Alteryx is a software platform that allows people to work with data more easily. When paired with CData Connect AI, Alteryx provides instant access to SingleStore data from your data automation processes. This article demonstrates how to connect to SingleStore using Connect AI and work with SingleStore data in Alteryx.
CData Connect AI offers a dedicated SQL Server interface for SingleStore, facilitating data querying without the need for data replication to a native database. With built-in optimized data processing capabilities, CData Connect AI efficiently directs all supported SQL operations, including filters and JOINs, straight to SingleStore. This harnesses server-side processing to rapidly retrieve the desired SingleStore data.
Configure SingleStore Connectivity for Alteryx
Connectivity to SingleStore from Alteryx is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with SingleStore data from Alteryx, we start by creating and configuring a SingleStore connection.
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Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
👁 Adding a Connection
- Select "SingleStore" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source
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Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to SingleStore.
The following connection properties are required in order to connect to data.
- Server: The host name or IP of the server hosting the SingleStore database.
- Port: The port of the server hosting the SingleStore database.
- Database (Optional): The default database to connect to when connecting to the SingleStore Server. If this is not set, tables from all databases will be returned.
Connect Using Standard Authentication
To authenticate using standard authentication, set the following:
- User: The user which will be used to authenticate with the SingleStore server.
- Password: The password which will be used to authenticate with the SingleStore server.
Connect Using Integrated Security
As an alternative to providing the standard username and password, you can set IntegratedSecurity to True to authenticate trusted users to the server via Windows Authentication.
Connect Using SSL Authentication
You can leverage SSL authentication to connect to SingleStore data via a secure session. Configure the following connection properties to connect to data:
- SSLClientCert: Set this to the name of the certificate store for the client certificate. Used in the case of 2-way SSL, where truststore and keystore are kept on both the client and server machines.
- SSLClientCertPassword: If a client certificate store is password-protected, set this value to the store's password.
- SSLClientCertSubject: The subject of the TLS/SSL client certificate. Used to locate the certificate in the store.
- SSLClientCertType: The certificate type of the client store.
- SSLServerCert: The certificate to be accepted from the server.
Connect Using SSH Authentication
Using SSH, you can securely login to a remote machine. To access SingleStore data via SSH, configure the following connection properties:
- SSHClientCert: Set this to the name of the certificate store for the client certificate.
- SSHClientCertPassword: If a client certificate store is password-protected, set this value to the store's password.
- SSHClientCertSubject: The subject of the TLS/SSL client certificate. Used to locate the certificate in the store.
- SSHClientCertType: The certificate type of the client store.
- SSHPassword: The password that you use to authenticate with the SSH server.
- SSHPort: The port used for SSH operations.
- SSHServer: The SSH authentication server you are trying to authenticate against.
- SSHServerFingerPrint: The SSH Server fingerprint used for verification of the host you are connecting to.
- SSHUser: Set this to the username that you use to authenticate with the SSH server.
👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
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Click Save & Test
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Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add SingleStore 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.
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Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
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On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
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Give the PAT a name and click Create.
👁 Creating a new PAT
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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 SingleStore data from Alteryx.
Connect to SingleStore from Alteryx
To establish a connection from Alteryx Desktop to the CData Connect AI Virtual SQL Server, follow these steps:
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Set up an account in Alteryx.
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Drag and drop a new Input Data tool onto the workflow.
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While the Input Data tool is selected, click Set Up a Connection in the navigation panel. A Data connections dialog appears.
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Click Data sources. Select Microsoft SQL Server > **Quick connect.
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In the Connection Manager dialog, click New.
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In the New Data Source dialog, enter the following information:
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Data Source Name: Microsoft SQL Server ODBC DSN-less.
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Driver: select ODBC Driver 18 for SQL Server from the drop-down list.
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Server: tds.cdata.com,14333
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Database: enter the Connection Name of the CData Connect AI data source you want to connect to (for example, SingleStore1).
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Click Save. Then click Connect Credential.
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In Connections, enter the following:
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Authentication Method: select Username and password.
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Credential: select Create New Credential.
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Credential Name: enter a name to identify the credential.
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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].
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Password: enter the PAT you generated on the Settings page.
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Click Test Connection. If successful, click Create and link.
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Connect with your credentials.
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In the wizard that opens, drag and drop the table to be queried in the Query Builder box. Select the fields by checking the boxes that you want to include in your query. Where possible, the complex queries generated by the filters and aggregations will be pushed down to your data source, 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 connector.
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To further customize the dataset, you can open the SQL Editor and modify the query manually, adding clauses, aggregations, and other operations to ensure that you are retrieving exactly the data desired.
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With the query defined, you are ready to work with your data in Alteryx Designer.
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