# Custom REST Connector
The Sisense Custom REST Connector allows you to programmatically connect to open RESTful connectors and import data into your Datamodel. Using the Custom REST Connector feature, you can create custom connectors to popular data sources accessible as REST APIs.
The Sisense Custom REST Connector acts like a generic connector providing flexibility when connecting to various RESTful data sources. As each data source has their own unique requirements, you must review your data source's documentation to understand the requirements for each data source you want to connect to.
# Custom REST Connector Webinar
# Prerequisites
If you do not have Sisense installed, you must meet the following requirements:
- .NET version
4.5.2or above. - MongoDB
2.0.0.64(opens new window); If you are upgrading to this version of MongoDB, this upgrade contains breaking changes. For more information, click here (opens new window).
# How the Custom REST Connector Works
The Custom REST Connector enables you to connect to RESTful data sources by providing Sisense the endpoints of the data source and authentication information that allows Sisense to return the requested data.
To connect to a data source, you create a connector configuration file in JSON for each unique source. This file contains all the necessary information to connect, authenticate, fetch and transform data from a REST provider.
For example, if you want to connect to Facebook’s REST API, you create a config.json file that contains the endpoints that Facebook provides you, has authentication credentials and defines how you want to import the data into your ElastiCube. Once the data is in your ElastiCube, the process to build it and create dashboards remains the same as native data sources.
There are two steps to connecting to RESTful data sources through the Sisense Custom REST Connection:
- Retrieving RESTful Credentials: Each data source has its own requirements and endpoints, this section describes what information you need to provide Sisense to import the data into an ElastiCube.
- Creating Configuration Files: Sisense uses the config.json file to connect to the data source and determine how the information is to be imported into the ElastiCube. This section describes how to build the config.json file and where to store it.