Anatomy of a Microsoft Graph connector
- Microsoft Graph connectors are responsible for creating an external connection to data sources, defining schema for external content, and managing imported content in Microsoft 365.
- An external connection defines the source of external content, including name, description, schema, and imported items.
- Each imported item contains indexed content, metadata, ACL, and optionally, activities for content discovery.
- A Microsoft Graph connector consists of a Microsoft Entra app registration and custom code.
- The app registration allows authentication with Microsoft 365 and calling Microsoft Graph APIs.
- The code creates the external connection, configures the schema, and imports content.
- A simple Microsoft Graph connector can be a PowerShell script using the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK.
- For more robust solutions, cloud-native building blocks like serverless, queues, and storage can be used to build a cloud app.
- The connector code provides flexibility in connecting to external sources, transforming content, and loading it into Microsoft 365 using Graph APIs.
- A walkthrough on how to build a custom Microsoft Graph connector will be provided in a future article.