VOOZH about

URL: https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/databricks-tableau-desktop.rst

⇱ Visualize Live Databricks Data in Tableau

Visualize Live Databricks Data in Tableau

👁 Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
Use CData Tableau Connectors and Tableau Desktop to visualize live Databricks data.

Tableau is a visual analytics platform transforming the way businesses use data to solve problems. When paired with the CData Tableau Connector for Databricks, you can easily get access to live Databricks data within Tableau. This article shows how to connect to Databricks in Tableau and build a simple chart.

The CData Tableau Connectors enable high-speed access to live Databricks data in Tableau. Once you install the connector, you simply authenticate with Databricks and you can immediately start building responsive, dynamic visualizations and dashboards. By surfacing Databricks data using native Tableau data types and handling complex filters, aggregations, & other operations automatically, CData Tableau Connectors grant seamless access to Databricks data.

NOTE: The CData Tableau Connectors require Tableau 2020.3 or higher. If you are using an older version of Tableau, you will need to use the CData JDBC Driver. If you wish to connect to Databricks data in Tableau Cloud, you will need to use CData Connect AI.

About Databricks Data Integration

Accessing and integrating live data from Databricks has never been easier with CData. Customers rely on CData connectivity to:

  • Access all versions of Databricks from Runtime Versions 9.1 - 13.X to both the Pro and Classic Databricks SQL versions.
  • Leave Databricks in their preferred environment thanks to compatibility with any hosting solution.
  • Secure authenticate in a variety of ways, including personal access token, Azure Service Principal, and Azure AD.
  • Upload data to Databricks using Databricks File System, Azure Blog Storage, and AWS S3 Storage.

While many customers are using CData's solutions to migrate data from different systems into their Databricks data lakehouse, several customers use our live connectivity solutions to federate connectivity between their databases and Databricks. These customers are using SQL Server Linked Servers or Polybase to get live access to Databricks from within their existing RDBMs.

Read more about common Databricks use-cases and how CData's solutions help solve data problems in our blog: What is Databricks Used For? 6 Use Cases.


Getting Started


Connect to Databricks in Tableau

Open Tableau and click More under Connect -> To a Server. Select "Databricks by CData," then configure the connection and click "Sign In."

To connect to a Databricks cluster, set the properties as described below.

Note: The needed values can be found in your Databricks instance by navigating to Clusters, and selecting the desired cluster, and selecting the JDBC/ODBC tab under Advanced Options.

  • Server: Set to the Server Hostname of your Databricks cluster.
  • HTTPPath: Set to the HTTP Path of your Databricks cluster.
  • Token: Set to your personal access token (this value can be obtained by navigating to the User Settings page of your Databricks instance and selecting the Access Tokens tab).
👁 Configuring the Connector (Sage Intacct is shown)

Discover Schemas and Query Data

  1. Select CData from the Database pull-down menu.
  2. Select Databricks from the Schema pull-down menu.
  3. Drag the tables and views you wish to visualize onto the join area. You can include multiple tables. 👁 Selecting table(s)
  4. Select Update Now or Automatically Update. Update Now lets you preview the first 10,000 rows of the data source (or enter the number of rows you want to see in the Rows text box). Automatically Update automatically reflects the changes in the preview area.
  5. Click the tab for your worksheet. Columns are listed as Dimensions and Measures, depending on the data type. The CData Tableau Connector discovers data types automatically, allowing you to leverage the powerful data processing and visualization features of Tableau.
  6. Drag a field from the Dimensions or Measures area to Rows or Columns. Tableau creates column or row headers.
  7. Select one of the chart types from the Show Me tab. Tableau displays the chart type that you selected.
    8. 👁 Visualizing live Databricks data

Using the CData Tableau Connector for Databricks with Tableau, you can easily create robust visualizations and reports on Databricks data. Download a free, 30-day trial and get started today.

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the Databricks Tableau Connector to get started:

 Download Now

Learn more:

👁 Databricks Icon
Databricks Tableau Connector

The fastest and easiest way to connect Tableau to Databricks data. Includes comprehensive high-performance data access, real-time integration, extensive metadata discovery, and robust SQL-92 support.