Azure Data Factory
An Azure service for ingesting, preparing, and transforming data at scale.
11,323 questions
ADF Google Ads Linked Service using Service Authentication as the Authentication Type ERROR pkcs8PrivateKey
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(137.6, 12%, 23%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EMB%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
mamadou bhoye sow
5
Reputation points
Trying to access Google Ads data using a Google Ads Service Account, and the ADF Google Ads Linked Service. The linked service "Authentication type" set to "Service authentication". We generated a private key for this Service Account in Google, and we have used the key as the value in the "Private key" field of the linked service. We have populated the other required linked service fields (Name, Client customer ID, Developer token, Email), and also the optional "Login customer ID" field. We have also designated the linked service to use a self-hosted integration runtime instead of the AutoResolveIntegrationRuntime.
Point here:
the private key is a valid too and we tested its validity using openssl
-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----
MIIEvQIBADANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAASCBKcwggSjAgEAAoIBAQC...
-----END PRIVATE KEY-----
When testing the connection, we are receiving this error message:
The error said we the parameter is empty looks like the google ads connector ui is not recognizing the content of the private key.
Test connection operation failed.
Failed to open the database connection.
Fail to read from Google Ads.
Parameter was empty Parameter name: pkcs8PrivateKey
Any help from Microsoft?
{count} vote
-
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(201.6, 18%, 29%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EGG%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Ganesh Gurram 4,885 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff2025-03-05T03:10:13.34+00:00 Thank you for posting your query!
The error message you are encountering, "Parameter was empty Parameter name: pkcs8PrivateKey," suggests that the Google Ads connector is not recognizing the private key you provided.
Here are some steps you can take to troubleshoot this issue:
Verify the Private Key Format - Ensure that the private key you are using is in the correct PKCS#8 format. The key should start with
-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----and end with-----END PRIVATE KEY-----. If the key is in a different format (like PKCS#1), you may need to convert it.Check for Extra Characters - Make sure there are no extra spaces or new lines before or after the private key content. Any additional characters can cause the connector to fail to read the key properly.
Use SecureString - If you haven't already, consider marking the private key field as a SecureString. This can help with securely storing and retrieving the key.
Permissions - Ensure that the self-hosted integration runtime has the necessary permissions to access the private key. You may need to adjust the permissions for the private key to allow access from the service account used by the integration runtime.
Test with a Different Key - If possible, try generating a new private key for the service account and see if the issue persists with the new key.
For more details refer:
- Troubleshoot the Google Ads connector in Azure Data Factory and Azure Synapse
- Linked service properties
Hope this helps. Do let us know if you have any further queries.
-
mamadou bhoye sow 5 Reputation points
2025-03-05T16:47:15.9066667+00:00 I did the first 2 points you mentioned above but it is not working.
The key is valid since I used a python script to retrieve data from google.
step 1: valid the key using this commandopenssl pkcs8 -topk8 -inform PEM -in private-key.pem -outform PEM -nocrypt -out private-key-pkcs8.pemRemove all spaces between in the private key.
First tested this one:Can you Ganesh Gurram verify it at your end?
-
mamadou bhoye sow 5 Reputation points
2025-03-05T16:56:06.85+00:00 I have validated and removed the spaces but it is still not working.
Validate the key by using opensslopenssl pkcs8 -topk8 -inform PEM -in private-key.pem -outform PEM -nocrypt -out private-key-pkcs8.pemRemove spaces:
The private key value string doesn't have a space.
added spaces between KEY---- and the content of key string value like this.
Can you verify with a set up, seems like I am not the only who is facing this issue?
-
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(169.60000000000002, 63%, 26%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3ETS%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Terry Shelton 0 Reputation points2025-03-06T20:47:33.51+00:00 mamadou bhoye sow Do you have any additional information about this issue? Have you tried generating a client id, client secret and refresh token for the Google Ads API, and using User Authentication as the linked service authentication type?
-
mamadou bhoye sow 5 Reputation points
2025-03-07T14:59:49.7566667+00:00 @Terry Shelton
Do you have any additional information about this issue?
I am using service authentication with all the all the google ads information.
I am able to read the data using python script but in our case we are using azure data factory with Google ADS Connector. It is not working.
Sign in to comment
Sign in to answer