SAP Analytics Cloud is a cloud-based business intelligence platform. CData Connect AI creates a pure, cloud-to-cloud connection to AlloyDB and can be used to generate an OData API (natively supported in Analytics Cloud) for AlloyDB. By pairing SAP Analytics Cloud with CData Connect AI, you get true cloud-to-cloud connectivity to all of your SaaS and cloud-based Big Data and NoSQL sources — no need to migrate your data or write your integrations. Simply connect to Connect AI as you would any other OData service and get instant, consolidated access to all of your data.
In this article, we walk through connecting to AlloyDB from SAP Analytics Cloud (through CData Connect AI) to create a model and build a simple dashboard.
Connect to AlloyDB from SAP Analytics Cloud
To work with live AlloyDB data in SAP Analytics Cloud, we need to connect to AlloyDB from Connect AI, provide user access to
the connection, and create a Workspace for the AlloyDB data.
Connect to AlloyDB from Connect AI
CData Connect AI uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources.
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Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
👁 Adding a Connection
- Select "AlloyDB" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source
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Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to AlloyDB.
The following connection properties are usually required in order to connect to AlloyDB.
- Server: The host name or IP of the server hosting the AlloyDB database.
- User: The user which will be used to authenticate with the AlloyDB server.
- Password: The password which will be used to authenticate with the AlloyDB server.
You can also optionally set the following:
- Database: The database to connect to when connecting to the AlloyDB Server. If this is not set, the user's default database will be used.
- Port: The port of the server hosting the AlloyDB database. This property is set to 5432 by default.
Authenticating with Standard Authentication
Standard authentication (using the user/password combination supplied earlier) is the default form of authentication.
No further action is required to leverage Standard Authentication to connect.
Authenticating with pg_hba.conf Auth Schemes
There are additional methods of authentication available which must be enabled in the pg_hba.conf file on the AlloyDB server.
Find instructions about authentication setup on the AlloyDB Server here.
Authenticating with MD5 Authentication
This authentication method must be enabled by setting the auth-method in the pg_hba.conf file to md5.
Authenticating with SASL Authentication
This authentication method must be enabled by setting the auth-method in the pg_hba.conf file to scram-sha-256.
Authenticating with Kerberos
The authentication with Kerberos is initiated by AlloyDB Server when the ∏ is trying to connect to it. You should set up Kerberos on the AlloyDB Server to activate this authentication method. Once you have Kerberos authentication set up on the AlloyDB Server, see the Kerberos section of the help documentation for details on how to authenticate with Kerberos.
👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
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Click Save & Test
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Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add AlloyDB Connection page and update the User-based permissions.
👁 Updating permissions
Add a Personal Access Token
When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.
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Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
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On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
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Give the PAT a name and click Create.
👁 Creating a new PAT
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The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.
Configure AlloyDB Endpoints for SAP Analytics Cloud
After connecting to AlloyDB, create a workspace for your desired table(s).
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Navigate to the Workspaces page and click Add to create a new Workspace (or select an existing workspace).
👁 The Workspaces page.
👁 Adding a new Workspace.
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Click Add to add new assets to the Workspace.
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Select the AlloyDB connection (e.g. AlloyDB1) and click Next.
👁 Selecting an Asset (Salesforce is shown).
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Select the table(s) you wish to work with and click Confirm.
👁 Selecting Tables (Salesforce is shown).
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Make note of the OData Service URL for your workspace, e.g. https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name}
With the connection, PAT, and Workspace configured, you are ready to connect to AlloyDB data from SAP Analytics Cloud.
Create a Model of AlloyDB Data in SAP Analytics Cloud
With the connection to AlloyDB configured and the OData endpoint(s) created, we can create a Model for AlloyDB data in SAP Analytics Cloud.
- Log into your Analytics Cloud instance and click Create -> Model from the menu.
- Choose "Get data from a datasource" and select "OData Services"
- Choose an existing connection to your Connect AI OData or Create a new one:
- Set Connection Name
- Set Data Service URL to the Base URL for your OData API: https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name}
- Set Authentication Type to Basic Authentication
- Set User Name to the Connect AI user (e.g. [email protected])
- Set Password to the PAT for the above user
👁 Creating a new OData Services Connection
- Choose "Create a new query" and click Next
- Name the Execute, select an OData endpoint (like Orders) and click Next
👁 Choosing a Connect AI OData endpoint to query
- Drag the columns you wish to work with into the Selected Data workspace and click Create
👁 Selecting fields (columns) from the OData endpoint
- At this point, a Draft Data source is created; click the draft to finalize the model
- Perform any transformations, including creating calculated dimensions, location dimensions, and combining data sources, then click Create Model
👁 Finalizing the model
- Name your model and click OK
Build a Dashboard in SAP Analytics Cloud
With the model created, you are ready to create a dashboard in SAP Analytics Cloud based on AlloyDB data.
- From the menu, click Create -> Story
- Click on SAP Analytics Template (this article uses the "Dashboard" template)
- Choose a layout and click Apply
- From the More menu, select a visualization to insert (Chart)
👁 Inserting a visualization
- Select a model to visualize
- Select a structure and the required Measures and Dimensions
- Save the store
👁 Saving the Story
More Information & Free Trial
Now, you have created a simple but powerful dashboard from live AlloyDB data. For more information on creating OData feeds from AlloyDB (and more than 100 other data sources), visit the Connect AI page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live AlloyDB data in SAP Analytics Cloud.
