Bridge Amazon Athena Connectivity with Apache NiFi

Apache NiFi supports powerful and scalable directed graphs of data routing, transformation, and system mediation logic. When paired with the CData JDBC Driver for Amazon Athena, NiFi can work with live Amazon Athena data. This article describes how to connect to and query Amazon Athena data from an Apache NiFi Flow.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData JDBC driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Amazon Athena data. When you issue complex SQL queries to Amazon Athena, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Amazon Athena and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations). Its built-in dynamic metadata querying allows you to work with and analyze Amazon Athena data using native data types.

Getting Started

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Connecting to Amazon Athena Data in Apache NiFi

1. Download the CData JDBC Driver for Amazon Athena installer, unzip the package, run the .exe file to install the driver.

2. Copy the CData JDBC Driver JAR file (and license file if it exists), cdata.jdbc.amazonathena.jar (and cdata.jdbc.amazonathena.lic), to the Apache NiFi lib subfolder, for example, C:\nifi-1.3.0-bin\nifi-1.3.0\lib.

   On Windows, the default location for the CData JDBC Driver is C:\Program Files\CData\CData JDBC Driver for Amazon Athena.

3. Start Apache NiFi by running the run-nifi.bat file in bin subfolder, for example, C:\nifi-1.3.0-bin\nifi-1.3.0\bin.

   (OR)

   Use the command prompt to navigate to the particular directory and run the run-nifi.bat file for example:

   cd C:\nifi-1.3.0-bin\nifi-1.3.0\bin
   .\run-nifi.bat
   

4. Navigate to the Apache NiFi UI in your web browser: It should be https://localhost:8443/nifi.

   Note: If users are utilizing an older version of Apache NiFi, they should access it via http://localhost:8080/nifi. In earlier versions, HTTP was the protocol employed. However, in the most recent version, HTTPS is the standard. By default, HTTP operates on port 8080, while HTTPS uses port 8443.

5. When accessing Apache NiFi via a URL, it prompts you to enter a username and password for login.

   👁 Enter Username and Password for login
   

   To retrieve login credentials, users should consult the 'App.log' file located within the log directory of their NiFi installation. This file typically contains the necessary details for accessing the NiFi interface.

   👁 Retrieve login credentials from App.log file
   
6. Right-click on the Nifi Flow's workspace and click "Controller Services" 👁 Configuring the Process Group
   
7. Click the button to create a new controller service. 👁 Creating a new Controller Service
   
8. In the Controller Services section, location the newly created "DBCPConnection Pool" and click the menu () >> Edit to configure the new connection. 👁 Configure the new DBCPConnection Pool
   

9. Fill in the properties:

   • Database Connection URL: jdbc:amazonathena:AWSAccessKey='a123';AWSSecretKey='s123';AWSRegion='IRELAND';Database='sampledb';S3StagingDirectory='s3://bucket/staging/';
   • Database Driver Class Name: cdata.jdbc.amazonathena.AmazonAthenaDriver
   • Database Driver Location(s): Path to your Apache NiFi's lib folder where the JAR files are present.

   Built-in Connection String Designer

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

   java -jar cdata.jdbc.amazonathena.jar
   

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

   Authenticating to Amazon Athena

   To authorize Amazon Athena requests, provide the credentials for an administrator account or for an IAM user with custom permissions: Set to the access key Id. Set to the secret access key.

   Note: Though you can connect as the AWS account administrator, it is recommended to use IAM user credentials to access AWS services.

   Obtaining the Access Key

   To obtain the credentials for an IAM user, follow the steps below:

   1. Sign into the IAM console.
   2. In the navigation pane, select Users.
   3. To create or manage the access keys for a user, select the user and then select the Security Credentials tab.

   To obtain the credentials for your AWS root account, follow the steps below:

   1. Sign into the AWS Management console with the credentials for your root account.
   2. Select your account name or number and select My Security Credentials in the menu that is displayed.
   3. Click Continue to Security Credentials and expand the Access Keys section to manage or create root account access keys.

   Authenticating from an EC2 Instance

   If you are using the CData Data Provider for Amazon Athena 2018 from an EC2 Instance and have an IAM Role assigned to the instance, you can use the IAM Role to authenticate. To do so, set to true and leave and empty. The CData Data Provider for Amazon Athena 2018 will automatically obtain your IAM Role credentials and authenticate with them.

   Authenticating as an AWS Role

   In many situations it may be preferable to use an IAM role for authentication instead of the direct security credentials of an AWS root user. An AWS role may be used instead by specifying the . This will cause the CData Data Provider for Amazon Athena 2018 to attempt to retrieve credentials for the specified role. If you are connecting to AWS (instead of already being connected such as on an EC2 instance), you must additionally specify the and of an IAM user to assume the role for. Roles may not be used when specifying the and of an AWS root user.

   Authenticating with MFA

   For users and roles that require Multi-factor Authentication, specify the and connection properties. This will cause the CData Data Provider for Amazon Athena 2018 to submit the MFA credentials in a request to retrieve temporary authentication credentials. Note that the duration of the temporary credentials may be controlled via the (default 3600 seconds).

   Connecting to Amazon Athena

   In addition to the and properties, specify , and . Set to the region where your Amazon Athena data is hosted. Set to a folder in S3 where you would like to store the results of queries.

   If is not set in the connection, the data provider connects to the default database set in Amazon Athena.

   👁 Using the built-in connection string designer to generate a JDBC URL (Salesforce is shown.)
   
10. In the Controller Services section, locate the newly created DBCPConnection Pool and click the menu () >> Enable to enable the new connection.
11. In the "Enable Controller Service" window, set Scope to "Service and referencing components" 👁 Setting the scope of the Controller Service
    
12. To establish a connection and execute a select query, simply drag and drop the processor (indicated by the yellow highlight) into the workspace. 👁 Establish a connection and execute a select query
    
13. Select the 'ExecuteSQL' processor and click the 'Add' button to make it visible in the workspace. 👁 Select 'ExecuteSQL' and 'Add'
    
14. Double-click on the added processor (ExecuteSQL)to open the connection page. 👁 Click on ExecuteSQL processor to get redirected to the connection page
    
15. In the Properties section, fill in the required information. Make sure to set the Database Connection Pooling Service to match the DBCPConnectionPool that you have created, and set your desired SQL query that you want to get executed in the SQL select query section. 👁 Verify and test connection
    
16. Go to Relationships and make sure to select an option on how the component should proceed in case of success and failure of the execution process. 👁 Apply the connection
    
17. You can enable the ExecuteSQL component by either selecting it and clicking Enable on the Operation section, or by right-clicking it and selecting Enable. 👁 Click on the lightning button
    

Your Amazon Athena data is now available for use in Apache NiFi. For example, you can use the DBCPConnection Pool as the source for a QueryDatabaseTable processor (shown below).

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData JDBC Driver for Amazon Athena and start working with your live Amazon Athena data in Apache NiFi. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.