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 SingleStore data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to connect to SingleStore and build visualizations from SingleStore data in Tableau.
CData Connect AI provides a pure SQL Server, cloud-to-cloud interface for SingleStore, allowing you to easily build visualizations from live SingleStore 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 SingleStore, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return SingleStore data.
Configure SingleStore Connectivity for Tableau
Connectivity to SingleStore from Tableau is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with SingleStore data from Tableau, 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 Tableau.
Visualize Live SingleStore Data in Tableau
To establish a connection from Tableau Desktop to the CData Connect AI Virtual SQL Server, follow these steps.
- 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.
- 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, SingleStore1).
- 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.
- Click Sign In.
- Select the Database (Connect AI connection) you wish to work with and opt for a Live or Extract Connection type.
- 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)
- Select the fields to visualize.
👁 Visualizing live data (Salesforce is shown).
Real-Time Access to SingleStore Data from Data Applications
At this point, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live SingleStore 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.
