Use the CData ODBC Driver for Sentry in MicroStrategy Desktop

MicroStrategy is an analytics and mobility platform that enables data-driven innovation. When paired with the CData ODBC Driver for Sentry, you gain database-like access to live Sentry data from MicroStrategy, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. In this article, we walk through adding Sentry as a data source in MicroStrategy Desktop and creating a simple visualization of Sentry data.

The CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Sentry data in MicroStrategy due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from MicroStrategy to Sentry, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Sentry 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 Sentry data using native MicroStrategy data types.

Connect to Sentry as an ODBC Data Source

Information for connecting to Sentry follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments.

Using API Key Authentication

Sentry uses token-based authentication. To obtain an Auth Token:

1. Log in to your Sentry account at https://sentry.io
2. Navigate to Settings > Auth Tokens
3. Click "Create New Token"
4. Select the required scopes and click "Create Token"
5. Copy the generated token (it will only be shown once)

After obtaining your Auth Token, set the following connection properties:

• AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.

Set the following in the ProfileSettings connection property:

• APIKey: Set this to your Sentry Auth Token.
• OrganizationId: Set this to your Sentry organization slug or ID.

Example Connection String

Profile=C:\profiles\Sentry.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;ProfileSettings="APIKey=your_auth_token;OrganizationId=your_org_slug";

Connecting to Sentry

Once the authentication is configured, you can connect to Sentry and query data from any of the available tables such as Organizations, Projects, Issues, and Events.

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.

Windows

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.

Linux

If you are installing the CData ODBC Driver for Sentry in a Linux environment, the driver installation predefines a system DSN. You can modify the DSN by editing the system data sources file (/etc/odbc.ini) and defining the required connection properties.

/etc/odbc.ini

[CData API Sys]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for Sentry
Description = My Description
Profile = C:\profiles\Sentry.apip
AuthScheme = APIKey
ProfileSettings = "APIKey = your_auth_token
OrganizationId = your_org_slug"

For specific information on using these configuration files, please refer to the help documentation (installed and found online).

Connect to and Visualize Sentry Data using MicroStrategy Desktop

In addition to connecting Sentry in MicroStrategy enterprise products, you can connect to Sentry in MicroStrategy Desktop. Follow the steps below to add Sentry data as a dataset and create visualizations and reports of Sentry data.

1. Open MicroStrategy Desktop and create a new dossier.
2. In the datasets panel, click New Data, select Databases, and select Type a Query as the Import Option.
3. Add a new data source and choose DSN data sources.
4. Choose the DSN you previously configured (likely CData API Sys) and select Generic DBMS in the Version menu.
5. Set the User and Password properties for the DSN (or use placeholder values) and name the data source.
👁 Creating a new data source for Sentry.

6. Select the new database instance to view the tables. You may need to manually click the search icon in the Available Tables section to see the tables.
7. Create a SQL query for the Sentry data (see below) and click Execute SQL to test the query.

   SELECT * FROM UserOrganizations
   

   👁 Querying Sentry for data.
   NOTE: Since we create a live connection, we can execute a SELECT * query and utilize the filtering and aggregation features native to the MicroStrategy products.
8. Click Finish and choose to connect live.
9. Choose a visualization, choose fields to display (data types are discovered automatically through dynamic metadata discovery) and apply any filters to create a new visualization of Sentry data. Where possible, the complex queries generated by the filters and aggregations will be pushed down to Sentry, while any unsupported operations (which can include SQL functions and JOIN operations) will be managed client-side by the CData SQL Engine embedded in the driver. 👁 Visualize Sentry data.
   
10. Once you are finished configuring the dossier, click File -> Save.

Using the CData ODBC Driver for Sentry in MicroStrategy Desktop, you can easily create robust visualizations and reports on Sentry data. Read our other articles on connecting to Sentry in MicroStrategy and connecting to Sentry in MicroStrategy Web for more examples.