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

⇱ Build Oracle Visualizations in Tableau Desktop

Build Oracle Visualizations in Tableau Desktop

👁 Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
Use CData Connect AI to connect to live Oracle data and build visualizations in Tableau.

Tableau is a visual analytics platform transforming the way businesses use data to solve problems. When paired with CData Connect AI, you get instant, cloud-to-cloud access to Oracle data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to connect to Oracle and build visualizations from Oracle data in Tableau.

CData Connect AI provides a pure SQL Server, cloud-to-cloud interface for Oracle, allowing you to easily build visualizations from live Oracle data in Tableau without installing connectors. As you build visualizations, Tableau generates SQL queries to gather data. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect AI pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Oracle, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Oracle data.

Configure Oracle Connectivity for Tableau

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

  1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
    2. 👁 Adding a Connection
  2. Select "Oracle" from the Add Connection panel
    3. 👁 Selecting a data source
  3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Oracle.

    To connect to Oracle, you'll first need to update your PATH variable and ensure it contains a folder location that includes the native DLLs. The native DLLs can be found in the lib folder inside the installation directory. Once you've done this, set the following to connect:

    • Port: The port used to connect to the server hosting the Oracle database.
    • User: The user Id provided for authentication with the Oracle database.
    • Password: The password provided for authentication with the Oracle database.
    • Service Name: The service name of the Oracle database.
    👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
  4. Click Save & Test
  5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Oracle 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 Oracle data from Tableau.

Visualize Live Oracle Data in Tableau

To establish a connection from Tableau Desktop to the CData Connect AI Virtual SQL Server, follow these steps.

  1. In Tableau Desktop, open a new book. Under To a Server, select More, then Microsoft SQL Server. 👁 Selecting Microsoft SQL Server as the connection type.
  2. Enter your credentials:
    • Server: enter the Virtual SQL Server endpoint and port separated by a comma: tds.cdata.com,14333
    • Database: enter the Connection Name of the CData Connect AI data source you want to connect to (for example, OracleOCI1).
    • Authentication: select Use a specific username and password.
    • Username: enter your CData Connect AI username. This is displayed in the top-right corner of the CData Connect AI interface. For example, [email protected].
    • Password: enter the PAT you previously generated.
    • Require SSL: leave this selected.
    👁 Configuring the connection to the Virtual SQL Server API.
  3. Click Sign In.
  4. Select the Database (Connect AI connection) you wish to work with and opt for a Live or Extract Connection type.
  5. Select the table(s) you wish to visualize. If you select multiple tables, define the relationship between the tables using the appropriate columns. 👁 Selecting tables to visualize (Salesforce is shown)
  6. Select the fields to visualize. 👁 Visualizing live data (Salesforce is shown).

Real-Time Access to Oracle Data from Data Applications

At this point, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live Oracle data from your Tableau workbook. You can create new visualizations, build dashboards, and more. For more information on gaining live access to data from more than 100 SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources from applications like Tableau, refer to our Connect AI page.