Sqoop is great for sending data between a JDBC compliant database and a Hadoop environment. Sqoop is built for those who need a few simple CLI options to import a selection of database tables into Hadoop, do large dataset analysis that could not commonly be done with that database system due to resource constraints, then export the results back into that database (or another). Sqoop falls short when there needs to be some extra, customized processing between database extract, and Hadoop loading, in which case Apache Spark's JDBC utilities might be preferred
SharePlex really shines when set alongside GoldenGate. The licensing costs of the two products would appear to place them in entirely different ballparks yet they perform nearly identically in practice. SharePlex is suitable for heterogenous replication of one database to another. The list of targets is ever increasing, with support for all major RDBMS vendors as well as support for popular NoSQL and JSON replication. SharePlex is effective when replicating from on-premise to cloud. Whether that's migrating data, creating a high-availability presence in a public or private cloud, or populating a data mart, it does the job quite well.
Sqoop2 development seems to have stalled. I have set it up outside of a Cloudera CDH installation, and I actually prefer it's "Sqoop Server" model better than just the CLI client version that is Sqoop1. This works especially well in a microservices environment, where there would be only one place to maintain the JDBC drivers to use for Sqoop.
When first introduced the Change Data Capture process was awkward. Each subsequent release has improved the process.
Sometimes the Shareplex monitoring service in Foglight gets overly aggressive in sending out error notifications and can end up spamming the admins with email alerts for one problem. We have had to tone that down.
Support is very responsive. They take ownership of the problems and see them through to the finish. When a bug is found they work towards developing testing and making the fix available to us to solve the problem.
Sqoop comes preinstalled on the major Hadoop vendor distributions as the recommended product to import data from relational databases. The ability to extend it with additional JDBC drivers makes it very flexible for the environment it is installed within.
Spark also has a useful JDBC reader, and can manipulate data in more ways than Sqoop, and also upload to many other systems than just Hadoop.
Kafka Connect JDBC is more for streaming database updates using tools such as Oracle GoldenGate or Debezium.
Streamsets and Apache NiFi both provide a more "flow based programming" approach to graphically laying out connectors between various systems, including JDBC and Hadoop.
SharePlex support is an award-winning team, which is available for 24 hours, and any time they have solutions with perfect expertise. Besides, SharePlex has supported data migration, with multiple reporting features that ensure there are comprehensive database evaluations. The simplicity of SharePlex installation also gives it a higher mark, is very efficient, and allows companies to understand it easily.
When combined with Cloudera's HUE, it can enable non-technical users to easily import relational data into Hadoop.
Being able to manipulate large datasets in Hadoop, and them load them into a type of "materialized view" in an external database system has yielded great insights into the Hadoop datalake without continuously running large batch jobs.
Sqoop isn't very user-friendly for those uncomfortable with a CLI.
