Explain Salesforce Connect and External Objects. What are the differences between OData 2.0, OData 4.0, and the cross-org adapter?
Suggested answer
Salesforce Connect allows Salesforce to display and interact with data stored in external systems in real time, without copying data into Salesforce. Data appears as External Objects (suffix __x) and can be related to standard/custom objects via External Lookups and Indirect Lookups.
OData 2.0 Adapter: Older standard. Supports basic CRUD. Good for legacy systems that expose OData 2.0 endpoints. Limited to Atom/XML format.
OData 4.0 Adapter: Newer standard with JSON support, better performance, server-side pagination, and more operators. Preferred for new integrations.
Cross-Org Adapter: Connects two Salesforce orgs so one org can read/write data in another org's objects as External Objects. Uses OAuth to authenticate between orgs. Useful for multi-org architectures where data must remain in a secondary org but be visible in the primary.
Heroku Connect: Bi-directional sync (not real-time query) between Salesforce and a Heroku PostgreSQL database, using a polling or streaming mechanism.
Practice content for interview preparation; not an official vendor answer. Verify details against current product documentation.
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