Build Azure Analysis Services-Connected Visualizations in datapine

datapine is a browser-based business intelligence platform. When paired with the CData Connect AI, you get access to your Azure Analysis Services data directly from your datapine visualizations and dashboards. This article describes connecting to Azure Analysis Services in CData Connect AI and building a simple Azure Analysis Services-connected visualization in datapine.

CData Connect AI provides a pure SQL Server interface for Azure Analysis Services, allowing you to query data from Azure Analysis Services without replicating the data to a natively supported database. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect AI pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc.) directly to Azure Analysis Services, leveraging server-side processing to return the requested Azure Analysis Services data quickly.

Configure Azure Analysis Services Connectivity for datapine

Connectivity to Azure Analysis Services from datapine is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Azure Analysis Services data from datapine, we start by creating and configuring a Azure Analysis Services connection.

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
👁 Adding a Connection

2. Select "Azure Analysis Services" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Azure Analysis Services.

   To connect to Azure Analysis Services, set the Url property to a valid server, for instance, asazure://southcentralus.asazure.windows.net/server, in addition to authenticating. Optionally, set Database to distinguish which Azure database on the server to connect to.

   Azure Analysis Services uses the OAuth authentication standard. OAuth requires the authenticating user to interact with Azure Analysis Services using the browser. You can connect without setting any connection properties for your user credentials. See the Help documentation for more information.

   👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Azure Analysis Services 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.

1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give the PAT a name and click Create. 👁 Creating a new PAT
   
4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

With the connection configured and a PAT generated, you are ready to connect to Azure Analysis Services data from datapine.

Connecting to Azure Analysis Services from datapine

Once you configure your connection to Azure Analysis Services in Connect AI, you are ready to connect to Azure Analysis Services from datapine.

1. Log into datapine
2. Click Connect to navigate to the "Connect" page
3. Select MS SQL Server as the data source
4. In the Integration step, fill in the connection properties and click "Save and Proceed"
   • Set the Internal Name
   • Set Database Name to the name of the connection we just configured (e.g. AAS1)
   • Set Host / IP to "tds.cdata.com"
   • Set Username to your Connect AI username (e.g. [email protected])
   • Set Password to the corresponding PAT
   • Set Database Port to "14333"
   👁 Configuring the connection to CData Connect AI
   
5. In the Data Schema step, select the tables and fields to visualize and click "Save and Proceed" 👁 Selecting tables and fields to visualize (Salesforce is shown)
   
6. In the References step, define any relationships between your selected tables and click "Save and Proceed" 👁 Defining foreign key relationships
   
7. In the Data Transfer step, click "Go to Analyzer"

Visualize Azure Analysis Services Data in datapine

After connecting to CData Connect AI, you are ready to visualize your Azure Analysis Services data in datapine. Simply select the dimensions and measures you wish to visualize!

Having connect to Azure Analysis Services from datapine, you are now able to visualize and analyze real-time Azure Analysis Services data no matter where you are. To get live data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from datapine, try CData Connect AI today!