How to connect to AlloyDB Data in DBVisualizer

The CData JDBC Driver for AlloyDB implements JDBC standards to provide connectivity to AlloyDB data in applications ranging from business intelligence tools to IDEs. This article shows how to establish a connection to AlloyDB data in DBVisualizer and use the table editor to edit and save AlloyDB data.

Create a New Driver Definition for AlloyDB Data

Follow the steps below to use the Driver Manager to provide connectivity to AlloyDB data from DBVisualizer tools.

1. In DBVisualizer, click Tools -> Driver Manager.
2. Click the plus sign "" to create a new driver.
3. Select "Custom" as the template.
4. On the Driver Settings tab:
   • Set Name to a user-friendly name (e.g. "CData AlloyDB Driver")
   • Set URL Format to jdbc:alloydb: 👁 Setting the Driver Settings (Salesforce is shown).
     
   • In Driver artifacts and jar files (jars are loaded in order from top):
     1. Click the plus sign "" -> "Add Files"
     2. Navigate to the "lib" folder in the installation directory (C:\Program Files\CData JDBC Driver for AlloyDB XXXX\)
     3. Select the JAR file (cdata.jdbc.AlloyDB.jar) and click "Open"
     👁 Loading the driver JAR file.
     
5. The Driver Class should populate automatically. If not, select class (cdata.jdbc.alloydb.AlloyDBDriver).

👁 The configured JDBC driver. (Salesforce is shown.)

Define the Connection to the JDBC Data Source

Close the "Driver Manager" and follow the steps below to save connection properties in the JDBC URL.

1. In the "Databases" tab, click the plus sign "" and select the driver you just created.

2. In the "Connection" section, set the following options:

   • Database Type: If you selected the wizard option, the database type is automatically detected. If you selected the "No Wizard" option, select the Generic or Auto Detect option in the Database Type menu.
   • Driver Type: Select the driver you just created.

   • Database URL: Enter the full JDBC URL. The syntax of the JDBC URL is jdbc:alloydb: followed by the connection properties in a semicolon-separated list of name-value pairs.

     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.

     Built-in Connection String Designer

     For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the AlloyDB JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

     java -jar cdata.jdbc.alloydb.jar
     

     Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

     👁 Using the built-in connection string designer to generate a JDBC URL (Salesforce is shown.)
     

     When you configure the JDBC URL, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

     A typical connection string is below:

     jdbc:alloydb:User=alloydb;Password=admin;Database=alloydb;Server=127.0.0.1;Port=5432
     

   • NOTE: Database Userid and Database Password correspond with the User and Password properties for AlloyDB.
3. On the Connection tab, click Connect. 👁 A newly configured Database Connection. (Salesforce is shown.)
   

To browse through tables exposed by the AlloyDB JDBC Driver, right-click a table and click "Open in New Tab."

To execute SQL queries, use the SQL Commander tool: Click SQL Commander -> New SQL Commander. Select the Database Connection, Database, and Schema from the available menus.

See the "Supported SQL" chapter in the help documentation for more information on the supported SQL. See the "Data Model" chapter for table-specific information.

👁 The results of a query in DBVisualizer. (Salesforce is shown.)

More Information & Free Trial

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData JDBC Driver for AlloyDB and start working with your live AlloyDB data in DbVisualizer. Join the CData Community or reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.