Create Datasets from IBM Cloud Object Storage in Domo Workbench and Build Visualizations of IBM Cloud Object Storage Data in Domo

Domo helps you manage, analyze, and share data across your entire organization, enabling decision makers to identify and act on strategic opportunities. Domo Workbench provides a secure, client-side solution for uploading your on-premise data to Domo. The CData ODBC Driver for IBM Cloud Object Storage links Domo Workbench to operational IBM Cloud Object Storage data. You can build datasets from IBM Cloud Object Storage data using standard SQL queries in Workbench and then create real-time visualizations of IBM Cloud Object Storage data in the Domo service.

The CData ODBC Drivers offer unmatched performance for interacting with live IBM Cloud Object Storage data in Domo due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from Domo to IBM Cloud Object Storage, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to IBM Cloud Object Storage and utilizes the embedded SQL Engine to process unsupported operations (often SQL functions and JOIN operations) client-side. With built-in dynamic metadata querying, you can visualize and analyze IBM Cloud Object Storage data using native Domo data types.

Connect to IBM Cloud Object Storage as an ODBC Data Source

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

Register a New Instance of Cloud Object Storage

If you do not already have Cloud Object Storage in your IBM Cloud account, follow the procedure below to install an instance of SQL Query in your account:

1. Log in to your IBM Cloud account.
2. Navigate to the

Connecting using OAuth Authentication

There are certain connection properties you need to set before you can connect. You can obtain these as follows:

API Key

To connect with IBM Cloud Object Storage, you need an API Key. You can obtain this as follows:

1. Log in to your IBM Cloud account.
2. Navigate to the Platform API Keys page.
3. On the middle-right corner click "Create an IBM Cloud API Key" to create a new API Key.
4. In the pop-up window, specify the API Key name and click "Create". Note the API Key as you can never access it again from the dashboard.

Cloud Object Storage CRN

If you have multiple accounts, specify the CloudObjectStorageCRN explicitly. To find the appropriate value, you can:

• Query the Services view. This will list your IBM Cloud Object Storage instances along with the CRN for each.
• Locate the CRN directly in IBM Cloud. To do so, navigate to your IBM Cloud Dashboard. In the Resource List, Under Storage, select your Cloud Object Storage resource to get its CRN.

Connecting to Data

You can now set the following to connect to data:

• InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to avoid repeating the OAuth exchange and manually setting the OAuthAccessToken.
• ApiKey: Set this to your API key which was noted during setup.
• CloudObjectStorageCRN (Optional): Set this to the cloud object storage CRN you want to work with. While the connector attempts to retrieve this automatically, specifying this explicitly is recommended if you have more than Cloud Object Storage account.

When you connect, the connector completes the OAuth process.

1. Extracts the access token and authenticates requests.
2. Saves OAuth values in OAuthSettingsLocation to be persisted across connections.

When you configure the DSN, 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.

After creating a DSN, you will need to create a dataset for IBM Cloud Object Storage in Domo Workbench using the IBM Cloud Object Storage DSN and build a visualization in the Domo service based on the dataset.

Build a Dataset for IBM Cloud Object Storage Data

You can follow the steps below to build a dataset based on a table in IBM Cloud Object Storage in Domo Workbench using the CData ODBC Driver for IBM Cloud Object Storage.

1. Open Domo Workbench and, if you have not already, add your Domo service server to Workbench. In the Accounts submenu, click Add New, type in the server address (i.e., domain.domo.com) and click through the wizard to authenticate. 👁 Connecting to the Domo Service.
   
2. In the DataSet Jobs submenu, click Add New.
3. Name the dataset job (i.e., ODBC IBM Cloud Object Storage Objects), select ODBC Connection Provider as the transport method, and click through the wizard. 👁 Configuring the DataSet Job.
   
4. In the newly created DataSet Job, navigate to Source and click to configure the settings.
5. Select System DSN for the Connection Type.
6. Select the previously configured DSN (CData IBMCloudObjectStorage Sys) for the System DSN.
7. Click to validate the configuration. 👁 Configuring the Source Settings.
   
8. Below the settings, set the Query to a SQL query:

   SELECT * FROM Objects

   NOTE: By connecting to IBM Cloud Object Storage data using an ODBC driver, you simply need to know SQL in order to get your data, circumventing the need to know IBM Cloud Object Storage-specific APIs or protocols.
9. Click preview. 👁 Querying IBM Cloud Object Storage Data.
   
10. Check over the generated schema, add any transformations, then save and run the dataset job. 👁 Save and Run the Configured DataSet Job (Salesforce is shown).
    

With the dataset job run, the dataset will be accessible from the Domo service, allowing you to build visualizations, reports, and more based on IBM Cloud Object Storage data.

Create Data Visualizations

With the DataSet Job saved and run in Domo Workbench, we are ready to build visualizations of the IBM Cloud Object Storage data in the Domo service.

1. Navigate to the Data Center. 👁 Accessing the Data Center (Salesforce is shown).
   
2. In the data warehouse, select the ODBC data source and drill down to our new dataset. 👁 Selecting the IBM Cloud Object Storage Dataset (Salesforce is shown).
   
3. With the dataset selected, choose to create a visualization.
4. In the new card:
   • Drag a Dimension to the X Value.
   • Drag a Measure to the Y Value.
   • Choose a Visualization.
   👁 Visualizing IBM Cloud Object Storage Data in Domo (Salesforce is shown).
   

With the CData ODBC Driver for IBM Cloud Object Storage, you can build custom datasets based on IBM Cloud Object Storage data using only SQL in Domo Workbench and then build and share visualizations and reports through the Domo service.