse as a data destination connector.
  3. Create an Airbyte data pipeline that will automatically be moving data directly from Sendgrid to Databricks Lakehouse after you set a schedule

With Airbyte, creating data pipelines take minutes, and the data integration possibilities are endless. Airbyte supports the largest catalog of API tools, databases, and files, among other sources. Airbyte's connectors are open-source, so you can add any custom objects to the connector, or even build a new connector from scratch without any local dev environment or any data engineer within 10 minutes with the no-code connector builder.

We look forward to seeing you make use of it! We invite you to join the conversation on our community Slack Channel, or sign up for our newsletter. You should also check out other Airbyte tutorials, and Airbyte’s content hub!

What should you do next?

Hope you enjoyed the reading. Here are the 3 ways we can help you in your data journey:

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What should you do next?

Hope you enjoyed the reading. Here are the 3 ways we can help you in your data journey:

flag icon
Easily address your data movement needs with Airbyte Cloud
Take the first step towards extensible data movement infrastructure that will give a ton of time back to your data team. 
Get started with Airbyte for free
high five icon
Talk to a data infrastructure expert
Get a free consultation with an Airbyte expert to significantly improve your data movement infrastructure. 
Talk to sales
stars sparkling
Improve your data infrastructure knowledge
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter and get the community’s new enlightening content along with Airbyte’s progress in their mission to solve data integration once and for all.
Subscribe to newsletter

Frequently Asked Questions

What data can you extract from Sendgrid?

SendGrid's API provides access to a wide range of data related to email delivery and engagement. The following are the categories of data that can be accessed through SendGrid's API:  

1. Email delivery data: This includes information about the delivery status of emails, such as whether they were delivered successfully or bounced.  

2. Engagement data: This includes data related to how recipients interact with emails, such as open rates, click-through rates, and unsubscribe rates.  

3. Email content data: This includes information about the content of emails, such as subject lines, body text, and attachments.  

4. Contact data: This includes information about the recipients of emails, such as email addresses, names, and demographic information.  

5. Account data: This includes information about the SendGrid account, such as billing information, API keys, and account settings.  

6. Event data: This includes information about events related to email delivery and engagement, such as when an email was sent, opened, or clicked.  

Overall, SendGrid's API provides a comprehensive set of data that can be used to analyze and optimize email campaigns for better engagement and delivery.

What data can you transfer to Databricks Lakehouse?

You can transfer a wide variety of data to Databricks Lakehouse. This usually includes structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data like transaction records, log files, JSON data, CSV files, and more, allowing robust, scalable data integration and analysis.

What are top ETL tools to transfer data from Sendgrid to Databricks Lakehouse?

The most prominent ETL tools to transfer data from Sendgrid to Databricks Lakehouse include:

  • Airbyte
  • Fivetran
  • Stitch
  • Matillion
  • Talend Data Integration

These tools help in extracting data from Sendgrid and various sources (APIs, databases, and more), transforming it efficiently, and loading it into Databricks Lakehouse and other databases, data warehouses and data lakes, enhancing data management capabilities.