RabbitMQ Reporting in OBIEE with the RabbitMQ JDBC Driver

The CData JDBC Driver for RabbitMQ is a standard database driver that can integrate real-time access to RabbitMQ data into your Java-based reporting server. This article shows how to deploy the driver to Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE) and create reports on RabbitMQ data that reflect any changes.

Deploy the JDBC Driver

Follow the steps below to add the JDBC driver to WebLogic's classpath.

For WebLogic 12.2.1, simply place the driver JAR and .lic file into DOMAIN_HOME\lib; for example, ORACLE_HOME\user_projects\domains\MY_DOMAIN\lib. These files will be added to the server classpath at startup.

You can also manually add the driver to the classpath: This is required for earlier versions. Prepend the following to PRE_CLASSPATH in setDomainEnv.cmd (Windows) or setDomainEnv.sh (Unix). This script is located in the bin subfolder of the folder for that domain. For example: ORACLE_HOME\user_projects\domains\MY_DOMAIN\bin.

set PRE_CLASSPATH=your-installation-directory\lib\cdata.jdbc.api.jar;%PRE_CLASSPATH%

Restart all servers; for example, run the stop and start commands in DOMAIN_HOME\bitools\bin.

Create a JDBC Data Source for RabbitMQ

After deploying the JDBC driver, you can create a JDBC data source from BI Publisher.

1. Log into BI Publisher, at the URL http://localhost:9502/analytics, for example, and click Administration -> Manage BI Publisher.
2. Click JDBC Connection -> Add Data Source.
3. Enter the following information:
   • Data Source Name: Enter the name that users will create connections to in their reports.
   • Driver Type: Select Other.
   • Database DriverClass: Enter the driver class, cdata.jdbc.api.APIDriver.
   • Connection String: Enter the JDBC URL.

     About RabbitMQ Management HTTP API

     RabbitMQ is an open-source message broker that supports multiple messaging protocols. The RabbitMQ Management HTTP API provides HTTP-based access to management and monitoring data for a RabbitMQ server. The API exposes information about virtual hosts, exchanges, queues, bindings, connections, channels, consumers, users, permissions, policies, and cluster-wide statistics.

     The Management plugin must be enabled on the RabbitMQ server for the HTTP API to be available. By default, the management interface listens on port 15672.

     Using Basic Authentication

     RabbitMQ Management HTTP API uses HTTP Basic authentication. You must supply the username and password of a RabbitMQ management user.

     To enable access to the management API:

     1. Ensure the RabbitMQ Management plugin is enabled on your server (rabbitmq-plugins enable rabbitmq_management).
     2. Use an existing management user or create one with the appropriate management tag (management, policymaker, monitoring, or administrator).
     3. Note the full base URL of your RabbitMQ Management HTTP API (e.g., http://localhost:15672).

     After configuring your RabbitMQ server, set the following connection properties to connect:

     • AuthScheme: Set this to Basic.
     • URL: Set this to the base URL of your RabbitMQ Management HTTP API (e.g., http://localhost:15672).
     • User: Set this to your RabbitMQ management username (e.g., guest).
     • Password: Set this to your RabbitMQ management password.

     Example connection string:

     Profile=C:\profiles\RabbitMQ.apip;AuthScheme=Basic;URL=http://localhost:15672;User=guest;Password=guest;
     

     Available Tables

     The RabbitMQ profile provides access to the following tables:

     • Overview - Cluster-wide statistics and information about the RabbitMQ node
     • Nodes - Information about individual nodes in the RabbitMQ cluster
     • NodeMemory - Detailed memory usage breakdown for a specific cluster node
     • Connections - List of all open AMQP connections to the broker
     • Channels - List of all open AMQP channels across all connections
     • Consumers - List of all consumers registered across all queues
     • Exchanges - List of exchanges declared across all virtual hosts
     • Queues - List of queues declared across all virtual hosts
     • Bindings - List of all bindings between exchanges and queues
     • VirtualHosts - List of virtual hosts configured on the broker
     • VhostPermissions - User permissions within a specific virtual host
     • Users - List of all RabbitMQ users
     • Permissions - Permission records for all users across all virtual hosts
     • TopicPermissions - Topic-level permission records for all users
     • Policies - List of policies applied to queues and exchanges in virtual hosts
     • OperatorPolicies - List of operator policies applied to queues in virtual hosts
     • Parameters - List of component parameters (e.g., federation, shovel) per virtual host
     • GlobalParameters - List of global parameters that apply across all virtual hosts
     • VhostLimits - Resource limits configured for specific virtual hosts
     • UserLimits - Resource limits configured for specific users
     • FeatureFlags - List of feature flags and their enabled/disabled state on the node
     • DeprecatedFeatures - List of deprecated features and their usage state
     • AuthAttempts - Authentication attempt statistics for the node
     • ClusterName - The name of the RabbitMQ cluster
     • WhoAmI - Information about the currently authenticated management user
     • ExchangeBindingsSource - Bindings for which a specific exchange is the source
     • ExchangeBindingsDestination - Bindings for which a specific exchange is the destination
     • QueueBindings - Bindings for a specific queue within a virtual host

     Built-in Connection String Designer

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

     java -jar cdata.jdbc.api.jar
     

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

     👁 Using the built-in connection string designer to generate a JDBC URL (Salesforce is shown.)
     

     When you configure the JDBC URL, 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.

     A typical JDBC URL is below:

     jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\\RabbitMQ.apip;AuthScheme=Basic;URL=http://localhost:15672;User=guest;Password=guest;

   • Username: Enter the username.
   • Password: Enter the password.
4. In the Security section, select the allowed user roles. 👁 The required settings for a JDBC data source. (Salesforce is shown.)
   

Create Real-Time RabbitMQ Reports

You can now create reports and analyses based on real-time RabbitMQ data. Follow the steps below to use the standard report wizard to create an interactive report that reflects any changes to RabbitMQ data.

1. On the global header, click New -> Data Model.
2. On the Diagram tab, select SQL query in the menu.
3. Enter a name for the query and in the Data Source menu select the RabbitMQ JDBC data source you created.
4. Select standard SQL and enter a query like the following:

   SELECT , FROM AuthAttempts WHERE NodeName = 'rabbit@hostname'

   👁 The SQL query to be used to create the data set for the report's data model. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
5. Click View Data to generate the sample data to be used as you build your report.
6. Select the number of rows to include in the sample data, click View, and then click Save As Sample Data.
7. Click Create Report -> Use Data Model.
8. Select Guide Me and on the Select Layout page select the report objects you want to include. In this example we select Chart and Table.
9. Drop a numeric column like onto the Drop Value Here box on the y-axis. Drop a dimension column like onto the Drop Label Here box on the x-axis. 👁 The dimensions and measures for a chart. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
10. Click Refresh to pick up any changes to the RabbitMQ data. 👁 An interactive, refresh-on-demand report. (Salesforce is shown.)